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Leo P. Norton is Special Counsel in the Commercial Class Action Litigation and Commercial Litigation practice groups and a member of Cooley's Litigation department. He joined the Firm in 2003, and is resident in the San Diego office.
Mr. Norton's practice centers on class action litigation, complex business litigation and appellate litigation. He has represented numerous companies in various industries with a focus on representing technology companies and retailers.
He has represented retailers, technology companies, and internet businesses in a variety of nationwide and state-wide consumer class actions, including consumer class actions under the California Consumer Legal Remedies Act (Civil Code § 1750 et seq.), California Unfair Competition Law (Business & Professions Code §§ 17200 et seq. & 17500 et seq.), California False Advertising Law (Business & Professions 17500 et seq.), Civil Code section 1747.08 of the Song Beverly Credit Card Act (collection of personal information in a credit card transaction), and Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) for alleged violations of 15 U.S.C. § 1681c(g) of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act (FACTA) (truncation of electronically printed customer receipts) seeking damages under 15 U.S.C. § 1681n of the FCRA. He has also represented companies in California wage and hour class actions under California's laws regarding overtime exemption, meal and rest break period, and unlawful deductions from wages. He is part of the team that recently defeated class certification in a FACTA nationwide class action that was one of the first FACTA cases filed against an online business and the first denial of class certification in a FACTA class action involving such a business. (Vasquez-Torres v. StubHub, Inc. (C.D. Cal. Mar. 4, 2008, CV 07-1328) 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 22503.)
He also has extensive experience representing companies in a wide variety of general and complex business disputes, including cases involving claims for breach of contract, breach of patent license agreement, breach of purchase agreement, negligence, fraud, products liability, equitable indemnity and patent infringement. He was a member of the team that represented QUALCOMM in a patent license dispute with Nokia Corp. in the Delaware Chancery Court, which settled at the start of trial and resulted in a 15 year multibillion dollar license agreement between QUALCOMM and Nokia.
He also has represented clients in various civil writs and appeals in California appellate courts as both party and amicus counsel. (See, e.g., TJX Companies, Inc. v. Superior Court (2008) 163 Cal.App.4th 80 (obtaining a major victory for client and retailers doing business in California generally in a published appellate decision in a class action brought under California Civil Code section 1747.08 of the Song Beverly Credit Card Act, which held that the statute did not apply to merchandise returns and that claims under the statute are subject to a one-year limitations period); Murphy v. Kenneth Cole Productions, Inc. (2007) 40 Cal.4th 1094 (amicus counsel in support of defendant retailer in California Supreme Court wage and hour action regarding meal and rest periods).)
Mr. Norton has experience practicing before the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (MDL Panel), and has successfully moved to transfer several related cases pending in different district courts for centralization before a single district court and judge. (See, e.g. In re TJX Companies, Inc. (J.P.M.L. 2007) 505 F.Supp.2d 1379 (transferring consumer class action cases).)
Mr. Norton received a J.D., cum laude, from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles in May 2001. He was elected to the Order of the Coif, was a member of the St. Thomas More Law Honor Society, and earned the First Honors Award in Computers and the Law, Conflict of Laws, and Employment Discrimination Law. In 1998, he earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, Finance & Business Economics, with an emphasis in Corporate Finance, from the University of Southern California.
Prior to joining Cooley, Mr. Norton was an associate with Severson & Werson in Irvine, California, where his practice focused on consumer finance and general business litigation.
Mr. Norton is a member of the State Bar of California, and is also admitted to practice before the United States District Courts for the Central, Eastern, Northern, and Southern Districts of California and the District of Colorado. He is a member of the American Bar Association and the San Diego County Bar Association.
Education- Loyola Law School
JD, 2001, cum laude - University of Southern California
BS Business Administration, Finance and Business Economics, 1998
Court Admissions
- U.S. District Court, Central District of California
- U.S. District Court, District of Colorado
- U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California
- U.S. District Court, Northern District of California
- U.S. District Court, Southern District of California
Admissions
Memberships
- American Bar Association
- San Diego County Bar Association
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