James M. Burgess is a partner in the firm's Century City office.
Areas of Practice
Mr. Burgess represents businesses in all phases of commercial litigation, including through trial and appeal. He specializes in class actions and cases under the Unfair Competition Law (Business and Professions Code Section 17200), and he speaks and writes frequently on those issues. Mr. Burgess also handles disputes concerning merger agreements and asset purchase agreements. His cases typically involve allegations of breach of contract and commercial torts such as fraud and interference with contract. He has successfully handled a wide variety of cases, including cases under the Americans with Disabilities Act and California's Unruh Civil Rights Act, intellectual property disputes, including trade secret, copyright, trademark and idea submission cases, insurance bad faith, breach of warranty, product defect, leasing and real estate disputes.
Mr. Burgess has extensive trial and arbitration experience. He was trial counsel for defendants in the following lawsuits, each of which resulted in a defense verdict/judgment after a jury/bench trial: A&J Liquor v. State Fund (a $2 billion class action), Ronald L. Wolfe & Associates, Inc. v. State Fund (an insurance bad faith case), Westrup v. Nordstrom, (a 17200 class action involving sales tax reimbursements), Atlas Mill Supply, Inc. v. State Fund (an insurance bad faith case).
His published cases include Advanced Building Maintenance v. State Compensation Insurance Fund (1996) 49 Cal. App. 4th 1388, Scheffield Medical Group, Inc. v. Workers' Compensation Appeals Board (1999) 70 Cal. App. 4th 868, Conversive, Inc. v. Conversagent, Inc. (C.D. Cal. 2006) 433 F.Supp.2d 1079, 79 U.S.P.Q.2d 1284, Mitan v. Feeney (C.D.Cal. 2007) 497 F.Supp.2d 1113, 68 Fed.R.Serv.3d 809, Koszdin v. State Compensation Ins. Fund (2010) 186 Cal. App. 4th 480, Fenton v. Balick, 821 F.Supp.2d 755 (E.D. Pa. 2011).
