Jeffrey H. Reeves

Jeffrey H. Reeves is Partner-in-Charge of the Orange County office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP.  He is a member of the firm's Litigation; Securities; Media, Entertainment and Technology; Healthcare and Class Actions Practice Groups, handling complex commercial business disputes. 

Hailing from Houston, Texas, he earned his undergraduate degree in Economics from Texas A&M University in 1988.  Thereafter, he attended the University of Houston Law Center where he served as Research Editor for the Houston Law Review and graduated cum laude in 1991.

Since joining Gibson Dunn in 1991, Mr. Reeves has focused primarily on complex business litigation and has tried cases in federal and state courts and in ADR settings.  He defends companies from the healthcare, pharmaceutical, life sciences, technology, apparel and entertainment industries in business and tort cases, including healthcare, consumer and securities fraud class actions.  He also handles unfair competition, theft of trade secret, real estate and certain types of intellectual property litigation.  

Mr. Reeves was recently honored to be named a recipient of the Anti-Defamation League’s Marcus Kaufman award that the ADL, Orange County/Long Beach Region, has bestowed each year since 1993 on attorneys who make outstanding contributions to the legal profession and to the community.  He was also named to Southern California Rising Stars in 2004, 2005 and 2006 and was recently named to Southern California Super Lawyers in 2009, 2010 and 2011 by Super Lawyers Magazine.

Mr. Reeves is currently active in the following professional and community organizations: 

• Central District Lawyer Representative to the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference (serves on Congressional Outreach Committee)
• Orange County Business Council, Board member, Executive Committee member and Legal Affairs Committee Chair
• Hoag Charity Events, Board member
• Association of Business Trial Lawyers, Board of Governors, Vice President
• Federal Bar Association, Orange County Chapter, past President
• Federal Bar Association, National Government Relations Committee, member
• Constitutional Rights Foundation of Orange County, President Emeritus
• Discovery Science Center, Board member
• Ninth Judicial Circuit Historical Society
• Orange County Bar Association, Investment Advisory Sub-Committee
• UC Irvine Chief Executive Roundtable, Board member

Representative Matters

Securities, Shareholder and Other Class Action Litigation

• Allergan Shareholder Derivative Litigations.  Representing current and former directors in two separate derivative litigation matters pending in Delaware and California, one arising out of company’s $600 million settlement of government investigations and qui tam complaints, and the other arising from the plaintiff’s contention that Allergan’s 2011 Incentive Award Plan is defective because executive compensation paid pursuant to the Plan is allegedly not tax-deductible under section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code.
• Beckman Coulter Shareholder Litigation.  Representing biomedical testing and device manufacturer in shareholder derivative suit filed in Orange County Superior Court, Civil Complex, following initiation of multiple securities class actions.  
• Vaughn v. Avanir Pharmaceuticals, Inc., et al.  Represented pharmaceutical company and directors in putative class action case alleging violations of federal securities laws.  Court dismissed the case over plaintiff’s objections.
• Richard Kralick v. Avanir Pharmaceuticals, Inc.  Defended Avanir in state court securities fraud litigation brought, and eventually dismissed, by a former shareholder.
• Judy and Russell Williams, et al. v. Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center; St. Joseph Health System, et al.  Represented Hospital and System in defending putative class action alleging duty to warn patients of the potential for independent contractor physicians to engage in practice of balance billing.
• The Williams Companies Securities Litigation.  Defended energy company and officers in multiple federal securities class actions. 
• Simon v. Ashworth, Inc.  Defended Ashworth in consumer class action pending in the Central District of California alleging violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act’s (FCRA) credit card receipt truncation requirements imposed by the enactment of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act.  Successfully opposed class certification. 
• Sunhaven v. Harry H. Arzouman.  Tried common law securities fraud case for plantiff to jury before Hon. Alicemarie Stotler in Central District of California.  Jury returned special verdict form finding fraud and awarding damages and punitive damages.

Other Business Litigation

• Grateful Dead, et al. v. Wolfgang’s Vault.  Represented performers and record companies (including Grateful Dead, Led Zeppelin, The Doors, Carlos Santana, and Sony Music Entertainment) in case asserting copyright infringement, trademark infringement and violation of right of publicity and in connection with defendants’ acquisition of Bill Graham archives and operation of Wolfgang’sVault.com.  Obtained landmark settlement after obtaining key discovery rulings and order dismissing counterclaims. 
• Kieran Maguire v. Melissa Joan Hart, et al.  Representing T.V. and motion picture actress in defense of claims for breach of alleged oral management contract seeking future commission payments related to hit television series Melissa & Joey in Los Angeles Superior Court.
• Western Digital Technologies, Inc. v. Packaging Plus Services LLC, et al.  Representing Western Digital in Orange County Superior Court action filed to recover upwards of $18 million worth of hard drives being held by defendant company that had ceased operations.  Obtained emergency writ of possession on an ex parte basis and the property was recovered within days.
• Uniloc USA, Inc. et al. v. Sureloc, Inc.  Representing Microsoft Corporation in connection with Orange County Superior Court case involving rights to patent designed to combat software piracy, litigating questions of ownership of such rights, and efficacy of a license and contractual release from claims of infringement.
• Neal R. Cutler, M.D. v. Avanir Pharmaceuticals, Inc. et al.  Defending Avanir in breach of contract and tort litigation in Los Angeles Superior Court seeking damages of upwards of $35 million for alleged failure to make payments related to sales of an FDA-approved drug.
• Supreme Foodservice GMBH v. Fluor Intercontinental, Inc. et al.  Defending Fluor entities against contract claims brought in the Central District by a subcontractor in a dispute involving government contract issues related to the provision of services to the United States military in Afghanistan.
• LPL Holdings, Inc., et al. v. Pacific Life Insurance Company.  Represented Pacific Life in New York Supreme Court action alleging multi-millions dollar indemnification claims and seeking declaratory relief.
• Maurice Levy, M.D. v. Allergan USA, Inc., et al.  Defending company in tort and contract action filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court seeking more than $25 million in damages.
• Vigil v. St. Joseph Hospital of Orange, et al.  Represented hospital in case seeking millions of dollars in damages involving whistleblower allegations under California statutes, and allegations of wrongful termination, intentional torts and breach of contract.  Following mediation, Plaintiff dismissed the complaint for no consideration.
• Confidential plaintiff v. California pharmaceutical company.  Tried civil contempt case to verdict against former CEO of pharmaceutical company client in Superior Court in San Diego.  The Court found the former CEO guilty on all 58 counts of contempt that were charged.  The Court imposed the maximum permissible fine under the California statute imposed, and issued an order finding that all $1.3 million in attorneys' fees incurred by the Company in prosecuting the action were reasonable and requiring the former CEO to pay those fees.
• OnCure Medical Corp. v. Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center.  Defended Mission Hospital against claims from tenant seeking to enjoin construction of new multi-million dollar medical tower in South Orange County designed to house state-of-the-art linear accelerator, and bringing counter-claims for breaches of lease.
• Eastwood Insurance Services, Inc. v. Titan Insurance Services, et al.  Representing plaintiff in federal court breach of contract and fraud action against purchaser of substantially all of the client’s assets in earn-out dispute.
• Callison Architecture, Inc. v. Anaheim GW, LLC.  Represented developers of Anaheim GardenWalk mall near Disneyland in a dispute with architect alleging nonpayment and asserting numerous claims against the architect for negligence.
• Wide World of Golf & Tennis v. 2381 Fair Oaks Partners, et al.  Represented commercial landlord in post-trial litigation against tenant seeking lease rescission.  Hired following publishing of trial judge’s tentative post-trial Statement of Decision ruling against client, and was part of team that filed and argued post-trial briefs that yielded an entirely different and completely favorable final judgment in favor of the client.
• Cedar Fair v. Minntertainment Company arbitration.  Tried case for Cedar Fair against entities controlling Mall of America in Minnesota.  The judge ruled in Cedar Fair's favor, declared it to be the prevailing party and awarded Cedar Fair a multi-million dollar termination fee, plus attorneys' fees and costs.  Successfully defended award in appellate proceedings before both the Minnesota Court of Appeal and the Minnesota Supreme Court.
• Brokovich v. St. Joseph Health System.  Part of successful effort to dismiss a highly-publicized lawsuit filed by activist Erin Brokovich against St. Joseph Health System alleging that St. Joseph had over billed Medicare.  District Judge David Carter granted the defendant's motion to dismiss, saying Brokovich lacked standing to file the case.
• Pacific Life Insurance Company v. Allianz of America.  Represented PacLife in $30 million arbitration proceeding in New York against Allianz arising out of disputed put/call provision in contract regarding sale of PIMCO.  Prevailed outright in Phase I of the arbitration, and the matter settled before Phase II was tried.
• ProShot v. Optimal Recreation Solutions.  Tried case before arbitrator for holder/licensor of GPS patent in multi-day arbitration proceeding.  Arbitrator found client's termination of exclusive license to be valid and found client to be prevailing party.
• Ingram Micro v. BigStore.com.  Successfully defended Ingram Micro Inc. in antitrust and B&P Section 17200 litigation asserted by Chapter 11 debtor, The BigStore.com, in O.C. Bankruptcy Court.  Also defeated claims brought against Ingram Micro in O.C. Superior Court by two of The Bigstore.com's founders seeking more than $30 million in damages, instead securing multi-million dollar judgments against those founders.

Representative Clients

• Allergan, Inc.
• Arch Bay Capital, LLC
• Avanir Pharmaceuticals
• Beckman Coulter, Inc.
• Chrome Hearts, Inc.
• Epicor Software, Inc.
• Fluor Corporation
• In-N-Out Burger
• International Lease Finance Corporation
• Melissa Joan Hart
• Microsoft Corporation
• Pacific Life Insurance Company
• Playmates Toys, Inc.
• St. Joseph Health System
• Western Digital