Michael Hassen's litigation practice spans 25 years and emphasizes general business and commercial litigation, including class action defense and matters involving intellectual property, securities and unfair competition. His Class Action Defense Blog contains more than 2,000 searchable pages and is routinely read by many in the legal community.
Michael has substantial experience representing corporations (particularly financial institutions and manufacturers) and real estate developers, owners and managers. He has significant experience in class actions and unfair business practice representative actions (section 17200), as well as business torts such as misappropriation of trade secrets and raiding of corporate employees, ADA claims, and all phases of commercial and real estate finance, construction finance and construction defect claims.
Michael also has experience representing lenders in all facets of lender litigation, ranging from class actions and unfair business practices based on alleged "predatory" lending and RESPA violations or alleged violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, to claims alleging elder abuse or challenging the validity or priority of liens.
Michael is experienced in appellate matters, having had primary responsibility for preparing more than 100 appellate briefs.
Representative Experience:
- Michael's trial practice has focused on representing corporations, particularly lenders and developers in various commercial disputes. Most recently and indicative of his reputation, Michael was retained by a lender to represent it on appeal from an adverse judgment and significant punitive damage award in an out-of-state case
- Michael's expertise in handling appeals arises from his experience serving as a law clerk at the California Supreme Court and the Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. He has argued before the California Supreme Court on three occasions, and has appeared numerous times before the Ninth Circuit and the various districts of the California Courts of Appeal