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Partner
Litigation & Intellectual Property Practice
Los Angeles
(213) 532-2149 Phone
(213) 312-4769 Fax
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| Practices |
Class Action,
Multidistrict
Litigation
Complex Consumer and
Financial Services
Litigation
Corporate and
Securities
Litigation
Labor & Employment
Litigation
Trade Secrets
Wage and Hour
Litigation Practice
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Practice focuses on complex business litigation, wage and hour class action defense, consumer class action defense and securities litigation. In December 2008, Mr. Eskenazi was lead trial counsel for a national accounting firm in defense of claims brought by a group of defrauded investors who were seeking to hold the accountants liable for their investment losses of approximately $20 million plus punitive damages. The jury found in favor of the accounting firm and the case was deemed one of the top defense verdicts in California for 2008 by the Daily Journal, California's leading legal publication. In 2006, Mr. Eskenazi was recognized by the Daily Journal as one of the Top 20 Attorneys [then] Under 40 in California.
Relevant Experience 
- Represented clients in approximately 50 class actions involving employee or consumer claims.
- Recent class action experience includes:
- lead trial counsel for a national retailer defending a class action alleging that over 55,000 employees work "off-the-clock"
- lead trial counsel for a national accounting firm defending a class action alleging that its non-licensed associates are misclassified as exempt employees
- lead trial counsel for a Fortune 50 company defending class actions alleging meal and rest break violations
- lead trial counsel for an insurance company defending a class action challenging the legality of its vacation policy
- lead trial counsel for a global telecommunications provider defending a class action alleging unlawful overcharges on long-distance calls
- lead trial counsel for a national grocery chain alleging that the company charged sales tax on tax exempt items
- lead trial counsel for a financial services company defending a class action alleging that it received unlawful fees in conjunction with mortgage transactions.
- Extensive trial experience and has been lead trial counsel for plaintiffs and defendants in numerous high-stakes jury trials, bench trials and arbitrations.
- Trial experience includes:
- lead trial counsel for the defendant, a Silicon Valley software executive, in an SEC enforcement action for securities and accounting fraud that was followed closely by the business and legal press and was deemed one of the top 10 defense verdicts in California for 2004 by the Daily Journal (two-week jury trial in federal court)
- lead trial counsel for a global telecommunications provider in a multimillion-dollar contractual dispute with a telemarketing company (one-week bench trial in federal court; judgment affirmed by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals)
- trial counsel for a memory module manufacturer in defense of claims for misappropriation of trade secrets and fraud arising out of a failed acquisition involving two competitors (five-week jury trial in California state court)
- trial counsel for a nationwide lender in defense of claims for fraudulent lending practices (settled during a jury trial in California state court)
- lead trial counsel for a securities brokerage firm in a multimillion-dollar dispute regarding alleged improper investment practices (two-week NASD arbitration)
- Trial counsel for a major aerospace company against claims of fraud in the development of a weapons system. The case was the first that the federal government tried before a jury under the False Claims Act after the Act was amended to make it easier for the government to prevail. The National Law Journal deemed the case one of the top defense verdicts in the country for 1996.
- Represented corporations and executives in shareholder class actions, SEC enforcement actions and derivative actions.
- Securities experience includes litigating corporate governance issues, fiduciary duty claims and shareholder rights, as well as representing broker-dealers in NASD and FINRA arbitrations.
- Other representative recent engagements include:
- lead trial counsel for a visual display technology company in a case against an OEM supplier concerning a $500 million OEM contract
- lead trial counsel for a gaming company in prosecution of misappropriation of trade secrets claim against a competitor
- lead trial counsel for an employer defending a series of discrimination and harassment lawsuits arising out of the employer’s reduction of its California workforce.
- Argued cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit and the California Court of Appeal
Membership
Member, California State Bar Member, American Bar Association Member, Los Angeles County Bar Association Member, Association of Business Trial Lawyers Admitted to Practice: U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit; U.S. District Courts for the Central, Eastern, Northern and Southern Districts of California
Awards and Professional Recognition
Lead trial counsel in one of Top 10 Defense Verdicts in California in 2008 Top 20 Attorneys under 40 in California, Daily Journal, 2006 Lead trial counsel in one of Top 10 Defense Verdicts in California in 2004 Trial Counsel in one of the Top 10 Defense Verdicts in U.S.A. in 1996 Acknowledged by Los Angeles magazine as one of the "Southern California Super Lawyers"
Education - J.D., University of California, Hastings College of the Law, cum laude, 1992
- B.S., University of California–Berkeley, Haas School of Business, 1988
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Phillip Eskenazi
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