Robert W. Thompson

Robert W. Thompson

Managing Partner

Mr. Thompson is a partner in the Orange County office and is the managing partner of the firm. He also leads the firm’s auto dealership practice group.

Mr. Thompson specializes in labor and employment law as well as consumer and business litigation. He represents employers in a wide range of industries throughout California. He provides advice to employers relating to labor and employment issues and has extensive experience in defending employers against claims of discrimination, harassment, wrongful termination and wage and hour violations. He also represents businesses in many areas with a special emphasis on complaints of consumer fraud and statutory violations. His business background and degrees including a Masters of Business Administration gives him an insight into the myriad of issues facing businesses to day so that he can provide solutions to prevent litigation or manage problems after they arise. He is a trial attorney who has had great success defending his clients in Court. Mr. Thompson has extensive experience in defending class actions in both the consumer fraud and wage and hour cases in the restaurant and hospitality industry as well as the automobile dealership industry. He has been successful in defeating many class action cases and is well versed in the various strategies available in handling class action cases.

 

Practice Areas
Personal Injury, Consumer Fraud, Products Liability, Labor & Employment, Class Action, Business Litigation.

Industries
Auto Dealerships, Restaurants & Hospitality,


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J.D. University of San Diego
M.B.A., University of Southern California

B.A. California State University at Fullerton

Institute on International & Comparative Law, Magadalen College, Oxford University, Oxford, England

Mexican Legal Studies Program, Universidad Panamericana, Mexico City, Mexico.

Beta Gamma Sigma, University of Southern California; Graduated with Honors, California State University at Fullerton.

California State Bar; United States District Court for the Central, Southern, Northern and Eastern Districts of California and the Northern and Central Districts of Illinois; Admitted Pro Hac Vice to the United States District Courts for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the Southern District of Florida, the Eastern District of Louisiana, the District of Minnesota, the District of Massachusetts as well as various State Courts; United States Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals; United States Supreme Court.

Since 1984 a large part of practice has been devoted to representing hundreds of dealerships on a broad range of issues from products liability, Consumer Legal Remedies Act, Song Beverly Act, Automobile Sales Finance Act, Vehicle Leasing Act, automobile advertising, employment law and wage and hour issues.

“To the Prevailing Party Goes the Spoils; An Overview of an Emerging Tort in California”, Western State University Law Review, Vol. 18, No. 1, Fall 1990; “Reassessing Appraisal Liability”, Orange County Lawyer, December, 1995; “Attention to Detail Crucial in Mediating Class Action Disputes”, Orange County Lawyer, May, 2004; Coastal AMI Training Video on The Fair Labor Standards Act.

Frequent Lecturer on Dealership Operations, Unfair Trade Practices, Consumer Legal Remedies, Privacy Torts, and the procedural mechanisms of class actions and representative actions.

Orange County Bar Association; Southern California Defense Counsel; RIMS; Alzheimer’s Association of Orange County; Saddleback College Advisory Committee; Federal Bar Association; Orange County Business Alliance

Hernandez v. TGIF’s Restaurants, Orange County Superior Court; Burgess v. Texas Loosey’s, Los Angeles County Superior Court (class certification denied); Montano v. Carriage Motors, Riverside County Superior Court (class certification denied); Cooper v. Toyota Carlsbad, San Diego County Superior Court; Boyd v. Perry Falk Motors, San Diego County Superior Court; Sherf v. Rusnak Westlake, Ventura County Superior Court; Cervantes, v. Central City East Association, Los Angeles County Superior Court (class certification denied); Sanchez v. MBZ Valencia, Los Angeles County Superior Court (class certification denied); Flores v. West Covina Toyota ( rescission claims dismissed, class certification denied), Los Angeles County Superior Court; Brouillet v. Toyota of Riverside, Riverside County Superior Court; Barnes v. Haddad Dodge, Kern County Superior Court (class certification denied, motion for summary judgment granted), Walker v. Costa Mesa Buick GMC Cadillac (class certification denied), Orange County Superior Court; Nicoll v. TGIF’s Restaurants, Ventura County Superior Court (class certification denied); Loverso v. Raceway Ford, Riverside County Superior Court; Castenada v. Spreen Honda, San Bernardino Superior Court (class claims dismissed)

“Pacific Inland Bank v. Charles Ainsworth (1995) 41 Cal. App. 4th 277; Casey Parks v. Eastwood Insurance Services (2002) 235 F. Supp. 2d 1082; H-D Michigan, Inc. v. Biker’s Dream, Inc. (1998) 48 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1108; H-D Michigan, Inc. v. Biker’s Dream, Inc. (1998) U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17266; Testan v. Carlsen Motor Cars, Inc. (2002) WL 234737; Perez v. RadioShack Corp. (2005) 386 F. Supp. 2d 979; Sullivan v. Oracle (2008) WL 5147996; Radillo v. Superior Automotive Group (2008) WL444439; Stevens v. Superior Court (Star Ford) (1999) 75 Cal. App. 4th 594; Wayne M. Minor v. Peter Pan Motors (1991) 227 Cal. App. 3d 1613; DP Pham LLC v. Cheadle, (2016) 246 Cal. App. 4th 653)

In re Vehicle Lease Document Case, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court representing more than 300 automobile dealerships and orchestrated the briefing on a pivotal issue which resulted in a favorable finding for all of the defendants and a dismissal of the action as against all of my clients; In re Automobile Insurance Case, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, representing approximately 50% of the auto dealer defendants; In re Automobile Advertising Case, filed in San Francisco County Superior Court, representing approximately 50% of the defendants; Testan v. Porsche of North America, filed in Ventura County Superior Court representing 12 Porsche Dealerships in a consumer representative action that was resolved in favor of our clients on summary judgment; Cervantes v. Central City East Association, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court representing the business improvement districts (BIDS) in the City of Los Angeles in an action brought on behalf of the homeless in Los Angeles and which was resolved favorably for our clients.

Trujillo v. Hyundai of Buena Park, Orange County Superior Court; Elghanayan v. Beverly Hills Porsche, Orange County Superior Court; Petrykievicz v. Beverly Hills Porsche, Los Angeles County Superior Court; Mapa v. El Monte Ford, Los Angeles County Superior Court; Rodriguez v. Empire Motors, San Bernardino Superior Court; Selman Chevrolet v. R&B Wholesalers, Orange County Superior Court.