Cooley Godward team helps consumer health group win two major court cases

San Diego Business Journal, May 12, 2003 by Rene'e Beasley Jones

Representing Clients: Thanks to a team of lawyers at Cooley Godward LLP, a California consumer health organization won two big court cases recently - one in the U.S. Supreme Court and the other in the California Supreme Court.

William Grauer, the chair of Cooley Godward's San Diego litigation department, led the team that argued before both courts for Cypress, Calif.-based PacifiCare Health Systems Inc.

Before the U.S. Supreme Court, Grauer addressed a class action by doctors who alleged managed care companies engaged in manipulative practices that damaged them. In its unanimous decision on April 7, the high court upheld an arbitration agreement, which prohibited the award of punitive damages.

In the California Supreme Court case, Grauer argued against two lower court rulings, which found that an arbitration clause is not enforceable when a plaintiff seeks monetary relief in a consumer class action. The state ruling that overturned the lower-court decisions was issued on April 24.

Over at Latham & Watkins' San Diego office, Andrew Singer represented the Goldman Sachs Group in its $456 million purchase of El Paso Corp.'s interests in East Coast Power LLC.

Gray Cary's local office represented the Gemological Institute of America in a series of legal actions in three countries concerning counterfeit diamond grading. The law firm and GIA successfully stopped an international operation that used counterfeit GIA diamond grading reports to support diamond sales, mainly through the Internet.

And Bonny Sweeny, an attorney at Milberg, Weiss, Bershad, Hynes & Lerach, is representing Environmental Law Foundation, the plaintiff in a California class-action lawsuit against American Express Co. The lawsuit reportedly stems from the credit card company failing to disclose a transaction fee it assesses on goods and services in foreign currency.