Jessica L. Grant

Partner

Direct:415.544.1961

Main:415.544.1900

Fax:415.391.0281

Overview

Jessica is a formidable courtroom strategist with a proven record of success as a first-chair trial lawyer in the nation’s most challenging jurisdictions, where she routinely represents clients in high-stakes jury trials. She has prevailed as defense counsel in numerous complex trials where the plaintiffs sought hundreds of millions of dollars. She has also secured two landmark verdicts worth hundreds of millions of dollars. This dual perspective—successfully trying cases from both sides of the “v.”—is highly valued by clients who rely on Jessica to give them an edge in bet-the-company litigation. Jessica is a trusted advocate known for her ability to step into trials across disciplines at a moment’s notice. Jessica brings the same focus and skill to pre-litigation and mediation settings, helping clients achieve favorable outcomes without trial.

As evidenced from her representative matters below, Jessica’s practice spans a wide spectrum of business litigation matters, including class action, product liability, employment and intellectual property. She served as lead trial counsel in one of the largest wage-and-hour class actions ever tried to verdict in California, was lead trial counsel on behalf of the state of New Hampshire in a precedent-setting product liability trial, and she successfully argued a precedent-setting Ninth Circuit appeal that upheld dismissal in a published decision creating favorable precedent for defendants under California’s consumer protection statutes. Jessica also has extensive experience in patent, copyright and trademark litigation, managing complex IP disputes from inception through trial.

Jessica’s accomplishments have been recognized repeatedly by leading legal publications. She has twice been named California Lawyer’s Attorney of the Year. For seven consecutive years, Benchmark Litigation has listed her among the Top 250 Women in Litigation, while the Daily Journal has included her both in its annual list of California’s Top 100 Lawyers and its ranking of Top Women Litigators. She has also been honored as a California Trailblazer by The Recorder and a Litigation Trailblazer by the National Law Journal.

In addition to her trial and appellate practice, Jessica is deeply committed to advancing the profession. She has taught mediation as an adjunct professor at the University of San Francisco School of Law and has been an instructor with the National Institute of Trial Advocacy. She also serves as a mediator in the San Francisco Superior Court’s Early Settlement Program, and has successfully represented veterans in pro bono matters.

Representative Matters

Trials

Lead trial counsel in a California state court action on behalf of a client whose product plaintiff claimed caused his Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Plaintiff asked the jury to award $100 million in compensatory damages and $500 million in punitive damages. After deliberating for three hours, the jury returned a complete defense verdict.

Lead counsel on behalf of a company in its first case to proceed to trial in Portland, Oregon state court whose product was alleged to have caused plaintiff's terminal cancer. After a two-week trial, plaintiffs' counsel asked the jury to award plaintiff $20 million in compensatory damages, his wife $2 million in loss of consortium damages and $140 million in punitive damages. The jury awarded plaintiff $750,000, nothing to his wife and no punitive damages.

Lead trial counsel in false advertising class action where plaintiﬀ and the class sought more than $140 million. After two-week trial, the jury awarded $1.4 million and court entered judgment in the amount of $12 million, agreeing with the defense that damages sought by plaintiﬀ and the class was “so severe and oppressive as to be wholly disproportioned to the oﬀense and obviously unreasonable.”

Lead trial counsel in a nine-week jury trial where plaintiﬀ sought $25 million plus punitive damages against CEO individually and several companies for alleged breach of ﬁduciary duty and fraud. After deliberating for four days, the jury returned a complete defense verdict.

Represented the State of New Hampshire in a statewide product liability/toxic tort case against major oil companies. After securing $130 million in settlements, served as lead attorney in a three-month trial that resulted in a unanimous jury verdict, awarding $816 million to the state, after just 90 minutes of deliberation.

Lead trial counsel in one of the largest wage and hour class action lawsuits ever tried in California and obtained a $172 million jury verdict on behalf of more than 116,000 class members after a four-month trial. The National Law Journal ranked the verdict as one of the largest in 2005 and the largest in an employment law case. After a two-week bench trial, Jessica also obtained a permanent injunction that required the defendant to implement various policies to comply with California employment law.

Lead trial counsel for one of the world’s largest semiconductor chipmakers and several other defendants in a four-week jury trial in federal court. The plaintiﬀ alleged fraud, unjust enrichment, breach of contract, and related patent claims, and sought more than $450 million, exclusive of punitive damages. After the jury deadlocked on liability, the court dismissed all state-law claims against the defendants.

Lead trial counsel for a leading media company in a defamation case. After a two-week trial, the plaintiﬀ asked for $7 million in compensatory damages, and punitive damages potentially as high as $70 million. Following four hours of deliberation, the jury returned a verdict of $72,025 in compensatory damages and no liability for punitive damages.

Lead trial counsel in the ﬁrst major copyright infringement trial involving claimed fair use of viral YouTube videos; after closing arguments, obtained a favorable settlement on behalf of the client.

Represented food and beverage corporation in false advertising class action brought by class of California consumers who alleged client’s product falsely and misleadingly claimed a number of health beneﬁts. After obtaining a dismissal with prejudice in the District court, successfully argued in the Ninth Circuit, which upheld the dismissal in a unanimous published decision that has implications for class actions in California, as well as cases brought under California’s consumer protection statutes.

Lead trial counsel in a one-week jury trial where plaintiﬀ alleged his laryngeal cancer was caused by client’s product and that its associated health risks were concealed from him. He sought $12.5 million in compensatory damages and between $21 million and $147 million in punitive damages. The jury found no liability on the fraud claims, and awarded $360,000 in compensatory damages and $150,000 in punitive damages.

Lead trial counsel for a company whose employee caused an accident during the course and scope of employment, resulting in a severe spinal cord injury to plaintiﬀ. Liability was not contested at trial. After deliberating for two hours, the jury returned a favorable verdict that was millions below what plaintiﬀ’s counsel sought, and below the amount oﬀered to settle the case.

Lead trial counsel on behalf of a company whose product was alleged to have caused defendant’s lung cancer. Plaintiﬀs asked for a multimillion dollar award; the unanimous jury verdict attributed 90% fault to decedent and awarded his widow and daughter $225,000.

Trial counsel where plaintiﬀs claimed defendant concealed the dangers of smoking, which led to nicotine addiction and smoking-related bladder cancer. Plaintiﬀs sought $11 million; a unanimous jury returned a complete defense verdict.

Served on a trial team that obtained a unanimous defense verdict in a multimillion-dollar product liability case in California state court, involving an anti-epileptic drug alleged to have caused plaintiﬀ’s birth defects.

Served on a trial team that obtained a unanimous defense verdict after a six-week jury trial in the ﬁrst bellwether case to proceed to trial in California, involving a prescription drug alleged to cause atypical femur fractures.

Successful Disposition Before Trial

Obtained dismissal with prejudice of copyright and tortious interference lawsuit in which plaintiﬀ sought over $750 million in damages and rights to the world’s most popular web server software from client, a leading multi-cloud security and application management company.

Obtained dismissal with prejudice of a nationwide putative data privacy class action and enforcement of class action waiver and arbitration provision in the Northern District of California.

Obtained dismissal with prejudice of product liability/negligence action on behalf of social media company whose popular app was alleged to have contributed to a minor’s death.

Obtained dismissal with prejudice of a copyright infringement case on behalf of a major TV network that was alleged to have broadcasted a movie that infringed plaintiﬀ’s copyrighted ﬁlm.

Obtained summary judgment for a broadcast TV network that was alleged to have ﬁred an employee because of her claimed terminal illness.

Obtained a favorable pre-litigation settlement for a company whose former employee claimed she was retaliated against and wrongfully terminated for making a whistleblower complaint to a federal regulatory agency.

Reached a favorable early settlement on behalf of an employer in an age-discrimination/inaccurate pay stub action following the depositions of plaintiﬀ and co-workers.

Obtained a favorable pre-litigation settlement on behalf of a CEO and private bank in an employment action alleging wrongful termination/retaliation and fraud.

Obtained favorable settlement of nationwide class action on behalf of leading multinational technology company whose laptop was allegedly defectively designed.

Obtained favorable settlement on the eve of trial for leading multinational media and entertainment company in a case where plaintiff alleged various breach of contract and intentional tort claims.