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San Francisco Litigation Team Scores Multiple Victories
03-Dec-2002
SAN FRANCISCO, Ca.--The litigators at 50 Fremont Street in San Francisco have been on a winning streak lately. That's where Pillsbury Winthrop’s team of 250 commercial and intellectual property attorneys have recently put together an impressive string of successes for their clients. The most recent high profile case found the firm representing the California Banking Association over ATM fees. Working in tandem with attorneys representing The Bank of America and Wells Fargo, the teams successfully challenged ordinances passed in San Francisco and Santa Monica that would have made it unlawful for banks to charge ATM fees to non-depositor customers. The ordinances would have authorized any consumer who paid an ATM fee to sue for “actual damages” of not less than $250, plus attorney fees, and possible additional punitive damages of up to $5,000 per incident. “In addition to being plainly preempted by the National Bank Act and regulations promulgated by the OCC, and therefore unconstitutional, the ordinances were also bad policy that would have distorted the market in ways that would ultimately have hurt service for all banking customers,” says partner Michael Kass, who is also actively involved in the antitrust litigations and investigations concerning California’s wholesale electricity markets. Pillsbury Winthrop's San Francisco litigation team’s defense of AirTouch/Vodafone and Verizon Wireless this fall produced great results. The two wireless companies were sued by Statewide Cellular, a former sub-agent that alleged that the two interfered with the plaintiff's business relationships, among other claims. This multi-million dollar, two-year case finally resulted in a settlement that whittled the original figure sought down to $35,000. Partner Paul Griffin led the Pillsbury Winthrop team to victory in the case. His practice focuses on antitrust and business litigation, including large class action cases, and he has been involved in cellular telephone litigation since the beginning of the wireless industry. He has had a number of other high-profile cases, including the Alaskan North Slope royalty litigation, California crude oil and product price-fixing cases, smoking and health product liability actions, and the “You’ve Got Mail” price discrimination case brought against Borders and Barnes & Noble by the independent booksellers association. Litigators in Pillsbury Winthrop's San Francisco office have a full slate of active cases keeping them busy, according to Sarah Flanagan, co-chair of the firm's national litigation section and manager of its San Francisco litigation group. “Right now, we are involved in the DRAM investigation, one of the biggest anti-trust investigations launched by the government in the recent past,” she said. “There are some 23 civil class action lawsuits filed across the country in conjunction with the case. These will be very interesting cases with significant interest to the computer industry,” she added. Attorneys in Pillsbury Winthrop's San Francisco office have extensive experience in major banking and corporate transactions, commercial and general business litigation, energy and project finance, real estate development and transactions, environmental and land use issues, and estate, probate and tax planning. Pillsbury Winthrop is an international law firm with core practice areas in litigation, technology, energy, capital markets and finance. The firm has 16 offices worldwide. Contact: Crystal Rockwood 1-800-729-9830
crockwood@pillsburywinthrop.com
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