David Kiernan, Partner-in-Charge of Northern California and a member of the Business & Tort Litigation Practice who resides in the San Francisco and Silicon Valley offices, and Jeffrey LeVee, a partner in the Antitrust & Competition Law Practice who resides in the Los Angeles Office, were recognized in the Daily Journal's annual list of the "Top 100 Lawyers in California."
Mr. Kiernan and Mr. LeVee recently co-led the defense of Sutter Health, a hospital system in Northern California, in an antitrust class action alleging that Sutter restrained competition by allegedly forcing insurers to include certain hospitals in their provider networks and forbidding them from steering patients to other hospitals. After a month-long trial, the jury returned a unanimous defense verdict and rejected plaintiffs' claims for $1.2 billion in post-trebled damages. The case was to-date the largest antitrust class action jury trial against a hospital system and makes an important contribution to both antitrust and health care law.
Mr. Kiernan is an accomplished trial lawyer who has litigated antitrust and unfair business practice cases, class actions, public nuisance, climate change, joint venture disputes, and bankruptcy matters throughout the United States. He is the head of litigation for the San Francisco Office.
He has represented clients across industries including tech, energy, health care, consumer brand manufacturing, digital advertising, railroad, and others and routinely counsels clients on antitrust and competition law issues related to licensing, interoperability, refusal to deal, discounting, bundling, and pricing.
His recent matters include representing an oil refiner in two class actions alleging that California refiners fixed prices by agreeing to restrict supply of gasoline; a software company in a case brought by a competitor challenging licensing restrictions and lack of interoperability; a tech company in an antitrust class action challenging the company's refusal to deal; a consumer brand manufacturer in a public nuisance action seeking to hold manufacturers liable for marine plastic pollution; and a fossil fuel company in climate change litigation.
Mr. LeVee is the head of litigation for the Los Angeles Office. In his practice, he focuses on antitrust litigation, health care litigation, and complex business and antitrust counseling. He has successfully litigated and arbitrated matters in courts and other administrative bodies throughout the United States. The clients he represents include health care providers, pharmaceutical companies, retailers, telecommunications companies, manufacturers, and technology companies.
Mr. LeVee has successfully defended dozens of class action lawsuits, including a successful jury verdict following a trial on antitrust claims brought by a certified consumer class against Macy's and by a competitor against Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital.
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