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Sidney Kanazawa
Partner 
1800 Century Park East
skanazawa@mcguirewoods.com8th Floor Los Angeles, California 90067 F: 310.315.8210    |
Mr. Kanazawa is recognized for his experience with bet-the-company litigation and crisis matters. With experience in a wide range of trials, he approaches conflicts with the goal of maximizing opportunities and minimizing risks.
- After a three week jury trial, obtained a unanimous defense verdict for a pharmaceutical client within one hour of the jury retiring to deliberate a wrongful death case in which plaintiffs' counsel chose the initial trial case and touted a prior 4-0 plaintiff jury verdict record against other manufacturers of the same drug.
- Negotiated and amicably resolved, in about 6 months without formal litigation or mediator assistance, a highly contentious and complex high-end resort condominium real estate dispute involving nearly 100 parties.
- On the eve of trial, obtained a multimillion-dollar settlement for a domestic brand holder client in a brand damage dispute against an overseas consumer product manufacturer.
- In preparing for a wage/hour class action trial, developed creative graphics and storyboards to simplify the facts and crystalize themes that had the unexpected consequence of causing a settlement on the eve of trial (a day after the graphics were exchanged).
- Settled a class action lawsuit with a non-class settlement approved by the court that resolved a high profile food supplement case involving professional athletes without any significant publicity.
- Helped create the political will to compel FEMA, the State of Louisiana, and one of the most devastated Parishes in Louisiana to pay $24 million (100% of invoices) to several contractors who provided hazardous waste cleanup services in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita when legal remedies were inadequate.
- Obtained a unanimous and complete defense verdict in a sexual harassment jury trial on behalf of a major Hollywood studio and thereby avoided a judgment, attorney's fees, and embarrassing publicity for the client.
- Resolved a series of highly complex multimillion-dollar partnership, building management, and practice management lawsuits on behalf of a world-renown medical group against two major publicly traded companies, without formal discovery.
- Reduced a multibillion-dollar California Business and Professions Code Section 17200 claim, that was prosecuted by the district attorneys of nine counties against several manufacturers, to a low six-figure administrative fine and reimbursement. This result was achieved over three years through a series of meetings and correspondence that extensively explored constitutional limitations on government fines and penalties, case law interpretations of Section 17200, the admissibility of extrapolation evidence, and the likely impact of expected trial presentations. The complaint and stipulated final consent judgment were filed the same day and received no press coverage.
- Removed a product manufacturer client and a distributor co-defendant from a 30-party construction defect case with severe personal injury allegations, by actively engaging with co-defendants to minimize disputes among defendants, reducing costs through the use of electronic filing, and promoting extensive settlement discussions with plaintiffs' counsel.
- Used a variety of legal and interpersonal strategies to prevent an attempted takeover of a company, including the filing of a TRO.
- Recovered a seven-figure settlement in a major homeowners' association's action, without taking any depositions, and with virtually no other discovery by any party.
- Dissuaded a client from immediately filing a lawsuit and instead resolved a multimillion-dollar dispute through informal meetings in a matter of months. These negotiations saved a valuable business relationship that his client thought was unsalvageable.
- After a month-long trial virtually no one thought he could win, Mr. Kanazawa defended a grocery chain against a highly contentious contempt action by the California attorney general and several private environmental groups over an alleged breach of a Proposition 65 consent judgment. Mr. Kanazawa subdued plaintiffs' populist cause and turned the spotlight on plaintiffs' and the government's less-than-honest conduct in attempting to enforce the consent judgment.
- In actions brought in California and Nevada, Mr. Kanazawa recovered 100% of his clients' original investment and assisted a Receiver in recovering more than $40 million for a medical device company when improper cash transfers of private placement funds reduced the company's available cash from more than $30 million to less than $100,000 by the time his clients initiated a shareholders' derivative lawsuit that eventually led to the appointment of the Receiver and this recovery.
- Helped a homeowners association recover $2 million from its insurer in an earthquake damage dispute.
- Defended a client manufacturer in a breach of contract lawsuit by an exclusive distributor, Mr. Kanazawa resolved the matter by recovering for the manufacturer more from the distributor than the distributor originally claimed in damages.
- Recovered $8 million for a homeowners association in a construction defect case involving more than 50 parties, even though the defendants' cost-of-repair estimates were less than $3 million.
- Helped a client reinstate its state-issued administrative letter of authorization when it was revoked by the state agency on questionable grounds. Mr. Kanazawa negotiated in direct meetings and actions with the agency to reestablish its credibility with the agency. The letter was reinstated and relations with the agency vastly improved.
- Obtained a unanimous product liability design defect defense verdict for a manufacturer despite previous and subsequent punitive damage plaintiff verdicts against the same manufacturer for the same product.
- Represented a foreign shipowner in the largest oil spill in the Port of Los Angeles as incident commander and became the focal point of all cleanup, government, media, and public communications and actions. Cleared the port for commercial traffic in five days, and orchestrated an incentive system that cleaned thousands of contaminated pilings and seven miles of shoreline in three months. Organized a claims office that resolved all 2,000+ claims in three months (600 within two weeks) of the spill. In subsequent litigation, reduced felony charges against client to administrative fines; developed scientific evidence undercutting the U.S. Coast Guard's formerly definitive chemical "fingerprinting" evidence; and proved in a civil trial against another vessel, that 93% of the oil came from that other vessel. Ultimately, recovered more than 100% of our client's clean up and claims expenses, forced adverse experts to admit they could not reduce our client's cost-effective clean up and claims expenses and made the management of this spill the model training template for the U.S. Coast Guard.
- Organized crisis team for manufacturer client the morning after a death in a silo, and proceeded to take care of the affected employees and families, address OSHA and criminal investigations, deal with union-related issues, and resolve all disputes without unnecessary litigation or adverse publicity.
- Product & Consumer Litigation
- Products Liability
- Discovery Counsel Services
- Japan Practice Group
- Accountants Defense
- Life Sciences
- Named a Southern California "Super Lawyer," 2006-2012
- Recipient, G. Duffield Smith Outstanding Publication Award, Defense Research Institute, 2007
- Partner, Van Etten Suzumoto & Becket LLP
- Partner, Pillsbury Winthrop LLP
- Partner, Lillick McHose LLP
- "Japan's New Jury System Introduces Different Perspectives on Trial Advocacy," Los Angeles Daily Journal, December 8, 2010
- "Apologies and Lunch," The Corporate Counselor, Fall 2010
- "Simply Positive: Preparing Witnesses for Depositions," For the Defense, July 2006
- "Apologies and Lunch," For the Defense, July 2004
- NITA/PSIM: Trial Advocacy, Tokyo, Japan, 2009, 2010
- DRI: "Duke Lacrosse Rape Case," Chicago, Illinois, 2009
- Panelist, "State Attorney General Investigations," Minority Corporate Counsel Association CLE Expo, Chicago, Illinois, March 20, 2009
- Representing Asian Clients in High-Stakes U.S. Jury Trials, Inter-Pacific Bar Association, 18th Annual Conference, April 27-30, 2008
- American Law Institute
- Product Liability Advisory Council
- Maritime Law Association
- Japanese American Bar Association
- General Counsel, National Asian Pacific American Bar Association
- Past Chair, Trial Tactics Committee, Defense Research Institute
- Instructor, National Institute for Trial Advocacy
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EDUCATION University of Southern California Gould School of Law, Los Angeles, California, J.D., 1978 University of Hawaii, B.Ed., 1974 ADMITTED California Hawaii |