Michael J. Studenka

Partner

Successfully defended a prominent, national lender in a contentious sexual harassment, retaliation and wrongful termination lawsuit brought between a former and current executive. With over one million dollars in lost wages, emotional distress and punitive damages at stake, plus upwards of $400,000 in costs and legal fees, it was a high-stakes and hostile claim within the finance industry, amid the backdrop of the #MeToo movement. We focused our strategy on prevailing at trial, leveraging criminal trial experience during deposition testimony and informal discovery to drive a slashing cross-examination during arbitration. On the first day of arbitration, Michael Studenka's day-long cross-examination of the plaintiff yielded a waiver of costs, walk-away deal that ended 14 months of litigation—a rare outcome.

Newmeyer Dillion successfully defended a national homebuilder against claims brought by purchasers seeking to cancel the purchase contract for a new home in Las Vegas. Claimants demanded a refund of deposits that the contract stated were nonrefundable and that were unlikely to be recouped if the home was later sold to another buyer with different tastes. The dispute was the first to test the homebuilder’s Nevada-specific contract, which we drafted and tailored from the homebuilder’s California contract with an eye toward managing litigation risk in the jurisdiction in order to protect the client from the outset. Our strategy focused on demonstrating that the provisions of this Nevada-specific purchase agreement protected the homebuilder throughout the construction process and did not entitle the claimants to a refund. Ultimately, the arbitrator agreed that our client was not required to issue a refund or provide a credit to the claimants towards the purchase of a new home, in a rare total defense arbitration award.

Lead trial counsel in a several week long Federal jury trial against a major insurance company for bad faith denial of coverage.  Through the development and presentation of evidence revealing a bad faith scheme and plan by the carrier resulted in a favorable settlement reached to the benefit of the insured.

Successfully pursued former high level employee of a large, international company who left and began to compete against our client relying on trade secrets and proprietary information.  Through formal and informal discovery techniques, was able to reveal a plot to unfairly compete against the client.  Compelled a settlement that saw the return of all trade secret information and payment of hundreds of thousands of dollars to the client in damages.

Solo counsel in a 3 week arbitration with multiple percipient and expert witnesses pursuing an electrical subcontractor that was performing untimely, and defective work.  Recovered the total amount demanded to offset the costs of the supplementing subcontractor and all of his own fees in the litigation.  General contractor client collected all amounts to make them completely whole.

Took over an age discrimination lawsuit against a major homebuilder and within 60 days, through his own informal discovery efforts and deposition was able to show that the plaintiff had engaged in various illegal activities to compel a settlement that required the client to pay nothing.

Defended a restaurant in several lawsuits arising out its kitchen personnel.  Single-handedly uncovered a plot amongst various former employees to defraud the employer through litigation, implicating even their counsel.  Litigation ended in “waiver of cost” deals for the employer for which they paid nothing.

Handled defense of client with more than 500 employees in resolving PAGA complaints which alleged numerous Labor Code violations regarding minimum wage, overtime, rounding meal and rest breaks, expense reimbursements, and paystubs.

We represented a large public company client in dozens of lawsuits initiated by a mammoth insurance company attempting to intimidate the client into walking away from significant insurance policy benefits. We were able to turn the tide on the insurance company by weaving together from the evidence a compelling story of a pattern and practice of bad faith claims handling conduct. Once the insurer realized that we were going to tell a compelling punitive damage story at trial, a favorable settlement was quickly reached.

Successfully resolved and achieved a downgraded citation brought by CalOSHA concerning a workplace accident.