John Hueston and Moez Kaba have once again been named to the Daily Journal’s list of “Top 100 Lawyers” in California.
“I have never been busier, with six trials in little more than a year,” explained John Hueston. The Daily Journal noted Mr. Hueston’s “demanding schedule of marquee cases which has enabled junior colleagues courtroom experience.”
“It’s been both exhilarating and exhausting, but, as I tell my colleagues, if you are to be real trial lawyers, you have to go to trial,” noted Moez Kaba. Mr. Kaba has tried four cases to verdict or judgment and prevailed in each.
Mr. Hueston and Mr. Kaba, as co-lead counsel for Monster, won a landmark
$175 million verdict plus 5% annual royalties and $10 million in attorney fees on counterclaims in a trademark showdown with the maker of a rival beverage known as Bang. The “big judgment” was upheld by a federal court, and will yield an “additional $40 million each year.”
Earlier in the year, Mr. Hueston and Mr. Kaba were lead counsel representing Endo Pharmaceuticals in California’s $50 billion statewide false advertising and unfair competition action against the makers of prescription painkillers.
“Our overall strategy from the start was to try to move the focus beyond the question of ‘Is there an opioid crisis,’” noted Mr. Hueston. “By the final closing argument, we had reduced the plaintiff’s case to a mere 11 Endo documents with alleged false statements out of millions produced.
A turning point was Mr. Kaba’s cross-examination of the government’s star witness,
Dr. Anna Lembke, regarding her opinions about allegedly false and misleading marketing. “Through cross examination, we were able to get her to admit that Endo extensively disclosed risks, that Endo faithfully, adhered to its FDA-approved label and that her issue was not with Endo’s marketing but rather with the FDA’s decision to allow opioid medications in the first place.”
The list recognizes the very best California attorneys who have made an impact on the law and society within the last year. Mr. Hueston has been named to the prestigious list for over a decade, and Mr. Kaba has been on the list for six consecutive years.
Click here to read Mr. Hueston’s full profile.
Click here to read Mr. Kaba’s full profile.