Gayle M. Athanacio, Partner
Education:
University of California-Hastings College of the Law, J.D., cum laude, 1987
Hastings Law Journal
American Jurisprudence Award, Civil Procedure & Criminal Law
Thurston Honor Society
University of California–Los Angeles, B.A., History, Political Science, 1984
Extern, California Supreme Court, Associate Justice Allen Broussard
Practice Areas:
Litigation
Government Procurement Strategies & Disputes
Labor and Employment
Antitrust & Trade Regulation
Professional Profile:
Ms. Athanacio has practiced for more than 20 years, concentrating on complex litigation, class actions and employment matters. She has a broad array of experience representing companies in consumer class actions and matters involving insurance, government contracts, antitrust and real estate issues. Ms. Athanacio has successfully defended and counseled various entities, including national retailers and insurance companies, in actions asserting violations of California’s Unfair Competition Law (California Business & Professions Code Sections 17200 and 17500).
In the area of employment law, she has handled a variety of matters in state and federal courts, including wage/hour class actions, misappropriation of trade secrets cases, and claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act, Fair Employment and Housing Act and Title VII. Additionally, Ms. Athanacio has represented clients in dealing with various governmental entities, including the California Labor Commission and the San Francisco Human Rights Commission.
Notable Representations
- Webster v. Allstate Insurance Company - Successfully defended Allstate in a putative class action asserting claims of unfair and unlawful business practices in violation of California Business & Professions Code Section 17200, violation of California antitrust law and unjust enrichment. Arguing in a series of motions that California's regulatory scheme and law undermined the plaintiff's claims that Allstate was legally obligated to pay "prevailing rates" for auto repairs, Ms. Athanacio obtained judgment in favor of Allstate on all counts and defeated the plaintiff's efforts to certify a class.
- HomeReady, Inc. v. HomeSite Services - In this California state court action, Ms. Athanacio obtained a TRO and later a preliminary injunction, which broadly restrained HomeReady’s former management team and their competing company from soliciting HomeReady’s clients or employees, using HomeReady’s confidential or trade secret information, and doing business with HomeReady’s customers.
- Hollywood Entertainment Corporation - Successfully handled the defense of a variety of matters for Hollywood Entertainment. Ms. Athanacio, as first chair trial attorney, successfully defended through trial the company’s designation of store manager and assistant manager positions as exempt from California’s overtime requirements. She acted as national coordinating counsel in a series of “late fee” class actions attacking the company’s extended rental programs. Ms. Athanacio also set into place a strategy for resolving three separate but overlapping class actions that were filed in three different venues asserting claims of missed rest/meal breaks and unpaid “off-the-clock” work.
- ABB Daimler-Benz Transportation (North America), Inc. v. City and County of San Francisco and Airport Commission of the City and County of San Francisco - Ms. Athanacio led a successful trial team to set aside the award of a $150 million contract for the “people mover system” at the San Francisco International Airport. More recently, Ms. Athanacio successfully obtained dismissal of a cross-claim filed against the company seeking in excess of $10 million.
Ms. Athanacio has been recognized by Bay Area Lawyer magazine as one of the best lawyers in the area of employment law. She was a presenter at the ACIC (Association of California Insurance Companies) General Counsel Seminar, speaking on Unfair Competition Law Claims After Proposition 64 and the Class Action Fairness Act.
Admitted to the Bar:
California
Steven H. Frankel, Partner
Education:
Northwestern University School of Law, J.D., cum laude, 1978
Washington University, A.B., Phi Beta Kappa, 1975
Practice Areas:
Litigation
Patent Litigation
Appellate Litigation
Professional Profile:
Mr. Frankel specializes in complex commercial, consumer class action and intellectual property litigation. For numerous companies, Mr. Frankel has served as lead counsel defending a variety of class actions in both federal and state courts throughout the country. He has also served as lead counsel in complex cases ranging from antitrust, securities, government contracts and ERISA to patent and trade secret disputes. Mr. Frankel has represented a variety of companies and company personnel in both civil and criminal investigations conducted by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice.
Representative Experience
In a transaction closely watched by the insurance and health care industries, Mr. Frankel successfully represented Anthem, Inc. and WellPoint Health Networks Inc. in litigation arising from the proposed merger between the two companies, a $21 billion transaction which resulted in the formation of the nation's largest health care company.
Mr. Frankel represented Sun Microsystems in the prosecution of its antitrust claims against Microsoft, which resulted in one of the largest settlements in history. Pursuant to the settlement, Microsoft made current cash payments to Sun totaling nearly $2 billion, and provided substantial additional long-term benefits, including a broad technology collaboration arrangement to enable the companies’ products to interoperate better. Additionally, Sun stands to receive further payments of up to $450 million from Microsoft over a ten-year period pursuant to a patent agreement entered into as part of the settlement.
Mr. Frankel successfully represented The Boeing Company and McDonnell Douglas Corporation in federal multidistrict litigation arising out of the crash of Alaska Airlines Flight 261. Summary judgment on the plaintiffs' claims for punitive damages was obtained in Boeing/McDonnell Douglas' favor. That ruling led to the favorable settlement of the multidistrict litigation.
For The Prudential Insurance Company of America, Mr. Frankel defended and coordinated the defense of hundreds of consumer fraud and deceptive trade practices actions filed against Prudential in California, and in other states in the western half of the United States, by individuals and groups of individuals who opted-out of a nationwide class action settlement involving alleged improper life insurance sales practices.
In Mertens v. Hewitt Associates, Mr. Frankel presented the successful oral argument of Hewitt Associates in the Supreme Court of the United States in what remains one of the most significant ERISA cases ever decided by the Court. In affirming the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the Court held in a 5 to 4 decision that ERISA does not authorize money damage actions against non-fiduciary service providers such as actuaries, accountants and lawyers who are alleged to have participated knowingly in a breach of fiduciary duty under ERISA.
Additional companies Mr. Frankel has represented include Argent Healthcare Financial Services, Inc., Burberry Limited, CMC Magnetics Corporation, Fleetwood Enterprises, Insight Communications, Logitech, Inc., Sara Lee Corporation, Salton, Inc., Sears, Roebuck and Co., Skidmore Owings & Merrill LLP, Silicon Integrated Systems Corporation, State Compensation Insurance Fund, The California Independent System Operator and Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
Admitted to the Bar:
California;Illinois
Ronald D. Kent, Partner
Education:
University of California, Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law, J.D., 1981
Order of the Coif
California Law Review
University of California at Los Angeles, B.A., summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, 1978
Practice Areas:
Insurance
Litigation
Financial Crisis Special Situations Group
Professional Profile:
Mr. Kent heads the Litigation Department in Sonnenschein’s Los Angeles office. He is also Co-Chair of the Firm’s National Insurance Litigation and Coverage Practice and is a member of the firm-wide Policy & Planning (Management) Committee. He has practiced out of the Los Angeles office since it opened in January 1990.
Client/Peer Testimonials
Since 2005, Mr. Kent has been named each year as a leading trial lawyer nationally and in California, based on peer and client evaluations, by Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers, the highly respected independent attorney rating organization.
2008: “On the West Coast, Ronald Kent is an experienced, skillful lawyer who thinks outside the box…He’s great to work with, and is a lawyer who can genuinely try a case.”
2007: “Excellent trial lawyer Ronald Kent co-chairs the firm’s national insurance litigation and coverage practice group, and frequently acts as coordinating counsel for ACE…”
2006: “Straight shooter Ronald Kent is described as a major league player…”
Representative Experience
Mr. Kent has extensive experience representing major financial institutions, insurance companies and other clients on a wide variety of matters, including fraud and bad faith actions, class action and multiple plaintiff litigation, defense of toxic tort and other environmental claims, insurance coverage actions and general business disputes. Mr. Kent has tried matters in state and federal courts throughout California, and in other states, and has successfully handled in excess of 70 arbitrations to final resolution. In addition, he has briefed and argued numerous appellate matters in the California Supreme Court, nearly all California district courts of appeal and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Mr. Kent has served as national, regional and California coordinating counsel on numerous projects for ACE USA and Allstate. Additional representative clients include Genworth Financial, RiverStone/TIG Insurance Company, Travelers, JMB Realty and LVS Corporation.
Admitted to the Bar:
California
Publications:
Mr. Kent co-authored the treatise “Liability Insurance” in the New Appleman Practice Guide recently published by LexisNexis.