Dale H. Oliver

 

Los Angeles Office
Tel: 213-443-3000
Fax: 213-443-3100
daleoliver@quinnemanuel.com
Practice Areas
Antitrust and Trade Regulation
Appellate Practice
Class Action Litigation
Domestic and International Arbitration & Mediation
Entertainment, Media and Internet Litigation
Government Contracts Litigation

Education

 

Harvard Law School (J.D., cum laude, 1972)  

Harvard Journal on Legislation:

Editor, 1971-1972  

Ames Moot Court Competition:

Winning Team, 1971-72

 

Michigan State University (B.A., highest honors, 1969)






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Biography

 

Mr. Oliver has successfully litigated commercial disputes both in the United States and internationally, involving a wide-range of issues, such as civil RICO, antitrust, joint ventures, and government contracts (foreign and domestic).  He has arbitrated a number of matters recently before the American Arbitration Association, the London Court of International Arbitration, and the International Chamber of Commerce.  Mr. Oliver is a leading litigator in all aspects of U.S. government contracts, and in particular has focused on complex accounting issues arising out of qui tam suits, internal company investigations, prime/subcontractor disputes, and cost allowability issues.

 


Mr. Oliver previously has been a partner in Washington, D.C. with the firms of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher; Jones Day; and Crowell & Moring.  He is listed in numerous editions of Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in the World, and Who’s Who in American Law.  He has written extensively on government contract matters in legal publications.




Representative Clients

 

Most recently, in commercial disputes, Mr. Oliver has represented DirecTV, Hughes and General Motors.  His government contracts clients have included The Parsons Corporation, TRW, Hughes Aircraft, Ford Aerospace, Northrop, Honeywell, United Technologies and E-Systems.




Notable Representations

 

Represented Hughes Aircraft in federal litigation in Australia, leading to a $25 million settlement upon a published opinion by the Federal Court that Australia had breached its contract with the U.S. company and committed fraud.  The court, for the first time in Australia, found that the contract included an implied obligation of good faith and fair dealing.


Represented General Motors in its highly publicized lawsuit against Volkswagen for theft of intellectual property upon the departure of Ignacio Lopez to Volkswagen, resulting in a $1.1 billion settlement upon the federal district court’s finding that it had civil RICO and antitrust jurisdiction over the German automaker and its subsidiaries.


Represented Hughes Aircraft in an arbitration before the London Court of International Arbitration and won a $25 million award for breach of a teaming agreement for the radar systems for the European Fighter Aircraft.


Represented DIRECTV in obtaining from the United States Supreme Court a reversal of the California Court of Appeals on the proprietary of classwide arbitration under the Federal Arbitration Act; on remand from the United States Supreme Court, the California Court of Appeal held that whether an FAA arbitration agreement permits classwide arbitration must be determined by the arbitrator, not the courts, reversing long-standing decisions under California law.


Represented DIRECTV and obtained a complete defense decision in a two-week arbitration brought by a television production company alleging over $14 million in damages for shows it contended were cancelled or not produced in violation of the parties' agreements.


Represented DIRECTV at the Court of Appeals and in California Superior Court, both granting an anti-SLAPP motion and dismissing with prejudice a class action complaint alleging extortion and unfair business practices arising out of DIRECTV's anti-piracy campaign.


Represented DIRECTV in getting a dismissal on the pleadings of a class action antitrust case alleging theories of monopolization, horizontal and vertical price fixing, illegal exclusive distribution, and restricted output, relating to the sale and distribution of NBA and NHL games via satellite broadcasting.


Represented Hughes Aircraft in obtaining a dismissal against both the United States government and the relator in a qui tam False Claims Act case alleging mischarging under government contracts.


Represented TRW Inc. in defending against mischarging allegations in a qui tam False Claims Act case taken over by the Department of Justice and successfully resolved criminal issues pertaining to this case, which had been the subject of a grand jury proceeding.


Represented TRW Inc. in the first United States government "mini-trial", with the resulting settlement resolving significant contract interpretation issues between the parties relating to the TDRSS satellite communications system being leased by NASA.