Overview

David Jacobs is a goal-oriented trial lawyer who has dedicated his over 40-year career to the relentless pursuit of the best possible results for his clients. Whether he’s representing a health care or financial services company in commercial litigation or defending management in employment claims, David looks for the shortest path to resolve the matter quickly and favorably.

By staring down difficult challenges and zealously advocating for his clients, he’s defeated high-profile class actions, secured rare summary judgments, been a zealous advocate in a series of actions in New York and California on employee mobility issues, and applied complicated securities and FINRA rules to hotly contested employment disputes.

Midsize organizations to Fortune 500 companies credit David’s ability to explain his solutions clearly and present a path forward when others cannot. When the law shows his client is right, David stands his ground to prove it. Despite daunting allegations and unpopular facts, he has swayed skeptical judges and unsympathetic juries with compelling arguments rooted in sophisticated analysis of the laws at issue. David has represented clients in federal and state courts across the country. He has also achieved numerous positive outcomes through arbitration and mediation of a wide range of disputes, including breach of contract and real estate transactions. He is Managing Shareholder of Epstein Becker Green’s Los Angeles office and a former member of the firm’s Board of Directors (2006 to 2016). He currently sits on a number of the firm’s management committees.

Focus Areas

Experience

  • Defeated a Florida class action involving surprise billing to patients who went to an in-network hospital but received an out-of-network bill from the emergency room. David showed that the allegations were pre-empted by Florida’s insurance law and that the class representative did not have standing to bring the suit.
  • Successfully settled a $20 million suit alleging a home health care services company submitted false claims to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. During deposition, David proved the plaintiff did not have personal knowledge of the events detailed in her allegations, which compelled the discovery referee to reverse her findings on the scope of the case. A favorable settlement for David’s client soon followed.
  • Secured the dismissal of a lawsuit brought against a national uniform cleaning service involving an option contract for commercial real estate. Though the plaintiff argued that David’s client breached the option agreement because the real estate had quadrupled in value, David’s strong deposition of the plaintiff’s president allowed David to move for a successful summary judgment and dismissal of the case.
  • Obtained, at the initial pleading stage, a complete dismissal of a class action lawsuit filed in the southwestern United States against a health care company. By securing the dismissal, David and his team saved the client hundreds of thousands of dollars (if not more) in discovery and litigation costs, as the plaintiffs had already served the client with extensive discovery requests spanning multiple states and service lines.
  • Successfully obtained the dismissal (affirmed on appeal) of a film production company’s lawsuit against a major entertainment news magazine for breach of contract, negligence, fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, and unfair business practices through a motion based on California’s anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) statute. David was also able to obtain an order for the client’s attorney’s fees in having to bring the anti-SLAPP motion.
  • Obtained summary judgment (affirmed on appeal) for a major magazine publisher in a hotly contested defamation action brought in Florida.
  • Successfully litigated trademark, copyright, idea theft, invasion of privacy, and trade secret actions.

Recognition

Credentials

Education

  • New York University School of Law (LL.M., 1977)
  • Loyola Law School (J.D., 1976)
  • University of California, Los Angeles (B.A., with great distinction, 1973)
    • Phi Beta Kappa

Bar Admissions

  • California
  • District of Columbia
  • New York

Court Admissions

  • California Federal Courts
  • Supreme Court of the United States
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
  • U.S. District Court, District of Colorado
  • U.S. District Court, District of Columbia
  • U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York
  • U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois
  • U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York

Professional & Community Involvement

  • State Bar of California
  • New York State Bar Association
  • District of Columbia Bar
  • Media Law Resource Center

Media

Events

Insights

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Insights

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