Mr. Lamb is a trial lawyer whose practice is focused on complex environmental, intellectual property, commercial, antitrust, and franchise litigation. Mr. Lamb’s clients include public and private companies, brokerage firms, individual business owners, and corporate officers and directors. For example, he has represented one of the nation’s two Class One railroads, one of the world’s largest energy companies, several banks and financial institutions, and real property development companies.
Mr. Lamb has extensive experience trying both jury and bench trials in state and federal courts. He has represented clients before arbitration panels and numerous administrative agencies, to include the California Energy Commission, the California Public Utilities Commission, and FINRA.
Representative Experience
- Obtained a defense verdict as lead trial counsel for a major international energy company after a 17-week class action jury trial involving fraud and environmental contamination claims resulting from widespread refinery contamination. Plaintiffs were an entire town in south central Kansas, together with local businesses and the school district. Claimed damages were in excess of $500 million. The case, City of Neodesha, Kansas. v. BP, was reported in the “Big Suits” section of the March 2008 edition of The American Lawyer.
- Obtained a judgment as plaintiff’s trial counsel after a three-week bench trial in Federal Court declaring sole ownership of several patents involving temperature control technology and systems relating to semiconductor wafer and flat panel display fabrication equipment. That case, Advanced Thermal Sciences v. Applied Materials, included recovery of damages and attorneys’ fees in excess of $6 million.
- Obtained a defense judgment as lead trial counsel after a two-week bench trial in Federal Court involving petroleum and solvent contamination claims relating to a tank farm site. That case, City of Pomona vs. CalSol, included recovery of costs by the client from the City of Pomona.
- Acted as trial counsel who presented the key expert’s testimony in a plaintiff’s antitrust class action case against the world’s leading software firm in an Iowa state jury trial, Comes v. Microsoft, that spanned several months. Shortly after the key plaintiffs’ expert testified, which spanned ten court days, the case resolved with a nine-figure settlement.
- Obtained Plaintiff’s verdict after five-week state court jury trial confirming ownership of high-end fashion embroidery patterns in trade secret misappropriation case and obtaining three times the stated actual damages. That case, Embroidery Industries v. Laundry by Shelly Segal, required Plaintiff to establish that un-copyrighted fabric embroidery patterns provided by Plaintiff were trade secrets that were improperly copied and produced in mass quantities by off-shore companies in China and the Far East.
- Called in to act as lead trial counsel three weeks before a scheduled jury trial outside of Boston, Massachusetts. Orchestrated a series of motions in limine that greatly reduced Plaintiffs’ claimed damages from a high seven digit claim to under $100,000. After confirmation of the trial court’s rulings by the court of appeal, the case resolved with a very favorable settlement for the client. That case, Riemer v. ARCO, involved claims of unfair business practices, breach of contract, and fraud relating to environmental remediation of an old gasoline service station site and included claims pre-trial for emotional distress, lost rents, diminution in value of property, lost opportunity for sale of property, costs of remediation, attorneys’ fees, and punitive damages.
- Obtained summary judgment in favor of client in a case where plaintiff claimed that the refinery had caused “acid rain,” which resulted in damages to hundreds of vehicles on plaintiff’s car dealership lot.
- Obtained a California Public Utilities Commission administrative ruling after a contested evidentiary hearing that preserved the client’s interests regarding the safety of its Class One rail line against a major solar power developer seeking access across the rail line.
- Obtained a $4.5 million settlement on behalf of a construction company during an AAA arbitration.
- Obtained numerous defense awards in FINRA arbitration matters.
- Represented technology company against major international law firm asserting fraud and professional negligence claims. Defendants filed a successful anti SLAPP motion to strike and had the case dismissed at the trial court level. The Court of Appeals reversed in a seminal opinion detailing the limits of an anti-SLAPP suit in Prediwave Corp. v. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, 179 Cal.App.4th 1204 (2009). After the case was remanded to the trial court the case
settled on very favorable terms – Prediwave v. Simpson, Thacher & Bartlet Appellate Opinion
Received Younger Federal Lawyer Award by Federal Bar Association in 1993. Rated AV by Martindale-Hubbell. Member of the American Trial Lawyers Association, the American and Los Angeles County Bar Associations, and the State Bar of California.
Mr. Lamb earned his B.A. in Political Science/Accounting from Claremont Men’s College in 1984. He received his juris doctorate from the University of Southern California in 1987 and was awarded an LL.M. from the Judge Advocate General’s School at the University of Virginia at Charlottesville in 1991. Mr. Lamb served 13 years in the Army as a Special Forces Officer and later as a Judge Advocate. During his service he received numerous awards and decorations, to include the Bronze Star, Meritorious Service Medal, the Order of the Cedars (Lebanon 1983), Airborne Wings, and the Ranger and Special Forces Tabs.
He is admitted to practice in California, in the Federal District Court for the Northern, Central, and Southern Districts of California, and in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal. Mr. Lamb has been admitted pro hacvice in numerous state courts.