Significant Business Litigation Victories

Victory Over Famed Los Angeles "Pit Bull" Law Firm

A disbarred Midwestern lawyer turned Hollywood "producer" lied about his credentials and successes to trick a wealthy Northern California investor and a young Los Angeles actress into doing business with him. The lawyer/con artist (who had been disbarred in two other states for stealing client money) was a smooth talker with a professional web site that he used to help sell his deceits. Because the investor and actress initially believed the disbarred lawyer's tall tales (e.g., he had produced Arnold Schwarzenegger movies and regularly dined with the "head" of Paramount Studios), they gave him an interest in a film they had produced while also investing hundreds of thousands of dollars in new projects. The disbarred lawyer then embezzled much of the money.

Eventually of course, the investor and actress discovered they were being cheated. When they told others in the entertainment community, the disbarred lawyer hired a Los Angeles entertainment law firm famous for its aggressive tactics. The "pit bull" law firm sued the defrauded investor and actress for defamation. They then hired The Cowan Law Firm - which promptly counter-sued for fraud and conversion (i.e., theft). Jeffrey Cowan and Ilana Makovoz rolled up their sleeves by interviewing witnesses and getting signed sworn statements and key documents - as well as a video of the disbarred lawyer's web site depicting some of his lies. At a court-ordered mediation in the summer of 2007, the lawsuit settled with the disbarred lawyer paying six figures to our clients.

Victory Over Collection Company That Engages in the Unauthorized Practice of Law

A Century City company buys credit card debt and then sues to enforce it. While defending a lawsuit against one debtor, Jeffrey Cowan discovered that the company was "renting" the name of a lawyer (who was never there and whose State Bar record showed his office was at another location) and directing its non-lawyers employees to write legal papers on their own and then forge the lawyer's name on those papers before filing them with the court. Plus, the owner of the company - also not a lawyer -would hold himself out on the telephone as a lawyer. To make matters worse, the company had a history of (1) cheating its employees on their wages, and (2) filing bogus lawsuits against employees who asserted their rights or objected to its unlawful actions. The company also had a history of flouting the law - as evidenced by a federal judge's order in 2006 imposing more than $40,000 in sanctions against the company for intentionally violating a court order.

A former employee of the company gave two sworn statements exposing how the company and its owner carried out the unlicensed practice of law. The former employee also talked to a local newspaper reporter and reported the company to the State Bar of California. A few months after the declarations were given, the "collection company" sued not only the former employee but also his father. The dad had no involvement with the company but unlike his son had assets (a home). The lawsuit contained few allegations about the father and the few that were there were a sham.

The father hired The Cowan Law Firm to defend him. We filed an anti-SLAPP motion to strike seeking to have the lawsuit dismissed because it had been filed solely to retaliate against the former employee for exercising his free speech rights. The Superior Court granted the motion in part, dismissed part of the lawsuit, and ordered that the company pay the father $17,000 for his legal fees. We then propounded discovery regarding the remaining bogus claims against the father. In the fall of 2007, a few days before the deadline for the plaintiff to "show its cards" and answer the discovery, the plaintiff voluntarily dismissed the father - with no warning and no conditions. The father now is looking to sue the company and its lawyer for malicious prosecution.