Christopher W. Chorba

Chris Chorba is Co-Partner in Charge of the Los Angeles office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and Co-Chair of the firm’s Class Actions Practice Group. He specializes in defending consumer class and representative actions involving the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005, the Lanham Act, California’s Unfair Competition and False Advertising Laws (Business & Professions Code § 17200 and § 17500), and the Consumers Legal Remedies Act (California Civil Code § 1750 et seq.).

Mr. Chorba is also a member of the Litigation, Appellate and Constitutional Law, Health Care, Insurance, Law Firm Defense, and Media, Entertainment and Technology Practice Groups. He has substantial experience litigating a wide range of complex commercial matters at the trial and appellate level in California and throughout the country. His litigation and counseling experience includes work for companies in the automotive, consumer products, entertainment, food and beverage, technology and computer software, telecommunications, insurance, health care, retail, and utility industries.
Representative Matters

Secured the dismissal of more than one dozen class, representative, and complex actions on the pleadings, and successfully defended these dismissals on appeal (see, e.g., Baby Trend, Inc. v. Playtex Products, LLC, No. 13-647, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 113558 (C.D. Cal. Aug. 7, 2013); Parker v. iolo technologies, LLC, No. 12-00984, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 138803 (C.D. Cal. Aug. 20, 2012); Hairston v. South Beach Bev. Co., No. 11-419, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 74279 (C.D. Cal. May 18, 2012); Jamgotchian v. Scientific Games Corp., 371 F. App’x 812 (9th Cir. 2010); Wright v. General Mills, No. 08-1532, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 90576 (S.D. Cal. Sept. 30, 2009); ZAP v. DaimlerChrysler AG et al., No. B193331, 2008 Cal. App. Unpub. LEXIS 1392 (Cal. Ct. App. Feb. 21, 2008), review denied (Cal. May 14, 2008); McKinniss v. General Mills, No. 07-2521, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 96107 (C.D. Cal. Sept. 18, 2007); Pocino v. Jostens,Inc., No. B181449, 2006 Cal. App. Unpub. LEXIS 3852 (Cal. Ct. App. May 3, 2006)).
Assisted in the defense of a complex fraud and civil conspiracy action brought by the California Insurance Commissioner, which resulted a favorable defense verdict on five of six liability claims and all claims for monetary damages following a lengthy federal jury trial spanning several months in 2005, and a post-verdict order rejecting any punitive damages. Secured favorable jury verdict in limited retrial in 2012, resulting in no award of compensatory damages.
Retained by product manufacturer to handle federal Lanham Act trial following an adverse, eight-figure jury verdict after initial trial in 2012. Secured exclusion of all damages evidence on the eve of the retrial, which resulted in a complete win for our client on all of plaintiff’s claims.
Secured the reversals on appeal of judgments totaling $295 million in three certified class actions in New Mexico and California involving installment payment plans for auto insurance policies (Nellis v. Farmers Ins. Co. of Ariz., No. 29,295, 2011 N.M. App. LEXIS 114 (N.M. Ct. App. Sept. 20, 2011); Nellis v. Mid-Century Ins. Co., 2011 N.M. App. Unpub. LEXIS 344 (N.M. Ct. App. Sept. 20, 2011); Troyk v. Farmers Group, Inc., 171 Cal. App. 4th 1305 (2009)).
Represented a utility company in having a city ordinance declared unconstitutional in violation of the Contract Clause by a Federal District Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and obtained and defended a substantial award of attorneys’ fees for the client (So. Cal. Gas Co. v. City of Santa Ana, 202 F. Supp. 2d 1129 (C.D. Cal.), aff’d, 336 F.3d 885 (9th Cir. 2002)). Represented same client in similar dispute against another municipality, and secured favorable summary judgment ruling and award of attorneys’ fees (So. Cal. Gas Co. v. City of Alhambra, No. 10-8635, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 107514 (C.D. Cal. June 6, 2011)).
Secured dismissal in putative class action in California state court challenging nurse staffing ratios in skilled nursing facilities.
Defended several prominent international law firms and their lawyers against claims arising from the “unfinished business” doctrine of Jewel v. Boxer in more than a half-dozen adversary proceedings, including matters in the Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison LLP and Heller Ehrman LLP bankruptcies.

Selected Publications

Chapters on Bus. & Prof. Code §§ 17200 and 17500, et seq. and the California Consumers Legal Remedies Act, in California Civil Procedure Before Trial: Claims and Defenses (The Rutter Group)
“Expert Analysis of Class Certification Issues,” in Litigation Services Handbook: The Role of the Financial Expert (5th ed. 2012)
Crafting a Successful E-mail Notice Program, The Review of Banking & Financial Services (May 2012)
Year in Review on Class Actions: 2011 a Blockbuster Year for Litigators, Highlighted by Supreme Court Rulings in Dukes and Concepcion, Bloomberg/BNA Class Action Litigation Report, February 24, 2012
American Bar Association, A Practitioner’s Guide to Class Actions, “Other Due Process Challenges to Class Device” (2010)

Selected Presentations

“Other Pivotal Residential Mortgage Class Action Issues Currently in Play and Coming Down the Pike from the U.S. Supreme Court: Class Certifications, CAFA, Removal and More,” 12th National Forum on Residential Mortgage Litigation & Regulatory Enforcement (ACI), January 16, 2014
“AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion: Assessing the Impact on Class Action Litigation, 2013 National Consumer Class Action Litigation & Management Conference” (Bridgeport), June 27-28, 2013
“Managing and Defending Against Class Actions: Prevailing Against New Plaintiff Strategies, Application and Impact of Concepcion and Wal-Mart v. Dukes, and Class Action Mortgage Trends in the State of California,” 10th National Forum on Residential Mortgage Litigation & Regulatory Enforcement (ACI), January 17, 2013
“Overview of U.S. Class Actions, Defending and Managing Litigation Against Financial Institutions” (C5 Global Conferences), November 28-29, 2012
“Update on Wal-Mart v. Dukes, Mazza v. Honda, andConcepcion v. AT&T Mobility, Consumer Attorneys of San Diego,” Fifth Annual Class Action Symposium, September 14, 2012
“State of the Practice and Case Law Update,” Twelfth Annual Class Action Litigation & Management Conference (Bridgeport), April 2012
“Class Action & Litigation Trends,” 14th National Conference on Consumer Finance Class Actions & Litigation (ACI), January 2012
“Class Action Developments and Settlements & UDAP Update,” 15th Annual Consumer Financial Services Institute (PLI), April 2010
“False Advertising Class Actions in California After In re Tobacco II Cases,” ABA Private Advertising Litigation Subcommittee Webinar, February 2010

After graduating cum laude from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in 1996, Mr. Chorba received his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law in 2001, where he served on the Editorial Board of the Virginia Law Review. He is admitted to practice before all state and federal courts in California, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court of the United States. Each year since 2004, Los Angeles and Law & Politics magazines selected Mr. Chorba for inclusion in their “Super Lawyers–Rising Stars” publications for Southern California.

Good to know

Areas of Practice 1) Class Actions, 2) Appellate and Constitutional Law, 3) Fashion, 4) Retail and Consumer Products, 5) FDA and Health Care, 6) Information Technology and Data Privacy, 7) Insurance and Reinsurance, 8) Law Firm Defense, 9) Media, 10) Entertainment and Technology and 11) Product Liability
Law School University of Virginia School of Law, J.D., 2001
Education Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, B.S., 1996
Bar Member / Association California State Bar Association
Most recent firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
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