Stuart M. Richter

Stuart M. Richter is co-head of the Los Angeles Litigation and Dispute Resolution Practice, Administrative Partner of the Los Angeles Office and head of the firm’s Class Action Practice. Mr. Richter represents clients in a wide variety of complex business disputes, and has acted as lead counsel in trials in various California state courts, the United States District Courts in California, and in private arbitration proceedings.

Mr. Richter’s practice is focused on the representation of clients who provide financial services, including banks and other consumer and commercial lenders, hedge funds and other entities originating or acquiring loans and secured obligations. He has handled litigation arising out of distressed loans, unfair competition claims, internal and external fraud investigations, foreclosures and other collection actions, and litigation relating to the development or disposal of REO properties. Mr. Richter also has significant expertise in representing clients in consumer class actions and a unique concentration in handling disputes involving financial derivative products.

Examples of derivative products litigation that Mr. Richter has handled include:

• Represented interest rate swap dealer in two actions by automobile dealerships alleging fraud, breach of contract and unfair competition in connection with two interest rate swaps purchased to hedge interest rate risk associated with floor plan financing loans. Both actions were compelled to arbitration before the American Arbitration Association. Arbitrators issued awards in favor of the swap dealer in both cases, and the swap dealer also recovered its fees and costs.
• Represented interest rate swap dealer in action by investor and his companies alleging, among other things, fraud, unfair competition, breach of contract and securities violations in connection with the sale of an interest rate swap. After successfully moving to compel arbitration, Mr. Richter obtained an arbitration award in favor of the firm’s swap dealer client and recovered attorney fees in excess of $900,000.
• Representing dealer in action pending in US District Court alleging fraud, breach of duty and violation of the RICO Act in connection with the sale of interest rate swaps in conjunction with municipal bond offerings. All claims, other than a claim based on fraud in connection with the sale of the derivative products, were dismissed at the pleading stage.
• Representing swap dealer in action pending in US District Court against customer for breach of contract after involuntary termination of interest rate swap transaction.
• Ongoing representation of derivatives dealers in disputes with counter-parties, including disputes regarding non-payment upon termination.

Mr. Richter’s consumer class action experience includes cases for several financial services clients and other companies providing consumer products and services. For example, he:

• Represented consumer finance lender in a case filed in California Superior Court in Los Angeles County alleging, among other things, predatory lending practices directed at subprime borrowers. Plaintiffs sought rescission of thousands of loans, damages and punitive damages. After filing a demurrer to the complaint, the case was settled prior to class certification by agreement to restructure the named plaintiffs’ loans.
• Represented financial services company that had acquired a portfolio of automobile retail installment sales agreements in a class action filed in Maryland State Court alleging violations of Maryland statutes governing automobile consumer finance disclosures. Plaintiffs sought rescission of class member loan agreements, damages and attorneys’ fees. After a motion to dismiss was filed, the plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed the entire action with prejudice.
• Represented a group of temporary technical services and contract labor providers in a representative action under the California Unfair Competition Law. The court also appointed Katten as “liaison counsel” for the more than 75 technical services provider defendants. The representative individual plaintiffs, who had been assigned by our clients to work for the Los Angeles Metropolitan Water District (MWD), sought salary and benefits that would have otherwise been paid to permanent employees of the MWD, and an injunction precluding the defendants from assigning temporary contract labor to the MWD. Katten successfully moved to dismiss all claims for damages and restitution, leaving only claims for injunctive relief. The plaintiffs agreed to resolve the action against the technical services provider defendants for a stipulated injunction that provided, among other things, that the defendants could not make representations regarding the employment status of persons assigned to work for MWD.
• Represented publicly held owner and operator of for-profit private postsecondary educational institutions in three class actions filed in California State Court against three wholly-owned colleges and universities. In each case, the named plaintiffs, who purported to represent thousands of individual current and former students, sought full tuition refunds, damages, punitive damages and attorneys’ fees. Following motions to dismiss and extensive class discovery, the parties negotiated settlement of all three cases, whereby the plaintiffs stipulated to consolidate the three actions, to allow class certification for settlement purposes, and to create a settlement fund for eligible students. In return, the client and all three schools received full releases of claims that had been or could be asserted by any student enrolled during the class period.

Mr. Richter is a member of the Los Angeles County Bar Association and is admitted to practice in the State of California, the US District Courts for the Central, Northern, Eastern and Southern Districts of California and the District of Arizona, and the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He received BS in finance and marketing from the University of Virginia and his JD from Pepperdine University School of Law, summa cum laude. Mr. Richter has been selected for inclusion in Southern California Super Lawyers (2005–2010, 2013).