Harvard College (BA - Physics)

UC Law San Francisco (formerly UC Hastings) (JD)

Gantner v. PG&E. (2019) Class action lawsuit against PG&E on behalf of firm client Anthony Gantner and a proposed class of some 800,000 PG&E customers, arising out of PG&E’s planned power outages in October and November 2019. The plaintiffs contend that the outages were made necessary by PG&E’s negligence in maintaining its transmission lines. The complaint seeks damages from PG&E for at least $2.5 billion to compensate PG&E customers for losses caused by the outages.

Anonymous v. Anonymous. Settlement of just under $9 million in a “Me Too” sexual harassment case. The client was a foreign national working for a foreign subsidiary of an American company. Her supervisor, who was a foreign national but also in the worldwide leadership group of the company, harassed the client for months, forcing her into a sexual relationship, and attempting to get her to provide sexual favors to others to obtain business for the company. The case presented complex issues of foreign, U.S. and international law. It settled confidentially in late 2019 after a two-day mediation and before the filing of a lawsuit.

Samsky v. State Farm. (2019) Bad faith insurance settlement of $450,000. Firm client Aaron Samsky was involved in a rear end collision. After collecting the $15,000 policy limit from the driver who rear-ended him, he made a claim with his insurer State Farm for the balance of his $100,000 underinsured motorist coverage. When State Farm lowballed that claim, offering him $3,920, Mr. Samsky was forced to go to arbitration to collect what he was entitled to from State Farm. In the arbitration, State Farm continued its bad faith conduct by blaming Mr. Samsky for the collision (which State Farm previously determined was 100% the fault of the driver who hit him) and raising non-credible doubts about his well-documented concussion and wrist injury. Following an arbitration award completely vindicating him, Mr. Samsky sought his costs and attorneys’ fees for having to prove those matters, eventually leading to a published appellate decision against State Farm. He also began a bad faith action for State Farm's handling of his claim. The amount State Farm agreed to pay represents over 100 times State Farm’s original offer to Mr. Samsky.

Figg v. Mann. (2019). Following a three-week trial in Santa Clara County Superior Court, Mr. Carlin obtained a $1.25 million jury verdict (increased to over $1.3 million with the court’s award of costs) in favor of firm client Darrick Figg in his personal injury case against the driver of a car that rear-ended him at 50 m.p.h. on Interstate 880 near San Jose. Mr. Figg sustained soft-tissue injuries to his shoulder, neck and back, as well as a mild concussion (a traumatic brain injury), on impact. The jury took less than half a day before reaching its verdict, awarding Mr. Figg over $500,000 for past and future medical costs and lost earnings, and $750,000 for past and future pain and suffering. The jury’s award more than doubled what the defendants ever offered in settlement.

Kapoor v. National Rifle Association. (2018) Mr. Carlin represented Sir Anish Kapoor, the world renowned British sculptor. Without his permission, the NRA used an image of his sculpture “Cloud Gate” (also known colloquially as “The Bean”) located in Millennium Park in Chicago, in a recruiting and fundraising video narrated by Dana Loesch entitled “The Violence of Lies.” The video is a naked piece of propaganda that, according to the Washington Post, was “designed to provoke fear, if not incite violence,” and according to the New York Times became “one of the latest flash points for partisan anger.” Kapoor demanded that the NRA remove his sculpture from the video, but it refused, so Kapoor sued. After the NRA lost its bid to delay discovery, it agreed to remove the sculpture of its video.

White v. Torres. (2018) Client Herman White, a 57 year old financial services executive, was out jogging in Castro Valley and came to a crosswalk. A car stopped and waved him across. As he crossed, a second car, driven by defendant Torres, slammed into the first car which struck White. White suffered a concussion/mild traumatic brain injury, PTSD, a broken wrist, and broken toe. The concussion was not diagnosed until over a year after the accident, in retrospect. The case settled for $1.45 million shortly before trial.

Wong v. Cheesecake Factory. (2018) Client Walter Wong, a semi-retired executive search professional, was celebrating his 67th birthday with his family at the Cheesecake Factory in San Mateo when he slipped and fell on a spilled drink that a waitress, after being warned about it by another customer, failed to clean up. He suffered a concussion/mild traumatic brain injury with persistent symptoms. The defendants accepted Mr. Wong’s “statutory settlement offer” of $630,000 three days before trial.

In re: Honest Marketing Litigation. (2017) Class action against Jessica Alba’s natural products company “The Honest Company,” alleging that the products were falsely labeled as “natural” when they were not. The Honest Company agreed to pay $7,350,000 to the class and to change its labeling practices. Mr. Carlin was co-lead counsel for the class.

Sutton-Williams v. Rony’s Car Pros, Inc. (2017) Client Francine Sutton-Williams, a 67 year old retired dialog coach, tripped and fell over an unsafely high threshold to a bathroom at defendant’s auto repair shop in Los Angeles, suffering a broken hip. Defendant hotly contested liability. 12-0 jury verdict of $392,310 reduced by 10% for comparative fault to $353,097. In addition, plaintiff recovered costs of $35,118, for a total recovery of $388,215.

Smith v. Digirad. (2017) Wage and hour class action against Digirad Corporation for failure to provide compliant meal and rest breaks for its workers (nuclear medicine technicians and EMTs conducting mobile cardiac testing). The case settled for $1.3 million. Mr. Carlin was lead counsel for the class.

Santa Claus is Coming to Town. (2016) Mr. Carlin represented the heirs of John F. Coots, the composer of the classic Christmas song, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, in an audit claim against music publisher EMI Feist Catalog, Inc. The heirs contended that EMI was overcharging them for royalties earned overseas by paying themselves twice: 50% to their foreign affiliates (“sub-publishers”) and then 50% of the remainder to the US entity; in other words, they were double dipping. EMI agreed to reduce the sub-publishing fees to 25% going forward and to pay back royalties.

Busch v. Dulcich. (2015) Right of publicity action on behalf of model/actress Cyndra Busch against Jakov Dulcich & Sons LLC, one of the largest grape producers in the country. Ms. Busch contended that Dulcich used her image for years without permission as the face of its “Pretty Lady” grapes marketing campaign. After conducting preliminary discovery, the case settled for a confidential amount.

DCH Auto Group Cases. (2016) Mr. Carlin represented employees of DCH Auto Group, subsequently acquired by Lithia Motors, Inc., in a number of related wage theft actions, for failing to provide its employees meal and rest breaks, falsifying time records and other Labor Code violations. The cases settled for a combined $11.5 million.

Paley v. Twist Animation. (2016) Mr. Carlin represented Emmy and Grammy award winning composer Andy Paley in a copyright infringement action against Twist Animation, an Israeli company, for allegedly using his music in a series of animated children’s videos which had over 1 billion views on Youtube. The parties ultimately reached a confidential settlement.

Stewart v. Screen-Gems-EMI Music, Inc. et al. (2015) Mr. Carlin represented Stephanie Ford (“Buffy”) Stewart against EMI Music Publishing, the world’s largest music publisher, challenging EMI’s practice of paying its own foreign affiliates 50% of foreign royalties before remitting the balance to itself, to split 50/50 with its legacy songwriters. Stewart, the widow of John Stewart, former member of the Kingston Trio and composer of hit tunes such as The Monkees’ classic "Daydream Believer," alleged that EMI's self-dealing results in a drastic reduction in her (and others') share of such royalties. The case settled on confidential terms shortly after the Court (US District Court for the Northern District of California) denied EMI's motion to dismiss the complaint.

Given v. M&T Bank. (2015) Consumer class action against M&T Bank for unfair overdraft fee practices: $4 million settlement.

In Re Warner Music Group Corp. Digital Downloads Litigation. (2014) Class action on behalf of musical performing artists against Warner for underpayment of digital download royalties. $11.5 million settlement.

Orallo et al. v. Bank of the West. (2013) Consumer class action against Bank of the West for unfair overdraft fee practices: $18 million settlement.

Yourke et al. v. Bank of America. (2012) Consumer class action against Bank of America for unfair overdraft fee practices: $410 million settlement.

Restaurant workers v. Restaurant group (names confidential). (2013) Class action and PAGA action on behalf of minimum wage restaurant workers for wage and hour violations under the California Labor Code. $1.9 million settlement fund for 525 class members.

Pyramid Interactive v. Wayneco. (2013) Commercial lease dispute. Arbitration award of approximately $250,000 and defeated $300,000 counterclaim.

Think Computer v. Facebook. (2009) Trademark proceeding on behalf of former Harvard classmate of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. The case settled on confidential terms.

Dunbar v. Gottwald. (2010) Represented songwriters for the pop group The Rubinoos in a lawsuit against pop superstar Avril Lavigne and her producer and co-writer Lukasz (“Dr. Luke”) Gottwald for copyright infringement, alleging that the Lavigne/Gottwald song “Girlfriend,” which was a No. 1 worldwide hit song for much of 2007, infringed on The Rubinoos’ 1979 hit song “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend." Case settled for a confidential amount.

GPP v. Baerwald. (2003) Song authorship dispute. Represented estate of co-author of six time platinum hit song "Come What May" from hit film Moulin Rouge against co-author who falsely claimed sole authorship. Case settled for a confidential amount.

Vinyl v. Education Dynamics. (2009) Leaving employee/trade secrets case on behalf of employer, obtaining Preliminary Injunction against defendants; case settled shortly thereafter.

Potrero Media Corporation v. Matthew Jones et al. (2012) Represented Potrero Media Corporation against leaving employee and the employee’s new employer for misappropriation of trade secrets. Obtained Preliminary and Permanent Injunctions and Judgment of over $1,100,000. The action was subsequently settled.

State Bar of California:

- Business Law

- Intellectual Property

- Litigation

Bar Association of San Francisco

- Founding member, Entertainment and Sports Law Section

San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association

Consumer Attorneys of California

California Employment Lawyers Association

American Board of Trial Advocates

ABA "Entertainment and Sports Lawyer"

- Visual Arts Editor 1998-2001

Swain v. LaserAway Med. Grp., Inc., 57 Cal. App. 5th 59, 270 Cal. Rptr. 3d 786 (2020)

Opperman v. Path, Inc., 87 F.Supp.3d 1018 (N.D. Cal. 2015)

Stephanie Ford Stewart v. Screen Gems-EMI Music, Inc., 81 F.Supp.3d 938 (N.D. Cal. 2015)

In re Checking Account Overdraft Lit., MDL No. 2036, 674 F.3d 1252 (11th Cir. 2012)

USA Technologies, Inc. v. Doe, 713 F.Supp.2d 901 (N.D. Cal. 2010)

U.S. District Court, Southern District of California: 2020

U.S. Court of Appeal, 11th Circuit: 2012

U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California: 2009

U.S. District Court, Central District of California: 1990

U.S. District Court, Northern District of California: 1985

State Bar of California: 1984