Month: March 2025

Justices Cement McDonald’s Win Against $100M Fraud Suit

Allen sued McDonald’s in California state court in 2023, after McDonald’s announced its goal to increase spending with diverse-owned media companies, production houses and content creators. Allen’s suit claimed McDonald’s goal was an enforceable promise and that McDonald’s engaged in fraud by failing to spend at least $50 million per year with his companies. Hueston Hennigan persuaded the trial court to grant McDonald’s special anti-SLAPP motion to strike, dismissing Allen’s lawsuit in full after determining McDonald’s conduct was protected and Allen failed to make a prima facie showing that he could prevail. The court ruled that McDonald’s was entitled to attorneys’ fees and costs for defending against the lawsuit.

In addition to Mr. Kaba, the Hueston Hennigan team included John Hueston, Michael Todisco, Karen Ding, Justin Greer and Arianna Demas.

The appellate ruling garnered press including in Law360, The Recorder, Bloomberg Law and the Daily Journal.

Eleven Attorneys Named Southern California Rising Stars

  • Karen Ding
  • Craig Fligor
  • Brittani Jackson
  • Lauren Johnson
  • Emily Michael Munson
  • Sourabh Mishra
  • Amber Munoz
  • Joseph Reiter
  • Samantha Schnier
  • Michael Todisco
  • Rajan Trehan

To be eligible, a candidate must be either 40 years old or younger or in practice for 10 years or less. While up to 5 percent of the lawyers in the state are named to Super Lawyers, no more than 2.5 percent are named to the Rising Stars list.

John Hueston Named U.S. Litigator of the Year and Hueston Hennigan Wins U.S. Impact Case Award

Mr. Hueston, whose victories last year include a complete defense win after trial for Boeing, was described as scoring “a remarkable track record of wins.”

The Impact Case Award honors results that demonstrate “legal ingenuity, high-dollar amounts, legal precedent or some combination of both.” The Match team includes Mr. Hueston, Doug Dixon, Joseph Reiter, Christine Woodin, Sourabh Mishra, Rajan Trehan, Karen Ding and Tate Harshbarger.

Based on months of peer review-focused research and submission reviews, the Benchmark Litigation Awards recognize “the country’s most distinguished litigators and their firms for their exemplary work over the past 12 months.”

Complete Defense Verdict for Disney in Moana Case

At the end of a closely followed 10-day trial in the courtroom of U.S. District Judge Consuelo B. Marshall, jurors deliberated less than three hours before siding with Disney.

The plaintiff, Buck Woodall, alleged he had passed his materials to a family member who worked on a Disney lot, but the jury decided that the creators of “Moana,” which earned nearly $700 million at the global box office, never had access to the plaintiff’s outlines and script for “Bucky the Surfer Boy.”

During his closing argument, which was widely quoted in the press, Disney’s lead counsel Moez Kaba said thousands of pages of development documents show every step of the movie’s creation, which was inspired by the paintings of Paul Gaugin and the writings of Herman Melville.

“You can see every single fingerprint,” Kaba said. “You can see the entire genetic makeup of ‘Moana.’”

“You know what you will not find? Any reference to Buck Woodall…any reference to ‘Bucky.’”

In addition to Kaba, the team includes Robert Klieger, Sourabh Mishra and Deeksha Kohli.

The verdict is being widely reported by outlets including the Associated Press, Reuters, Law360, Daily Journal, Bloomberg, Entertainment Weekly, The Independent and Courthouse News.