Miller Barondess partner Casey Sypek has been honored among the 2024 Women of Influence: Attorneys by the Los Angeles Business Journal. The award seeks to recognize the most influential women legal professionals in the Los Angeles region. This marks Casey’s 4th consecutive year of being named to the list, celebrating her legal skill and achievements, exemplary leadership, and contributions to the Los Angeles community.
Casey is a business litigator admitted in California and New York. She has a record of success, representing clients in a variety of commercial litigation matters, including breach of contract, fraud, employment, copyright, trademark, entertainment, and false advertising disputes.
Casey is representing the County of Los Angeles in a lawsuit alleging a years-long bribery and kickback scheme involving a high-level public official and County employee, as well as several groups of major real estate developers and their corporate entities, who allegedly bilked the County out of hundreds of millions of public dollars to line their own pockets at the expense of innocent taxpayers. Casey recently intervened in a federal qui tam action.
Casey is representing the County in another lawsuit alleging a years-long bribery and kickback scheme involving two former public officials and County employees, an electrical contractor, Tel/Pro Voice and Data, Inc., and several major national prime contractors. It is alleged that over the course of the illicit relationship between Tel/Pro and the County employees, the defendants defrauded the County out of millions of dollars to line their own pockets at the expense of the County and innocent taxpayers. Casey recently defeated the defendants’ demurrers.
Casey recently reached a favorable settlement under confidential terms while defending a breach of contract dispute between co-founders of a major restaurant group. The parties were partners for over 30 years before starting a prominent restaurant business. When the restaurant began failing, the plaintiff wanted off the hook for his personal obligations in exchange for his ownership interest. The parties entered into a contract releasing the plaintiff from all guarantees, and the defendant took full responsibility and control over the business. After the defendant turned the company around, the plaintiff had seller’s remorse and sought to overturn the contract that he had signed voluntarily.
Casey represented 1.1 million Prius owners in a federal court class action against Toyota for concealing a safety defect. The plaintiffs defeated Toyota’s motion to dismiss and motion to compel arbitration. The case was settled to the significant benefit of the Prius owners.
Casey also defended the County of Los Angeles in one of the country’s most heavily publicized civil trials in 2022. The lawsuit stemmed from crash scene photographs taken by County personnel immediately following the tragic helicopter crash that killed nine individuals, including Kobe Bryant and his daughter. After 11 days of graphic and emotional testimony, a federal jury awarded $15 million to Vanessa Bryant and $15 million to co-plaintiff Christopher Chester; plaintiffs had asked for $75 million cumulatively. The jury settling on a significantly lower amount reflected their assessment of the evidence the County put on at trial, including why the use of photography in connection with the work that first responders do is essential.