Douglas A. Hedenkamp

Trial

• Obtained sudden dismissal of a high-profile lawsuit that Adventure Church filed against the owners of the Tower Theater property in Fresno, California, after defeating a preliminary injunction motion to halt the $6.5 million sale the historic property; subsequently won an anti-SLAPP motion dismissing Adventure Church’s tortious interference claim after Adventure Church sued the City of Fresno for buying the Tower Theater, seeking over $10 million in damages; ongoing issues are set for trial in March 2025
• Assisted in obtaining a multi-million dollar settlement on behalf of subsidiaries of a large California-based utility company over the failed sale of a $1.2 billion liquefied natural gas power plant located in Puerto Rico
• Assisted in obtaining a favorable settlement on behalf of a master developer against a merchant builder in a master planned community, including the defendant’s acknowledgment of the enforceability of a prohibition on the unauthorized bulk sale of unimproved lots within the development and the payment of a per lot fee for permission to engage in such sales to an authorized buyer
• Successfully defended numerous mortgage crisis-related lawsuits alleging fraudulent lending practices against a major homebuilder, all of which resulted in the dismissal of the complaints at the pleading stage
• Assisted in obtaining a favorable settlement on behalf of a public school district against the owner of a solid waster transfer station located in close proximity to an elementary school that resulted in the owner of the transfer station agreeing to pay over $20 million to fully enclose the station, install state-of-the-art air filtration systems, fund the construction of an enclosed gymnasium at the school, and reimburse all attorney’s fees and costs
• Defended and prosecuted numerous actions involving disputes over the ownership and control of partnerships, LLCs, and closely held companies
• Represented the owner of a former landfill site in negotiations with a redevelopment agency over state and federal environmental remediation requirements
• Successfully defended a school district in a dispute over a contractor’s exclusion from bidding for a public contract, which ultimately resulted in a voluntary dismissal
• Successfully defended the jury’s verdict on appeal in a wrongful termination claim that resulted in a multi-million dollar judgment in favor of the firm’s client
• Successfully appealed two adverse preliminary rulings on behalf of a large developer and landowner to enforce a restrictive land-use covenant which barred the development of a residential townhome project on neighboring property, enabling the client to obtain an advantageous settlement of the dispute
• Assisted in the successful prosecution of numerous CEQA actions, actions arising from partnership/joint venture disputes, and attorney malpractice actions

Appellate

• Briefed and argued the appeal of a judgment in favor of 22 other defendants in another multi-million dollar groundwater remediation lawsuit filed by the Orange County Water District, Orange County Water Dist. v. Sabic Innovative Plastics US, LLC (2017) 14 Cal.App.5th 343, resulting in the reversal of the judgments in favor of all 22 defendants and the restoration of six out of the District’s seven causes of action
• Successfully briefed and argued the appeal of an award of attorney and expert witness fees as cost of proof sanctions for the denial of requests for admission in Orange County Water Dist. v. The Arnold Engineering Co. (2018) 31 Cal.App.5th 96; the award of over $600,000 was reversed as a result of the appeal
• Successfully argued a charter school’s appeal in a case challenging the non-renewal of the school’s charter in Oxford Preparatory Academy v. Chino Valley Unified School District (D074703, July 11, 2019) __ Cal.App.5th __