Alexandrea Haskell Young

Alexandrea Haskell Young’s practice focuses on complex commercial litigation, including property disputes, contract claims, business torts, and class action defense. Alex has extensive experience representing clients in a broad range of commercial disputes and has practiced in state and federal trial courts in California, and across the United States.

Alex has litigated complex cases including wage and hour class actions and actions involving claims of breach of contract (including leases and purchase/sale contracts), fraud, negligent misrepresentation, violation of California’s consumer protection laws, tortious interference, nuisance, trespass, eminent domain and inverse condemnation, and negligence.

Alex is admitted to practice before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and the Northern, Southern, Eastern and Central Districts of California.

Alex serves as Chair of the firm’s Pro Bono Committee for the California offices.

Experience:

• Defended a national retailer in a lawsuit brought by a co-tenant claiming it had the exclusive right to sell certain products in the shopping center. Successfully excluded plaintiff’s damages expert shortly before the scheduled trial, and won judgment for the client after the court granted the client’s motion for summary judgment based on the lack of evidence of damage.
• Defended a national financial services company and its associated CPA firm in a suit by multiple broker-dealers and their principals who alleged their clients lost hundreds of millions in an alleged Ponzi scheme, in reliance on negligent and fraudulent accounting services. A client was granted summary judgment, and on the first day of trial against the other, the court granted critical motions in limine that severely undermined plaintiffs’ case. The court began trial by conducting a multi-day evidentiary hearing that resulted in the court striking plaintiffs’ damages expert. The case settled favorably shortly thereafter.
• Represented multiple defendants in mass toxic tort against renowned Los Angeles plaintiffs’ firm, consisting of five putative class actions and approximately 3,500 individual claimants alleging property damage and personal injury due to exposure to hexavalent chromium and other chemicals in air and groundwater (including claims of negligence, trespass and nuisance). Successfully struck injunctive relief and certain punitive damages against her clients, and obtained dismissals with prejudice of over 900 plaintiffs, before successfully resolving all actions.
• Represented leading retailers in California wage and hour class actions.
• Represented a national CPA firm in multiple audit malpractice claims.
• Represented accounting firms and individual CPAs in numerous third party discovery proceedings.
• Lead counsel for a national retailer defending against a claim for tortious interference asserted by its landlord. Plaintiff landlord alleged that the client improperly interfered with the attempted sale of the property being leased.
• After initiating early, aggressive discovery, including taking the key deposition of the potential purchaser of the property who did not ultimately buy the property, plaintiff landlord voluntarily dismissed its lawsuit with prejudice.
• Lead counsel for a national retailer in an eminent domain action brought by the California Department of Transportation in connection with expanding Interstate 5 freeway. After extensive, successful pre-trial motion practice involving unique issues related to compensable harm, the case settled under favorable terms days before trial.
• Defended a large retail company in a lease dispute with its landlord who claimed a “mistake” in the drafting of the 25-year old lease that resulted in decreasing rent over time, and alleged other various maintenance breaches. The matter settled under favorable terms, with the plaintiff landlord dismissing its lawsuit and providing a settlement payment and release to the client.
• Second-chair trial counsel for a national bank in a breach of lease dispute resulting in a three week jury trial in Los Angeles Superior Court. Through creative and successful motion practice, damages were drastically reduced and the matter settled favorably during appeal.
• Counsel for a leading beverage manufacturer in a dispute with a distributor that involved a race to the courthouse with two lawsuits filed in different jurisdictions. Alex successfully defended and enforced the contract’s forum selection provision, and the matter settled favorably after obtaining a dismissal of the improper foreign suit and successfully opposing a motion to dismiss brought by plaintiff in the proper court.
• Counsel for a major videogame publisher in a suit brought by a joint venturer for access to the client’s books and records in Delaware Chancery Court. The client prevailed after a bench trial, in a rare complete victory for the defendant in these types of disputes. The plaintiff appealed to the Delaware Supreme Court, which summarily found for the client and upheld the Chancery Court’s decision in full.
• Counsel for a major record label in a suit brought by an independent music promoter for fraud, breach of contract, tortious interference, RICO, antitrust, and defamation.
• After initiating aggressive discovery, the case settled under extremely favorable terms shortly after filing summary judgment papers on behalf of the client.

EDUCATION:

• JD, University of Southern California Gould School of Law, 2004
• BA, Duke University, 2001

BAR ADMISSIONS:

• California