Carolyn Kubota

Partner

Carolyn Kubota is a partner in O’Melveny’s Los Angeles office and a leader in the firm’s trial and white collar practices. The Daily Journal has named Carolyn one of the “Top Women Litigators” in California for each of the past four years and has saluted her trial victories among its annual “Top Defense Verdicts.” Legal 500 calls her a “formidable trial lawyer” and quotes a source describing Carolyn as “exceptional in front of the jury and presents herself in a very professional and most believable manner.” Carolyn focuses on civil and criminal trials, white collar criminal defense, and high stakes business litigation. She has extensive trial experience, including over twenty jury and bench trials in state and federal courts. Carolyn is undefeated at trial.

Trials

Carolyn’s most recent trial victory was in United States v. W.R. Grace, et al. Carolyn represented a former senior executive of W.R. Grace who was charged with conspiracy and criminal violations of the Clean Air Act in connection with asbestos contamination in Libby, Montana. At the time, environmental experts described the case as one of the largest and most important criminal environmental cases ever prosecuted. Following a three-month trial, the jury acquitted Carolyn’s client of all charges after deliberating for less than one day.

Immediately before the start of the W.R. Grace trial, Carolyn successfully concluded the trial of Rosenblood v. Discus Dental, which the Daily Journal honored as one of the “Top Defense Verdicts of 2009.” Carolyn represented Discus and three of its major shareholders against claims of breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty by a shareholder and former officer and director of Discus. Following a bench trial in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Carolyn persuaded the court to reject the plaintiff’s claims and enter a defense verdict.

In United States v. Alvarado Hospital, et al., Carolyn successfully defended San Diego-based Alvarado Hospital against allegations of criminal violations of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute. Alvarado was accused of bribing local doctors to refer patients to the hospital and disguising the payments as physician relocation agreements. After a seven-month trial in federal court, followed by four months of jury deliberations, the jury deadlocked and the court declared a mistrial. The government later dismissed all criminal charges against Alvarado and its co-defendants pursuant to a civil settlement.

In Huang v. California Institute of Technology, Carolyn successfully defended the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) against claims challenging the validity of Caltech’s patent for the DNA sequencer, a device used to decode the human genome. At the conclusion of the trial, U.S. District Judge Mariana Pfaelzer ruled for the defense on all claims. In a related action, Carolyn obtained the dismissal of False Claims Act claims against Caltech brought by a commercial competitor of Caltech’s licensee for the manufacture of the DNA sequencer.

White Collar Defense

Carolyn represents and advises domestic and international companies regarding internal investigations, conducting business overseas consistent with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, compliance programs, and the investigation of wrongdoing and potential disclosures to the United States Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Representative matters include the following:

• In Securities Exchange Commission v. Tekulve et al., Carolyn is currently representing the former Chief Financial Officer of Basin Water, Inc., a company which manufactured water purification units, against charges of improper revenue recognition by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The case is scheduled for trial in October 2012.
• Carolyn is currently representing a prestigious Southern California college in an internal investigation related to the false public reporting of admissions data by a former member of the College's senior admissions staff. 
• Carolyn represented three senior executives of a major U.S. apparel company in connection with U.S. Department of Justice and S.E.C. investigations of material misrepresentations and omissions in the company’s financial statements and public disclosures.
• Carolyn represented a senior executive of a leading biotech company in a federal criminal investigation into allegations that false information was provided to an organization relied upon by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in connection with the approval of off-label uses of pharmaceutical products.
• Carolyn represented a senior executive of an international footwear company in an internal and an S.E.C. investigation of violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act involving the company’s manufacturing operations in China.
• Carolyn defended former FBI agent Denise Woo in a prosecution for alleged national security violations. At the conclusion of the matter, which was profiled in the June 2006 edition of The American Lawyer, the government agreed to a probationary sentence and a minor fine in lieu of the mandatory 15-year prison terms Ms. Woo faced on the original charges. For her work in this case, the California Lawyer awarded Carolyn its Angel Award for outstanding work in a pro bono matter.

Business Litigation

Carolyn is currently representing FedEx Ground in connection with a series of class actions and “mass” actions in forty-two states seeking to reclassify as “employees” thousands of independent contractors engaged in package pick up and delivery services. In December 2010, Carolyn and her OMM colleagues won summary judgment in the twenty-seven cases certified as class actions. Carolyn is lead trial counsel in Currithers, et al. v. FedEx Ground Package Systems, Inc., a mass action pending in the Eastern District of Michigan, in which nineteen plaintiffs allege fraud and employment misclassification in connection with their status as Michigan pick and delivery service providers for FedEx Ground. Carolyn is also lead trial counsel in Alexander et al. v. FedEx Ground Package Systems, Inc., a similar mass action pending in the Northern District of California.

Carolyn successfully defended Caltech in a high-profile wrongful death case involving the suicide of a Caltech student. Carolyn persuaded the court to dismiss the case on summary judgment in September 2011.

In Chavoya v. Southern California Edison and Trujillo v. Southern California Edison, Carolyn represented Southern California Edison in class actions seeking tens of millions of dollars of back pay and penalties for the alleged employment misclassification of Edison employees. Chavoya and Trujillo settled in December 2010 after a judge granted Edison’s demurrer in Trujillo.

In Vietnam Telecom International v. Inyang et al., Carolyn’s client, Qwest Communications, was accused of defrauding the Vietnamese national telecommunications company (VTI) through a sham entity created by two former Qwest employees and others. VTI sued Qwest for nearly $70 million in damages. The case settled in 2010 prior to trial.

In AMERCO v. PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Carolyn defended a major accounting firm against claims of professional malpractice and a related S.E.C. investigation arising out of PriceWaterhouseCoopers’ (PwC’s) audits of Amerco Inc., the parent company of U-Haul International. A settlement was finalized in 2004.

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Before arriving at O’Melveny, Carolyn taught trial advocacy for two years as a clinical professor at the UCLA School of Law.

Carolyn also served for twelve years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Los Angeles U.S. Attorney’s Office. There, she successfully tried complex criminal trials and served as Deputy Chief of the Major Frauds Section, supervising the investigation and prosecution of financial fraud cases.

The United States Department of Justice repeatedly recognized Carolyn’s achievements as a prosecutor. U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno twice presented Carolyn with the U.S. Department of Justice Director’s Award for Superior Performance. She also received the U.S. Attorney’s Office Award for Superior Performance.

Before joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Carolyn worked as a litigation associate at a major Los Angeles law firm doing general business litigation. During her tenure there, she successfully co-tried an unfair business practices case in Los Angeles County Superior Court, winning a jury verdict in excess of $3.5 million.

Professional Activities