James Rutten

James C. Rutten is a litigation partner with Munger, Tolles & Olson. Mr. Rutten devotes approximately half his practice to complex securities and shareholder class action and derivative litigation, and the other half to other commercial litigation matters, including in the areas of unfair competition, contract disputes, general tort law and consumer law. He has represented both plaintiffs and defendants in securities cases in federal and state courts around the country, and has defeated class certification on numerous occasions.

Mr. Rutten joined Munger Tolles in 1998 after receiving his J.D. from the University of Southern California Law School and clerking for the Honorable John S. Rhoades, Sr. of the U.S. District Court, Southern District of California. He serves on the Board of Governors of the Los Angeles chapter of the Association of Business Trial Lawyers (ABTL).

Key Representations:

• Merrill Lynch, Verizon and Hewlett-Packard in four separate actions alleging the improper escheatment of shareholders’ stock. Two of the cases were dismissed on the pleadings, and another was dismissed on summary judgment while still at the pleading stage. In the fourth, class certification was denied, and the case thereafter settled on an individual basis.
• Verizon Directories Corp. in a putative nationwide consumer class action alleging improper renewals of customers’ Yellow Pages advertising. Class certification was denied, and the case thereafter settled on an individual basis.
• Citigroup in a case alleging employee “raiding,” misappropriation of trade secrets, and related torts arising from the hiring of nine financial advisors from a competitor. Following a 50-day arbitration, the arbitration panel unanimously decided in favor of Citigroup on all claims.

Education:

• USC Gould School of Law (J.D., 1997) Order of the Coif
• Cal State San Bernardino (B.A., 1994) Phi Kappa Phi

Bar Admissions : California