Jacqueline Gottlieb Luther is an associate in the Business Trials and Finance and Bankruptcy Practice Groups in the firm’s Orange County office. Ms. Luther also serves on the firm’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee, Women’s Group Committee, and the firm’s Recruiting Committee.
Ms. Luther’s practice consists of a wide range of commercial and civil litigation matters, including securities litigation, creditors’ rights litigation, contract disputes, real estate and property disputes, and business torts litigation. Ms. Luther also specializes in trusts and estates and fiduciary litigation. Ms. Luther has trial experience and handles all aspects of litigation including, administrative, trial court, and appellate proceedings in both state and federal courts.
Ms. Luther represents a broad base of financial institutions and other clients in all state and federal courts and has experience enforcing secured and unsecured loan obligations, obtaining attachments, injunctions, restraining orders, receiverships, and other pre-judgment remedies. She is also experienced in handling real property and UCC foreclosures, defending clients against lender liability, sham guaranty, and unfair business practices and specializes in enforcing and collecting judgments at both the trial court and appellate court level.
Ms. Luther represents clients in trust and estates litigation in both prosecuting and defending disputes pertaining to breach of fiduciary duty/surcharge actions, interpretation issues, will/trust contests, entitlement claims, and other types of controversies, both in the court system and before alternative dispute resolution forums.
Ms. Luther second chaired as trial counsel in a consolidated will and trust contest where the firm represented the beneficiary of the decedent’s will and trust. The suit was brought by the decedent’s nephew, her only living heir at law, who alleged that the decedent lacked testamentary capacity and was subject to undue influence.
Although the trial lasted nearly two weeks, the judge took only ten minutes after the conclusion of closing arguments to announce his decision rejecting all of the nephew’s claims and upholding the validity of the will and trust documents.
Ms. Luther second chaired as trial counsel in a trust case that concerned the correct methodology for distributing the residue of a multi-million dollar trust, which held valuable licensing agreements and trademarks. The case boiled down to whether, under California law, the so-called “fixed fraction method” or “changing fraction method” applied to determine how the trust residue was to be divided among three equal residuary shares, after taking major principal charges (including $38 million in estate taxes) into account.
While no California case had previously addressed this issue, after seven days of trial, the judge took only ten minutes after the conclusion of closing arguments to announce his decision in favor of our proposed “changing fraction method.”
Ms. Luther first chaired as trial counsel in a conservatorship proceeding regarding whether a conservatorship over an individual should be reinstated based upon a finding that the individual was gravely disabled pursuant to California Welfare and Institution Code section 5450 et seq. Ms. Luther delivered the opening statement, examined the expert witnesses who testified at trial, both on direct and cross, cross-examined a percipient witness that was not disclosed prior to trial, and delivered the closing argument.
Ms. Luther represented a commercial lender in an action brought by a managing member of a limited liability company who alleged that the lender violated the Unruh Civil Rights Act by declining to make a loan to managing member’s limited liability company based on managing member’s prior felony convictions. The Court of Appeal affirmed that lender had not violated the Act and the California Supreme Court denied managing member’s petition for review.
Education:
- J.D., Loyola Law School, 2010, cum laude, Order of the Coif, St. Thomas More Law Honor Society, Roger J. Traynor Appellate Moot Court First Place Oralist and Best Overall Advocate for highest combined oral advocacy and appellate brief score, Honors Scott Moot Court Board Member, Note and Comment Editor of Loyola of Los Angeles Entertainment Law Review
- B.A., University of California, Santa Barbara, 2006
Admissions:
- California
- U.S. Court of Appeal, Ninth Circuit
- U.S. District Court for the Central, Eastern, Northern, and Southern District of California
Cost
Rate : $$$