Municipal & Public Entity Litigation

CPM has a long history of representing public entities as outside counsel.  CPM is often brought in on complex litigations that require a law firm that has the dedication and resolve to litigate cases that often require a significant time and resource commitment, as well as a thorough understanding of the intricacies of representing public entities.  CPM has a proven record of successfully prosecuting and defending actions on behalf of public entities across the State of California, including the City and County of San Francisco, the County of Los Angeles, the County of Monterey and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority.

RECENT CASES OF NOTE

LIBOR-Based Financial Instruments Antitrust Litigation
USDC Southern District of New York
CPM represents the Counties of San Mateo and San Diego, the Cities of Richmond and Riverside, East Bay Municipal Utility District, and other public entities who invested in financial instruments that were tied to the London Interbank Offered Rate, or LIBOR. LIBOR is the world's benchmark rate used for setting interest rates on a wide range of financial instruments, from car and home loans to municipal derivatives. LIBOR is set daily based on the borrowing costs reported by members of the British Bankers' Association. The complaints allege that the member banks conspired to suppress LIBOR, both to reduce the amounts they were required to pay on LIBOR-linked transactions, and to increase their perceived strength in the market. Plaintiffs invested significant sums in financial instruments, such as interest rate swaps and corporate securities, the rates of return of which were tied to LIBOR, and earned less on those investments as a result of the alleged suppression of LIBOR.

In re: Municipal Derivatives Antitrust Litigation
USDC, Southern District of New York  
CPM represents dozens of public entities in ongoing litigation alleging the manipulation of municipal investments for bond funds by financial institutions, insurance companies and brokers colluded to bid-rig the multi-billion dollar derivatives market.  Bank of America sought amnesty for violations of US antitrust laws by admitting its involvement in the conspiracy.  Several executives from major financial institutions including JPMorgan, UBS and GE Capital have pled guilty to criminal charges for their involvement in the bid-rigging conspiracy.   By bringing individual actions, CPM is able to maximize gains on behalf of its public entity clients.  

Municipal Bond Insurance Litigation 
San Francisco County Superior Court  
CPM represents public entities and non-profit organizations in California alleging that bond insurance companies and the credit rating agencies colluded to suppress their credit ratings forcing them to buy insurance when they issued bonds at a cost of millions of dollars. Defendants include Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch. Major bond insurance companies such as Ambac and MBIA also misrepresented the extent of their involvement in subprime mortgage securitizations, which drastically impacted the insurer's ability to maintain AAA rated insurance. These actions are coordinated in San Francisco County Superior Court before the Honorable Richard A. Kramer.  

The People of the State of California v. Atlantic Richfield Co., et al.
Santa Clara County Superior Court
CPM represents The People of the State of California in a representative public nuisance action against the five largest lead paint manufacturers in the United States who manufactured, promoted, marketed and sold hazardous lead paint throughout the State of California.  That lead paint continues to exist across the State of California and continues to pose a serious health risk to California residents, especially young children.  This case led to the California Supreme Court decision County of Santa Clara v. Superior Court (Atlantic Richfield Co.) (2010) 50 Cal.4th 35, which reaffirmed the importance of outside counsel representing public entities in prosecuting and defending actions for the public good.  

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority  
CPM represented the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (“SCVTA”) in a contractual dispute relating to several lease transactions that SCVTA entered into with a number of major financial institutions.  These banks sought to extract tens of millions of dollars in unwarranted penalties from SCVTA.  CPM was able to assist SCVTA resolve the contract dispute in a manner beneficial to SCVTA without resorting to litigation.

National Gas Anti-Trust Cases I, II, III, & IV
San Diego Superior Court
City of Los Angeles v. Reliant, et al.
County of Santa Clara v. Sempra, et al.
City and County of San Francisco v. Sempra, et al.
County of Alameda v. Sempra, et al.
County of San Diego v. Sempra, et al.
City of San Diego v. Sempra, et al.
County of San Mateo v. Sempra, et al.
UC Regents v. Reliant, et al.
Association of Bay Area Government v. Sempra, et al.
Sacramento Municipal Utilities District v. Sempra, et al.
School Project for Utility Rate Reduction v. Sempra, et al.
Nurseymen’s Exchange, Inc., v. Sempra, et al.
Owens-Brockway Glass Containers, Inc. v. Sempra, et al.
TAMCO Steel, et al. v. Dynegy, et al.
Antitrust litigation on behalf of eleven public entities and others for the reporting of false information by non-core natural gas retailers to published price indices to manipulate the natural gas market during the California energy crisis.  The case was venued in San Diego Superior Court before Judge Ronald S. Prager.  The last settlements were done in 2009 and overall settlement totaled approximately $124 Million.

City and County of San Francisco v. Cobra Solutions, Inc., et al.
San Francisco County Superior Court
CPM successfully represented the City and County of San Francisco (“CCSF”) in a contract dispute with one of its former outside contractors, Cobra Solutions, Inc. (“Cobra”).  Cobra submitted bills to CCSF for work that was never performed by one of the subcontractors that the contractor was responsible for supervising.  CCSF was forced to bring a lawsuit against Cobra when Cobra refused to allow CCSF to conduct an audit.  Cobra responded by filing a $12 million counter-claim against CCSF.  After a three week jury trial, the jury found Cobra liable to CCSF and rejected Cobra’s $12 million counter-claim in its entirety.

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