Firm Directory

Fordham University
    (J.D. 1986)
Juilliard School of Music
    (B.M. 1982)

Martindale Rating: AV

David R. Scheidemantle

David Scheidemantle is Co-Managing Partner of the Firm.  David focuses his practice on complex business litigation, insurance coverage counseling and litigation on behalf of policyholders, products liability litigation, construction defect litigation, and class actions.  Before joining the Firm, David was an equity partner for 10 years at Proskauer Rose LLP.  Earlier he practiced at Cahill Gordon & Reindel in New York and Shearman & Sterling in Los Angeles.    

Highlights of David’s practice include the following:
 

·     Argued and won affirmance in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit of summary judgment in favor of a U.S. subsidiary of a $90 billion petro-chemical company in a putative nationwide class action.  The plaintiff had alleged defects in products plaintiff contended had been sold for $4 billion to the U.S. market.  Wasco Products, Inc. v. Southwall Technologies, Inc., et al., 435 F.3d 989 (9^th Cir.), cert. denied, 127 S. Ct. 83 (2006).

·     In June 2006, won dismissal based on the plaintiff's litigation conduct of virtually all claimed damages in alleged $40 million products action, then defeated the plaintiff's petition for interlocutory appeal.  Shortly thereafter, the plaintiff agreed to dismiss the action in exchange solely for a waiver of costs.
 

·     Argued and won affirmance in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit of the dismissal of a massive products liability action alleging $4 million in damages.  Four Seasons Solar Prods. Corp. v. Black & Decker Corp., et al., 2004 U.S. App. LEXIS 10688 (2d Cir. Jun. 1, 2004).
 

·     Argued and won reversal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in favor of a policyholder in which the Ninth Circuit adopted the after-acquired property doctrine notwithstanding California appellate authority rejecting that doctrine.  KF Dairies, Inc. v. Fireman's Fund Insurance Co., 224 F.3d 922 (9th Cir. 2000).
 

·     Argued and won summary judgment in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, obtaining insurance coverage for a performing artist sued for wrongful death.
 

·     Argued and won dismissal on the pleadings of an environmental nuisance and fear of disease action against an industrial company by 60 residents of a trailer park.
 

·     Won a multi-million dollar settlement on behalf of the parent of a failed savings and loan association in an action against multiple federal regulators. Due to its size, the settlement required the approval of the President of the United States and the Secretary of the Treasury.
 

·     Achieved a multi-million dollar settlement in favor of the claimants in an accountant malpractice action involving highly complex tax issues, without the necessity of commencing litigation.
 

·     Prosecuted and successfully settled a $100 million contract claim on behalf of a Spanish pharmaceutical company against a California supplier of blood plasma in an International Chamber of Commerce arbitration in London, governed by California and Dutch law, in which the principal arbitrator sat on Britain’s House of Lords.
 

·     Won insurance coverage from multiple off-shore insurance carriers for a performing group under a tour-cancellation policy in which the aggregate recovery exceeded the anticipated profits from the tour.
 

·     Prosecuted insurance coverage actions in federal district courts in Pennsylvania, Texas, and Massachusetts, involving a series of multimillion dollar products liability claims, resulting in a highly favorable settlement  under which the insurer funded past and future claims including more than $2 million in defense costs incurred after the settlement.
 

·     Successfully defended the manufacturer of building products in multiple construction defect litigations involving housing developments in the Pacific Northwest.
 

·     Obtained a highly favorable settlement in defense of an antitrust and RICO action against a major television studio, precipitated by a summary judgment motion scheduled for hearing on the day the settlement was reached, which resulted in a payment to the studio in excess of $1 million.
 

·     Successfully defended a Fortune 500 company in a series of complex limited partnership disputes involving the divestiture of a hospital.
 

·     Successfully defended a major rental car company in two putative nationwide consumer class actions alleging unfair business practices.
 

·     Represented a weight loss company in AAA International Arbitration proceedings and in multiple injunction actions by franchisees throughout the United States and Canada alleging breaches of alleged rights to exclusive territories.
 

·     In a products liability action arising from a nationally reported vehicular crash involving 16 fatalities, won dismissal of the alleged manufacturer of the shock absorbers in the van in which the 16 victims were passengers.
 

·     As West Coast litigation counsel to Australia's largest bank, litigated and advised the bank concerning securities and lender liability actions and other banking-related matters.
 

·     Ran complex insurance coverage litigation in one of the largest bankruptcies in the history of the State of California in which the debtor sought and obtained millions of dollars in environmental cost recovery from multiple insurers and prior property owners.
 

·     Represented a public utility seeking insurance coverage in a series of wrongful death and fear of cancer actions involving more than 1000 plaintiffs.
 

·     Participated in coordinating a national defense and trial strategy for a Fortune 100 company in approximately 150 products liability asbestos-in-buildings cases involving tens of thousands of buildings located throughout the United States, including virtually every public utility building, public school, public office building, bridge, and tunnel in the City of New York.   
 

David is licensed to practice in both California and New York and is a member of the Federal and State courts in both States.  He graduated cum laude from Fordham University School of Law, where he served as editor of the Fordham Law Review. He was a judicial law clerk to Judge Inzer B. Wyatt of the Southern District of New York and Judge William H. Timbers of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He received a bachelor's degree from The Juilliard School, where, as a violinist, he was Concertmaster of the Juilliard Symphony and the National Orchestra of New York.  He currently performs as a violinist with a string quartet with members of the Pasadena Symphony, the Chamber Orchestra of the South Bay, and the L.A. Opera Orchestra.

David is committed to pro bono matters and won the release under the Battered Women’s Syndrome Act of a woman who had been incarcerated for 20 years for murdering her abusive boyfriend. He also has represented numerous non-profit arts and educational organizations on a pro bono basis, including the Suzuki Music Association of California, the Pasadena Junior Theater, the Renaissance Arts Academy, and the American Friends of the Israel Philharmonic.

Involved with the community, David has served on boards of directors of several non-profit organizations, including the Century City Chamber of Commerce.  He currently is Chairman of The Friends of the Levitt Pavilion, an arts organization dedicated to providing free admission outdoor summer concerts.  He is on the Steering Committee of the Pasadena Temple of the Self-Realization Fellowship.