J. Anthony King, Partner

Anthony has been a complex civil and employment trial lawyer in federal and state courts, as well as in arbitration forums, for more than 19 years on both coasts, and has been privileged to represent Fortune 500 companies and their individual officers, executives of Southern California community colleges and school districts, and a variety of other companies, large and small, in numerous high-stakes cases.  

Some representations that have recently gone to trial have included:

  • Winning a $3.7 million jury verdict that was deemed one of the “Largest and Most Significant Verdicts” in California for the year 2018 by the Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily Journal. This victory included an award of punitive damages against two of the school’s Board of Education members. Mr. King represented a school district’s Chief Financial and Operating Officer in his wrongful termination after he and the Superintendent blew the whistle about corruption and bribery that was occurring in the school district. That case also resulted in an SEC proceeding against the district and its former Chief Business Officer.

  • After one week of a two-week trial, Anthony obtained a highly favorable settlement for over $6 million for three clients that had substantial sums stolen from their brokerage accounts by a broker-dealer’s financial advisors in a FINRA customer arbitration.

  • Achieving a complete defense victory at trial for an employer in a FEHA discrimination and retaliation case in Los Angeles Superior Court.

  • Representing a key executive of a solar energy company in an arbitration involving the alleged misappropriation of trade secrets and violations of a non-disclosure agreement.

  • Tried a 526(a) taxpayer action against a Los Angeles-area school district that resulted in the Court finding that there was a “pay to play system in place” at the district such that school contracts were issued “to the benefit or lined the pockets of friends and perhaps even board members through campaign contributions….” constituting a waste of taxpayer money under the statute.

EDUCATION

  • Bachelor of Business Administration - Finance, University of Notre Dame, 1992

  • Juris Doctor, Boston College Law School, 2003

Anthony has also achieved successful resolution for his clients short of trial—and in many cases prior to commencing litigation—effectively winning the case without incurring the significant expense of a trial and/or litigation. These include:

  • Created and implemented a legal strategy that forced a settlement of a False Claims Act case with damages alleged to be in excess of $50 million for a low six-figure settlement on behalf of a healthcare entity and its owners.

  • Successfully obtained a settlement in a construction-related breach of contract case that provided the client, a subcontractor, was paid in full with interest, whereas other creditors took significant haircuts on the outstanding balances owed to them;

  • Negotiated a very favorable settlement without litigation in a case filed by a major U.S. insurance company in Federal Court that made allegations of racketeering, fraud, and unlawful and fraudulent business practices;

  • Settled an employment dispute for the top administrator of a community college that included compensation in excess of the terms of the employment contract;

  • Successfully negotiated full contractual payment and payment on stock appreciation rights for a CEO of a company where the company had alleged there was cause for termination that would have not only precluded payment of salary that was owed and stock appreciation rights, but also required a forgiven loan to be paid back in full immediately.

Prior to coming to the West Coast, Anthony practiced for 12 years at Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP in New York City, where his practice included complex commercial civil litigation and securities litigation for Fortune 500 corporations and executives. At Kasowitz, Anthony represented:

  • An international insurance conglomerate (Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited) in a $6 billion action against some of the largest hedge funds in the United States, including SAC Capital, Third Point, and Kynokos, that were conducting a coordinated bear raid on Fairfax in an attempt to put Fairfax out of business and greatly profit by doing so.

  • Metropolitan Life Insurance Company and Lloyds TSB Bank, where he helped garner an 80% recovery to these companies in an action relating to losses on holdings of more than $250 million of financial instruments issued by National Century Financial Enterprises in the largest ever corporate fraud case involving a privately held company .

  • Post-charge representation of the former CEO of Invesco in the highly-publicized enforcement actions concerning late trading and market-timing in mutual funds by the SEC and the New York Attorney General’s Office .

  • AAI, a military defense contractor with a transportation division, in connection with litigation in the Northern District of California arising from a $191 million project to refurbish more than 300 hybrid electric buses for the City of San Francisco’s MUNI bus fleet. AAI asserted fraud and breach of contract claims against AIG, as surety, and defended against claims brought by Skoda, the Czech manufacturing company. The case settled shortly before trial pursuant to a confidential settlement that was highly favorable to AAI.

  • Level 3 Communications, Ltd., one of the largest telecommunications providers in the country, in a post-acquisition contract dispute.

  • A specialty chemical manufacturer in a professional malpractice action against a law firm for providing allegedly faulty advice concerning the legality of trade activity with countries subject to a U.S. trade embargo.

  • George Weston Bakeries Ltd. (n/k/a Bimbo Bakeries Ltd.), the baker of Entenmann’s®, Thomas’ English Muffins®, Freihofer®, and Stroehman’s®, in a dispute with the general contractor and subcontractors in the construction of one of its facilities.

Anthony is licensed to practice in California and New York.