Dan is highly regarded for his defense of product liability cases involving consumer products and deep knowledge of California’s consumer protection regulations and laws. He skillfully handles litigation, including class actions, around California’s Unfair Competition Law, Consumer Legal Remedies Act, and Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act (Prop 65), among others. He has served as a defense counsel in over 3,000 product liability cases involving pharmaceuticals, medical devices, food, cosmetics, over-the-counter drugs, and food and products marketed as containing natural ingredients. His client roster includes a wide range of life sciences and retail and consumer products companies.
Dan’s practice is focused on product liability issues relating to consumer products.
Specific to consumer class action lawsuits, Dan has successfully defended clients in class actions alleging false or misleading labeling or advertising of foods, cosmetics, over-the-counter drugs, dietary supplements, and homeopathic products. These claims have involved probiotics, “natural” ingredients, “clinically-proven” results, lack of efficacy, lack of substantiation, and failure to disclose. Representative statutes addressed include:
- California’s Unfair Competition Law (Business & Professions Code § 17200) and similar unfair competition statutes in every state and the District of Columbia based on allegations of unfair competition or false advertising actions.
- California Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 (Proposition 65)
- Deceptive, False, and Misleading Advertising laws, such as California’s Business & Professions Code § 17500, and similar statutes proscribing advertising that contains false, deceptive, or misleading statements related to the sale of goods.
- Consumer Legal Remedies Act (CLRA), California Civil Code § 1750, which establishes a remedy for unfair methods of competition and unfair or deceptive acts in the sale of goods to a consumer. CLRA violations commonly alleged against food and drug companies include “representing goods that have characteristics, ingredients, benefits or qualities that they do not have,” and “representing that goods are of a particular standard, quality, or grade.”
- Breach of Express and Implied Warranties under state and federal laws, including the Magnuson-Moss Act.
His trial work also encompasses defense of pharmaceuticals & medical devices, sports equipment, commercial litigation and privacy and data security. Dan advises international companies in the pharmaceutical, medical device, food, over-the-counter drugs, homeopathic remedies, and dietary supplement, and sports industries. He has served as defense counsel in over 3,000 product liability cases and represented companies in both state and federal courts in California and the US. Dan routinely advises clients on regulatory matters as well as the selection of local counsel and lead trial attorneys. His commercial litigation practice has covered a wide spectrum of issues and included representation of several international companies based in Italy, Mexico, India, United Kingdom, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Germany, Australia, and Switzerland.
