Achievements
CONCENTRATING IN TRIAL AND LITGATION MATTERS INVOLVNG COMMERICAL AND BUSINESS PARTNERSHIPS AND INVESTOR DISPUTES
Howard Loeb’s achievements
In a dealer distribution dispute he successfully led to the defeat of a major Australian-based international sports company in the surfing industry. In that matter, he was retained by a Puerto Rican-based distributor when the Australian titan sued the client in Superior Court in Santa Ana, California in the Australian’s attempt to terminate the client’s dealership and distribution network. The Australian company had sued the Puerto Rican client in California in an effort to preempt the client’s imminent antitrust suit in Puerto Rico. Mr. Loeb promptly removed the Australian company’s California lawsuit to U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, California and then in a hard fought battle obtained an order from the California federal court transferring the suit to the federal court in San Juan, Puerto Rico. As a direct result of that effort, the client very quickly obtained a very favorable seven figure settlement of the suit it brought against the Australian company in Puerto Rico.
In another dealer distribution matter representing a former dealer of a supplier of construction equipment, Mr. Loeb successfully opposed the Midwest supplier-plaintiff’s motion for a writ of attachment in the action the supplier brought in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. In that matter, the Court issued a detailed memorandum adopting the arguments Mr. Loeb had urged in opposition to the plaintiff’s motion. The Court found the matter significant and its opinion is officially published in the federal reports as Blastrac, N.A. v. Concrete Solutions & Supply, 678 F.Supp.2d 1001 (C.D. Cal. 2010).
In an action involving the lease of a Boeing 747 aircraft, Mr. Loeb successfully represented the leasing company when the lessee had defaulted on substantial lease payments. Working together with Delaware local counsel, Mr. Loeb commenced an action against the air carrier, Delaware corporation, seeking the appointment of a receiver. As a direct result of that suit filed on an emergency basis, the carrier returned the 747 to the client’s representative at Los Angeles International Airport.
In a “corporate divorce” involving a Los Angeles-based international freight forwarder, working together with forensic accountants, Mr. Loeb followed a complex trail involving alleged diversions of sizable amounts of business from the corporation to other entities controlled by the defendant. Mr. Loeb’s successfully sought the appointment of a provisional director for the freight forwarder which shortly thereafter led to a very successful settlement benefitting the Mr. Loeb’s client, a Vancouver-based shareholder in this freight forwarding business.
As Lead Counsel for a major bank he devised and implemented a discovery plan and subsequent motion for summary judgment resulting in dismissal of the plaintiffs’ $14,000,000.00 lost profit claims; he again led the client’s defense in the subsequent appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in which the dismissal of plaintiffs’ case was completely upheld.
As Lead Counsel in a trademark infringement action representing prominent nationally acclaimed restaurants against alleged infringers, he obtained a favorable settlement protecting the client’s valuable intellectual property.
In a RICO action in U.S. District Court in San Diego, he took charge for the plaintiff, a foreign bank, and succeeded in recovering the entire principal amount, $750,000 that the defendants had obtained through a complex range of activities both here and abroad that the bank claimed were part of a large fraud.
In an action representing an English casino against an Algerian national, Mr. Loeb was able to obtain complete recovery despite the defendant’s attempt to evade his debt by placing his luxury cars and Beverly Hills mansion in the name of a California and Panamanian corporation. Both in the trial court and in the appeal that Mr. Loeb briefed and argued, he succeeded in thwarting defendant’s contention that the casino debt was an unenforceable gambling debt. In that case, Crockford’s Club Ltd. v. Si-Ahmed, 203 Cal. App. 3d 1402 (1988), the appellate court ruled for the first time that a foreign judgment based on dishonored checks negotiated at a gaming club may be enforced in California.
In a conversion action representing a Japanese collector of exotic cars, Mr. Loeb successfully recovered an $800,000.00 classic racing car that defendants had wrongfully taken from the plaintiff. In that same case, Mr. Loeb also successfully prosecuted related claims regarding a classic car auction that was scheduled to take place in Japan but did not occur. Mr. Loeb conducted a series of depositions in that matter in the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, and thereafter prosecuted the action through a bench trial in Los Angeles Superior Court resulting in a decision granting a judgment in the client’s favor.
As co-counsel for a large international finance company, he planned and implemented pre-trial strategy involving 150 third-party depositions, extensive motion practice and 30 days of depositions of the plaintiffs. Also participated as trial co-counsel in a 115-day jury trial of this matter in federal court in Puerto Rico that resulted in a complete dismissal of all claims in settlement for a nominal sum of money.
Mr. Loeb successfully prosecuted a cargo contamination case in federal district court in Houston, Texas for an international chemical manufacturer. That case resulted in a favorable settlement just as a jury was about to be selected after Mr. Loeb’s expert witness in spectrographic analysis gave very strong eve of trial deposition testimony supporting the client’s claim identifying the source of the contamination as originating through the acts of the defendant chemical storage company.
He acted as special counsel for the debtor-in-possession in a Chapter 11 case. In that matter, through his prosecution of lender liability and related tort claims against the debtor ‘s former counsel and a number of insiders involving allegations of breaches of fiduciary duty and diversion of assets from the debtor’s estate, a successful settlement of the debtor’s adversary proceeding was achieved, which settlement lead to the confirmation of the debtor’s Chapter 11 Plan allowing creditors to receive a 55% dividend.
As Lead Counsel for two English Casinos, he successfully prosecuted in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Hawaii his clients’ objections to discharge of the debts owed by the Debtor, a banker and real estate developer who had large financial interest and transactions not only in Hawaii but in California, Singapore, China and the British Virgin Islands. As a result of that action and the related action Mr. Loeb prosecuted in the Los Angeles Superior Court, Mr. Loeb’s clients recovered over $4 million. Mr. Loeb’s clients achieved the highest percentage of recovery of any of the creditors involved in this matter.