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Biography
Richard Schirtzer, one of the most successful complex-case litigators in Los Angeles, heads up Quinn Emanuel's complex litigation practice. Specializing in high-risk cases involving millions, and sometimes billions of dollars (on behalf of both plaintiffs and defendants), he has won or obtained very favorable settlements in all of his cases over the last ten years and won every substantive motion he argued over a period of nine years.
Representative Clients
Capmark Financial
GMAC Mortgage Corp
World Market Center
Triple Five Corp
Notable Representations
Mr. Schirtzer's most prominent representation was on behalf of General Motors in its highly publicized suit against Volkswagen and Ignacio Lopez. Heading a team of only five Quinn Emanuel attorneys, Mr. Schirtzer was opposed by more than twenty attorneys from Sidley & Austin and Akin Gump. Despite vigorous attempts to have the case transferred to Germany, where General Motors had previously filed two actions against the same parties, Volkswagen lost all its jurisdictional and substantive motions and found itself facing a jury trial in Detroit on RICO charges. Volkswagen quickly settled. In the course of that case, Mr. Schirtzer created new federal law by persuading the court to overturn forty years of precedent and recognize a cause of action under the Lanham Act for violation of international unfair competition treaties.
Mr. Schirtzer is currently representing Triple Five Corporation, the founding partner of the Mall of America, in a highly publicized dispute involving the Mall. The suit pits Triple Five against Mel and Herbert Simon and the Simon Property Group, the largest commercial real estate owners in the United States. At stake is the future ownership of the Mall of America and the propriety of a recent transfer of partnership interests by Teachers Insurance to the Simons. The case is one of the largest ever filed in Minnesota.
On behalf of the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, Mr. Schirtzer defended a pair of cases brought by large mortgage lenders who claimed that Freddie Mac had destroyed their businesses by canceling their loan purchase agreements. Each case sought in excess of $100 million. As the result of aggressive discovery initiated by Freddie Mac, each case was dismissed on summary judgment well before trial. Indeed, in each case Freddie Mac prevailed on multi-million dollar counterclaims against the mortgage lenders who initiated the action.
Just recently, Mr. Schirtzer obtained a complete dismissal of a multi-million dollar RICO claim against Northrop, arising out of the sale of military equipment in Peru. In addition to prevailing on every motion filed by the plaintiffs, Mr. Schirtzer was able to persuade the court to enforce a unilateral jury waiver (i.e., the plaintiff waived, Northrop did not) clause in the contract between the parties.
Mr. Schirtzer represents both domestic and international corporations in a wide variety of trade secret litigation. In over 16 years of practice, Mr. Schirtzer's clients have never been found liable or paid any money to settle a trade secret misappropriation claim.
On behalf of Hughes Electronics, Mr. Schirtzer obtained summary adjudication in a high profile, trade secrets case involving the sale of sophisticated flight simulators to the U.S. Air Force. Because of the nature of the equipment involved, the action raised particularly complex issues regarding software ownership. Mr. Schirtzer was able to navigate the court through these complexities and prevail on the theory that the plaintiff relinquished any trade secret rights it previously held.
In what was then the largest civil action in California, Mr. Schirtzer represented the Sumitomo Trust & Banking Company in a well-publicized case against the Bank of America arising out of the collapse of a $1.5 billion bond portfolio. Sumitomo was one of ten plaintiffs, principally Japanese banks, that had lost nearly $500 million when the Department of Education withdrew its guarantees on thousands of student loans, which formed the underlying collateral for the publicly traded bonds. Of the twelve law firms involved in the action, Quinn Emanuel was the only firm with fewer than 200 attorneys. Sumitomo obtained summary judgment before trial, and a highly favorable settlement, when it persuaded the court that Bank of America, as the bond trustee, was financially responsible for the servicing failures that caused the government to withdraw its guarantees.
