Jeffrey Judd is a member of the Litigation practice group in the firm’s San Francisco office. Mr. Judd is a seasoned litigator who has most recently focused his practice on disputes involving trade secrets, corporate ownership and governance, real estate, and general commercial and finance issues. His corporate clients operate in a wide variety of industries, including software and technology, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and biotechnology, financial services, commercial airlines, real estate development, and manufacturing.

Mr. Judd specializes in scientific-and technology-intensive complex litigation, class actions, and mass tort cases involving subjects that include, among other things: fully human monoclonal antibodies; pharmaceutical research, development, and marketing; orthopedic suture anchors; machine learning software; commercial aircraft maintenance; automotive engine computer controls; wastewater treatment plants; petroleum processing; and environmental contamination. Mr. Judd has successfully led litigation teams in the defense against a broad spectrum of claims, including unfair competition, consumer fraud, product defect, false claim act, environmental, and intellectual and real property disputes. Mr. Judd regularly appears in state and federal courts, before administrative and regulatory agencies, and in private tribunals to resolve civil cases, regulatory investigations, and white-collar criminal inquiries, often in parallel proceedings involving the same operative facts.

Bar Admissions

• California

Education

• University of California, Hastings College of the Law
• Harvard College

Significant Accomplishments
<ul><li>Mr. Judd represented an operations manager for a student transportation provider accused by his former employer of misappropriation of trade secrets and ancillary claims.</li><li>Mr. Judd was lead trial counsel for a boutique winery accused of trademark infringement by a division of one of the largest beverage companies in the world. The case was tried during the COVID lockdown in a bench trial conducted on the Zoom platform (see <em>The Vineyard House v. Constellation Brands U.S. Inc</em>., 515 F. Supp.3d 1061 (2021)).</li><li>Mr. Judd is lead trial counsel for a small French winery accused of trademark infringement involving novel issues under 6<em>ter</em> of the Paris Convention and 15 U.S.C. § 1502(b). (See <em>San Antonio Winery, Inc. v. Boutique du Chateau de Cayx</em> (C.D. Cal. Case No. 2:22-cv-4313-ODW).</li><li>Mr. Judd represented major pharmaceutical manufacturer as lead counsel in a class action lawsuit brought on behalf of third-party payors (<em>i.e</em>., HMOs, insurers, employers, and union welfare funds) that sought damages under the NJ Consumer Fraud Act for alleged misrepresentations about the safety of a novel non-opioid pain medication. Certification was denied on appeal to the NJ Supreme Court.</li><li>Mr. Judd represented major pharmaceutical manufacturer as lead trial counsel in a coordination action brought by 80+ third-party payors that alleged economic harm claims under the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act following decertification of third-party payor class in the case described above.</li><li>Mr. Judd represented major pharmaceutical manufacturer as lead trial counsel in the coordinated class action cases brought on behalf of end-user consumers and third-party payors in California Superior Court alleging economic harm arising from the purchase of a novel painkiller after recall from the market.</li><li>Mr. Judd represented major automobile manufacturer in the first bell weather case to be tried in a California coordination proceeding involving thousands of personal injury and wrongful death actions sounding in strict product liability, negligence, and violation of various states’ consumer fraud statutes and seeking damages for vehicle rollovers allegedly caused by the design defects that were revealed as a result of the recall of a popular sports utility vehicle and the tires that it was originally equipped with.</li><li>Mr. Judd represented major automobile manufacturer in the trial of a class action lawsuit for alleged violations of California’s Unfair Competition Law and Consumers’ Legal Remedy Act arising from purported misrepresentations about the safety and reliability of “thick film ignition” systems (i.e., the first-generation computer controls that replaced mechanical distributors in over 20 million 1980s-era vehicles).</li><li>Following the fatal crash of an aircraft returning to San Francisco, California from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, Judd led the team investigating allegations of improper and incomplete aircraft maintenance in airline’s maintenance operations centers. Among other things, Mr. Judd advised the chief executive officer and his crisis management team about the airline’s degree of compliance with FAA Airworthiness Directives, which culminated in the short-term grounding of the fleet.</li><li>Mr. Judd led an internal investigation team in connection with SEC, state attorneys general, and DOJ investigations into allegations of market timing and inadequate disclosure of investment management fees by major mutual fund operator.</li><li>Mr. Judd led an internal investigation team in connection with SEC, California Attorney General, and DOJ investigations into allegations of software developer’s backdating employee stock option grants and other irregularities.</li><li>Mr. Judd led defense team responding to DOJ allegations of criminal falsification of operating records in connection with the a wastewater treatment facility operated under contract by a division of large construction and environmental engineering company.</li><li>Mr. Judd successfully represented a software development manager for a major brand of computers, smart phones, tablets, and other consumer electronic devices accused of trade secrets misappropriation; following plaintiff’s unsuccessful appeal of the summary judgment of dismissal by the trial court (see <em>Hooked Media Group, Inc. v. Apple Inc.</em>, 55 Cal. App. 5th 323 (2020)).</li><li><em>John Doe v. University of California</em>. Mr. Judd represented a college senior after UC-Davis dismissed him for violating UC’s sexual misconduct policy; Mr. Judd obtained a writ of administrative mandate vacating the order of dismissal and reinstating a 2-year suspension order issued after successful administrative appeal.</li><li>Mr. Judd represented a leading department store brand in successful pre-litigation efforts to enforce the obligations of the lender that had succeeded the developer of the shopping center in which the department store was the anchor tenant.</li></ul>

• Template Civil Jury Instructions Under the Defend Trade Secrets Act
• Buchalter Client Alert COVID-19: Judicial Council Enacts COVID-19 Emergency Rules Preventing Unlawful Detainers and Staying Judicial Foreclosure Actions Statewide