David H. Stern

Partner

Los Angeles
T +1.310.979.8480
F +1.310.820.8859

Overview

Through his commercial litigation practice, David Stern represents a wide range of clients in complex, high-stakes matters. He has notable first chair trial experience in state and federal courts. He has represented clients in class actions, antitrust, intellectual property, contract, real estate, employment and securities matters across the U.S.

David also regularly provides strategic counsel to international and domestic companies and individuals, including those in the aircraft, automotive, entertainment, environmental, food and beverage, gaming, healthcare, private equity, real estate, retail, and sports sectors. He also has experience representing clients in arbitrations, both nationally and abroad.

Select Experience

Complex Litigation

  • Secured a unanimous defense verdict, following a two month jury trial in Santa Barbara, for the seller of a hotel in a real estate fraud case. (Recognized by Daily Journal for Top 2022 Defense Verdict in California.)

Class Action

  • Secured summary judgment in a class action for a transportation and logistics firm based on federal preemption of California’s wage and hour laws. The Ninth Circuit summarily affirmed the lower court's judgment in January 2023.

Antitrust, Entertainment and Intellectual Property

  • Obtained summary judgment for Tim Mosley (Timbaland) and Shawn Carter (Jay-Z) in a copyright infringement action in federal court in Los Angeles.
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Experience

Complex Litigation

  • Secured a unanimous defense verdict, following a two month jury trial in Santa Barbara, for the seller of a hotel in a real estate fraud case. (Recognized by Daily Journal for Top 2022 Defense Verdict in California)
  • Defended a Fox News journalist in a defamation action brought by a former contributor and in a suit for intentional infliction of emotional distress brought by the parents of Seth Rich.
  • Secured the dismissal of an intellectual property misappropriation suit brought by South Korea’s largest maker of anti-wrinkle botulinum toxin drugs.
  • Represent real estate firm in dispute over the exclusivity of an easement over real property owned by the client in California, taking case through trial and the issuance of an award in client’s favor, including attorneys’ fees.
  • Successful defense of subsidiaries of bwin.party digital entertainment in an international arbitration for alleged breach of contract and fraud relating to the purchase of the World Poker Tour.
  • Secured a motion to dismiss a business tort action filed against world's then largest listed online gaming company.
  • Reached a favorable settlement, after six weeks of jury trial, in an insurance coverage case regarding California's alleged $250 million liability for the Stringfellow Acid Pit.
  • Obtained a favorable summary judgment on behalf of The Boeing Co. and McDonnell Douglas Corp. in federal multidistrict litigation arising out of the crash of Alaska Airlines Flight 261, an MD-83 aircraft.
  • Obtained summary judgment for physician in False Claims Act litigation.

Class Action

  • Secured summary judgment in a class action for a transportation and logistics firm based on federal preemption of California’s wage and hour laws. The Ninth Circuit summarily affirmed the lower court's judgment in January 2023.
  • Defended Anheuser-Busch in class action for allegedly violating consumer protection laws and fraudulently marketing non-alcoholic beer as an alcohol-free beer.
  • On behalf of Renal Advantage, a subsidiary of Fresenius Medical Care, defeated a proposed class action when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed a lower court's dismissal.
  • On behalf of Fresenius Medical Care, defeated class certification of meal-break wage and hour claims in the Central District of California.
  • Defeated a motion for class certification on behalf of Burberry in the Central District of California, alleging that Burberry failed to comply with the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act by printing credit card expiration dates on customer receipts.

Antitrust, Entertainment and Intellectual Property

  • Obtained summary judgment for Tim Mosley (Timbaland) and Shawn Carter (Jay-Z) in a copyright infringement action in federal court in Los Angeles.
  • Obtained summary judgment on behalf of the song writing, performing and recording artists Antwan Patton and Andre Benjamin (OutKast) in a declaratory judgment action in Los Angeles.
  • Engineered the summary judgment motion in the Central District of California that led to the U.S. Supreme Court's seminal decision in Independent Ink v. Illinois Tool Works Inc., abolishing the presumption of market power in a Section 1 "patent-tying" action.
  • Represented manufacturer of navigation systems used for commercial aircraft in a monopolization trial in federal court in Los Angeles. After a 13-week jury trial, obtained one of the largest antitrust verdicts ($750 million) at that time in client's favor.
  • Represented more than 20 drag racing teams in unfair-competition suit against the National Hot Rod Association. 

Recognitions and Memberships

Recognitions

  • Daily Journal
    • Top 2022 Defense Verdict in California
  • Los Angeles Business Journal
    • "Who's Who in Law - LA's Top Intellectual Property Lawyers - Entertainment" (2006)

Community

  • Western Center on Law & Poverty: Former Director

Admissions

  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Second Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
  • U.S. District Court, Central District of California
  • U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California
  • U.S. District Court, Northern District of California
  • U.S. District Court, Southern District of California
  • U.S. District Court, District of Minnesota
  • California
  • District of Columbia
  • Minnesota

Education

  • J.D., University of Minnesota Law School, 1992
  • M.Sc., London School of Economics, 1989
  • B.A., St. John’s University, 1988, summa cum laude

Blog

In The Blogs

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Class Action Lawsuit Defense
BakerHostetler's 2023 Q1 Insurance Class Action Quarterly Report Released
By Mathew G. Drocton, Mark A. Johnson
May 9, 2023
BakerHostetler released its 2023 Q1 Insurance Class Action Quarterly Report, which summarizes a variety of insurance class action themes. Total loss class actions kept going around the country, and labor depreciation class actions...
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Class Action Lawsuit Defense
The Advisory Committee on Civil Rules Proposes a New Rule to Address Early Case Management in Multidistrict Litigation
By Kyle T. Cutts
March 30, 2023
On March 28, 2023, the Advisory Committee on Civil Rules (Committee) convened in West Palm Beach, Florida, to discuss a variety of proposed amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, including a new rule that would provide...
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Class Action Lawsuit Defense
New Challenges to Incentive Awards for Class Representatives Invite Supreme Court Review
By Nicholas A. Cordova, Julie Singer Brady
March 28, 2023
Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued a decision that highlights a growing disagreement among federal appellate courts as to whether class action settlements may include a cash incentive award to named...
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Class Action Lawsuit Defense
BakerHostetler Releases Insurance Class Action Quarterly Report – 2022 Q4
March 8, 2023
BakerHostetler released its Insurance Class Action Quarterly Report for 2022 Quarter 4, devolving trends in the insurance class action space from the past quarter. We witnessed further development of total loss, uninsured/underinsured...
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Class Action Lawsuit Defense
BakerHostetler Files Amicus Brief on Behalf of Ohio Chamber of Commerce
January 19, 2023
As predicted back in March 2022, class litigation related to Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a group of man-made chemicals that have been widely used in various industrial and consumer products, have skyrocketed over the last...
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