Complex Appellate Litigation Group LLP

As they have for many years, the 2025 Best Lawyers’ Best Law Firms rankings deem the Complex Appellate Litigation Group a “Tier 1” appellate firm at the national level, the highest tier. They also rank CALG a “Tier 1” appellate firm for the metropolitan markets of San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego. You can see the details of CALG's ranking in the link below.

CALG’s?M.C. Sungaila?will be honored later this month by the Orange County Hispanic Bar Association which, along with Western State College of Law, has chosen her as the inaugural recipient of the Judge Frances Mu?oz Award. Named for the first Latin trial judge in the nation, the award celebrates extraordinary women lawyers of Hispanic descent. The ceremony in the Ronald Reagan United States Courthouse in Santa Ana, California, will take place on October 16, 2024. You can learn more or see how to attend by clicking?the link below.

Congrats to Ben Feuer and Jocelyn Sperling on a tidy multimillion-dollar victory for CALG's client.

Jocelyn Sperling?has been named the new chair of the California Lawyers Association’s Committee on Appellate Courts. The Committee was formed more than 50 years ago and is now a standing committee of CLA’s Litigation Section. Members focus on appellate-related projects, including organizing programs on appellate practice (like the annual Litigation and Appellate Summit), submitting comments on proposed appellate rules, writing articles on appellate law, and working on appellate access-to-justice issues. The California Lawyers Association was spun off from the California State Bar in 2018 in response to court decisions requiring the separation of attorney oversight from education and advocacy. Several CALG attorneys have served as past chairs of the Committee, including?Kelly Woodruff?and?Katy Graham.

Most amici never know whether their amicus briefs were read, let alone whether they made any difference in the outcome. Not so for California State University, one of the largest employers in California, which filed a California Supreme Court amicus brief authored by CALG’s Jens Koepke in?Stone v. Alameda Health System. That case included a PAGA claim that a public entity violated California meal and rest break law, which underlying Labor Code violations the defendant argued did not apply to public entities. The Court’s opinion not only agreed with the defendant on the underlying violations, but went further, concluding that PAGA claims may never lie against public entities for any purported Labor Code violations. In doing so, the Court cited CALG’s brief to show the significant negative impact of PAGA claims on public entities. Preventing public-entity PAGA claims was of critical importance to CALG’s client (and many other public entities), which have faced multimillion-dollar litigation costs and penalties from constant PAGA litigation. Helping the Supreme Court reach that conclusion is a major success for an amicus brief like this. To read the opinion in?Stone or CALG’s amicus brief, click the link below.

Check out M.C. Sungaila's latest article for Corporate Counsel, "Top Ten Tips for Succeeding In-House"

Congratulations to?Sharon Baumgold,?Gregory Ellis,?Melanie Gold,?Rex Heinke,?Susan Horst,?Anna-Rose Mathieson,?Claudia Ribet,?Robert Roth,?Johanna Schiavoni,?M.C. Sungaila,?Brian Sutherland,?Jessica Weisel, and?Kelly Woodruff on being named to the 2025 Best Lawyers in America list. As a firm, CALG has been repeatedly named by Best Lawyers as a?Tier 1 appellate specialty firm?for appeals both nationwide and in California.

CALG won a high-stakes California Supreme Court dispute last week concerning insurance coverage for COVID-related business closures. In John’s Grill v. Hartford Financial Services Group, the Court found that an unambiguous contractual provision barring virus-related coverage must be enforced, overturning the First District’s application of the so-called illusory coverage doctrine. Anna-Rose Mathieson led the team, which included Melanie Gold, Jocelyn Sperling, and Greg Wolff. Anna-Rose argued the case before the California Supreme Court in May. You can read the opinion, see news coverage, and watch the oral argument in the link below.

Congratulations to?Kirstin Ault,?Gregory Ellis,?Ben Feuer,?Melanie Gold,?Rex Heinke,?Susan Horst,?Charles Kagay,?Michael von Loewenfeldt,?Anna-Rose Mathieson,?Claudia Ribet,?Robert Roth,?Johanna Schiavoni,?Jocelyn Sperling,?M.C. Sungaila,?Kelly Woodruff, and?Susan Yorke?on being named Super Lawyers or Super Lawyer Rising Stars for 2024!

The Daily Journal has once again named CALG's M.C. Sungaila as one of the Top Women Lawyers in California — one of only two appellate specialists to make the list. This is the 15th year in a row that the Daily Journal has recognized M.C.’s accomplishments.