Mr. Kossoff has practiced civil litigation for nearly twenty-five years, with an emphasis in business, employment, entertainment, malpractice, and personal injury matters. He has successfully represented individuals, small businesses and corporations in both state and federal courts, administrative and arbitration proceedings.  He has successfully appeared before the California Court of Appeal and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Mr. Kossoff maintains an active entertainment practice, representing individuals and entities in breach of contract claims and intellectual property matters.  He has successfully represented individuals in wrongful termination, whistleblower, discrimination and retaliation claims, including matters against The Walt Disney Company, Warner Bros., Clear Channel Communications, Bain & Company, and The Tribune Company.

Representative Matters

  • Represented insurance broker Keenan & Associates in prosecuting and defending a wide variety of matters, including trade secret and employment claims.
  • Lead counsel for the Estate of Marilyn Monroe in a licensing dispute with the claimant seeking $7 million in damages against the Estate.  After a one-week arbitration in Chicago, the American Arbitration Association panel unanimously awarded a complete defense verdict to the Estate as well as $300,000 in attorneys’ fees.
  • Successfully represented a longtime Bain & Co. employee against her former employer and superior in a number of legal claims, including sexual harassment. The matter settled favorably and confidentially for the client.
  • Represented a longtime Walt Disney and Co. Senior Vice President in a wrongful termination, whistelblower, and retaliation suit.  Mr. Kossoff’s client sued Disney in this high profile, widely publicized case. The case settled favorably and confidentially for the client.
  • Successfully represented Keenan & Associates in a misappropriation of trade secrets, breach of fiduciary duty, and breach of contract case against former Keenan employees who unlawfully departed the company.
  • Successfully defended business management firm on negligence claims while obtaining insurance coverage with insurer over policy dispute.
  • Successfully defended publishing company in a breach of contract case after the company agreed to sell its magazine and then deal fell apart.  Mr. Kossoff was able to reduce the number of claims, and then favorably settle the matter.
  • Successfully represented individual owners of 417 acres of oil and gas producing land in Los Angeles against several billion-dollar oil companies, including Standard Oil Company (“Standard”) and Chevron U.S.A., Inc. (“Chevron”) after the owners granted the oil companies the right to use their land for oil and gas production.  The grant of rights required the Oil Companies to pay royalties and net profits to the individual owners and also properly account for the amounts they extracted.  An audit revealed substantial irregularities in the Oil Companies’ payment of royalties and accounting.  The case settled confidentially and favorably for the clients.
  • Successfully defended payroll and employee leasing company DHR Services Holdings, LLC after a former employee of a DHR client, sued for wrongful termination and sexual harassment.  The matter was dismissed after Mr. Kossoff field for summary judgment on behalf of his client.
  • Successfully represented the beneficiary of a $20 million estate in an attorney malpractice case.  The attorney prepared a series of trusts without discussing or documenting the trustors’ tax preferences on the gifts bequeathed to the beneficiary.  The beneficiary was burdened with unnecessary and overwhelming taxes.  The matter settled confidentially and favorably for the client.
  • Successfully defended Riptide Entertainment in a suit for trademark infringement, unfair competition, and conversion originating from two licensing agreements initially entered into between Dick Clark Productions (“DCP”) (as Licensor) and Riptide (as Licensee), in which Riptide received broad licensing rights to the television series titled “American Bandstand.” Mr. Kossoff successfully filed motions with the Court and plaintiffs dismissed Riptide from the case.

Education

  • Duke University, B.A. (cum laude), 1987
  • UCLA School of Law, J.D., 1990