Partners Brandon Fox, Sati Harutyunyan, and Amy Gallegos were recognized as 2024 California Lawyers of the Year by the Daily Journal. The annual list highlights "the best lawyers and legal work in California over the past year."
Brandon, Sati, and Amy's profile highlights the team's victory securing a verdict which held the nation's largest egg producers and industry groups liable for conspiring to inflate egg prices.
"This was a complicated multidistrict litigation that went up on appeal at least once before I became involved in 2021," Brandon said in the profile. "By the time the jury delivered its verdict and damages award, no one on the trial team had been with the matter from the start."
Sati, who managed the team's trial presentation, witness strategy, and day-to-day operations, said, "The jury saw past the defendants' complicated story and recognized their scheme for what was at its core: a conspiracy by competitors to artificially inflate prices."
In 2018, Amy led the successful opposition to the defendants' summary judgment motion, which set the case on course for trial. During trial, she oversaw the economics and expert side of the case and put on the plaintiffs' economist.
"This was a challenging case and our team had to overcome a number of hurdles, including dealing with conduct that took place a long time ago," Amy said. "While it is notoriously difficult to win a rule of reason antitrust case in front of a jury, our case shows it is possible with the right approach. The win was a team effort and would not have been possible without our colleagues in Chicago, our clients, and our experts."
The verdict is the first holding these businesses liable for their actions.
"Two other plaintiff firms tried and lost," Brandon said. "That made it a big deal for us."
The trial team on the case also included Partners Annie Kastanek, Angela Allen, Michael Brody, and Joel Pelz.
Originally published 26 June 2024