Cozen O’Connor: Robinson, Alexander

OVERVIEW
EXPERIENCE
EVENTS

Alex focuses his practice on commercial litigation. He is an integral member of a team focused on California privacy and data-related litigation, including defending clients against claims involving the California Invasion of Privacy Act and the California Unauthorized Access to Computer Data Act, and claims involving pixels, tracking and website analytics, as well as claims under the Video Privacy Protection Act. Recently, Alex secured two notable victories in the data privacy field. One plaintiff chose to walk away from her lawsuit following the filing of the client’s opening brief. The other plaintiff’s complaint was dismissed when the court granted a Motion to Dismiss without needing to hear oral argument. Alex also handles complex litigation emanating from ransomware incidents.

Additionally, Alex represents clients in breach of contract, trade secret, construction, involuntary corporate dissolution, bad faith insurance, fraud, and professional negligence matters. He second-chaired a seven-day jury trial in the U.S. District Court, Central District of California involving a client that was impleaded for indemnification based on theories of professional negligence. His client was found not to have been negligent. He also successfully argued a demurrer on behalf of a major player in the cannabis industry, who was improperly alleged to have misappropriated trade secrets.

Prior to joining the firm, Alex was a law clerk at the U.S. District Court, Western District of Michigan for the Honorable Maarten Vermaat, U.S. Magistrate Judge. He helped manage a voluminous and varied docket from Social Security to criminal issues, handled many of chamber’s clerical duties, including coordinating with several district court judges’ chambers to ensure the continuity of jointly assigned cases, and assisted during hearings and trials.

Alex earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Alabama, his master’s degree in new media management from Syracuse University, S.I Newhouse School of Public Communications, and his law degree, cum laude, from Syracuse University College of Law. During law school, Alex was an extern at the U.S. District Court, Northern District of New York for the Honorable Glenn T. Suddaby, U.S. District Court Chief Judge, Certified Legal Intern, Appellate Division of San Diego District Attorney’s Office, and an extern at the U.S. District Court, Southern District of California for the Honorable William Q. Hayes, U.S. District Court Judge.

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Experience

Secured dismissal with prejudice of claims brought against a timekeeping/payroll software services provider by a customer that experienced a service outage after the provider was the victim of a criminal ransomware attack. Asserting that the provider was grossly negligent in "allowing" criminals to attack its systems, the plaintiff unsuccessfully sought to expand the provider's obligations to include the customer's own failure to pay its employees correctly.

Obtained well below-market pre-litigation resolution of California-based privacy claims on multiple occasions by challenging jurisdiction and the use of "tester" plaintiffs.

Secured dismissal of a proposed class action involving the California Invasion of Privacy Act and the California Unauthorized Access to Computer Data Act by raising jurisdictional and other challenges to the complaint.

Secured a favorable settlement in a long-running matter that began as the defense of a wrongful death suit and concluded with recovery on a subrogation claim. We first won summary judgment on the wrongful death claim against our client and simultaneously won summary adjudication on the question of liability on the cross-complaint that we filed against a commercial tenant responsible for related property damage. We then obtained an assignment of a bad faith claim from the tenant to pursue its carrier and filed a bad faith claim against the carrier, which settled.

Won a writ of mandate against a city, striking the city's decision that our client must pay more than $5 million in relocation costs to close its mobile home park for redevelopment. The court held instead that the city was the responsible party because it had failed to renew the park's zoning variance.

Won a unanimous defense verdict, after a seven-day jury trial in federal court in California, on behalf of an insurance broker against a third-party plaintiff on professional negligence and indemnity claims seeking $2.4 million in damages.

Won a motion to dismiss and an anti-SLAPP motion, as well as an award of attorneys' fees, in a defamation case in California federal court in which we represented a climate scientist who had been asked to provide public feedback on the notion of "geoengineering" in connection with a documentary on the subject.