PRACTICE AREAS

R. Gaylord "Bob" Smith assumed the Chair of the firm’s Environmental Law and Toxic Tort department in 2008.  He specializes in complex business litigation, with particular emphasis in mass torts and environmental litigation.  The firm’s Environmental department has over 60 attorneys in offices throughout the nation.  
 
LEGAL EXPERIENCE 

• Lewis, Brisbois, Bisgaard & Smith LLP (1979 - Present)
  • 2006 - Present:  trial counsel for Northrop Grumman in defense of environmental  litigation brought by Orange County Water District against multiple corporations arising out of alleged VOC contamination of the Orange County aquifer.  
  • 2006: Obtained injunction based upon NEPA violations against the Department of Interior to halt the construction of a new All American Canal in Imperial Valley, California. 
  • 2002 - 2006:  national coordinating counsel for Metabolife, largest U.S. seller of ephedra dietary supplements, in mass tort litigation consolidated in a MDL proceeding before Judge Jed Rakoff in the S.D.N.Y. 
  • 2002:  Defended shareholder derivative action in three week trial seeking $24,000,000 damages against managing partner of limited liability corporation; trial court ruled that general partner caused no damage.  
  • 2000: Won plaintiff’s verdict of $911,000 on behalf of Lancer Insurance Company which claimed that its own reinsurer wrongfully interfered with its exclusive managing general agency agreement with a producer of non-standard auto policies.  Other settlements increased total recovery to $2.4 million.
  • 1999:   Defense verdict in legal malpractice case brought against the former attorney of Ballard Smith, past president of the San Diego Padres baseball team.  Ballard Smith claimed his attorney negligently failing to designate an expert witness on damages in a prior trial, which resulted in a $4.2 million verdict.  Jury verdict for the defendant attorney after a three-week trial.
  • 1998: Defense verdict in insurance bad faith insurance case against Homestead Insurance Company arising out of damage to two Beverly Hills mansions during the 1994 Northridge earthquake.  The plaintiff was a Liechtenstein Corporation owned by the Sultan of Brunei.  
  • 1995: Defense verdict for Price/Costco, Inc., in a wrongful termination case. The four-week jury trial grew out of claims that the vendor was fraudulently induced to invest $250,000 in start-up costs to establish a photographic "road show" in various Price Club stores, only to be terminated without cause.
  • 1993-1994:  Defense judgment in three judge panel trial in a $145 million reinsurance claim brought by the Department of Insurance on behalf of Mission Insurance Company against 19 reinsurers.  The three-judge panel sustained reinsurers' allegations of fraud and violation of the securities laws, and rendered judgment for the defendants.  In a related claim against the directors and officers of Mission, obtained a $26,000,000 recovery from their errors & omissions insurer.
  • 1990:  Defended abuse-of-process suit brought by Stewart Title Company against attorneys who allegedly held a defective Sheriff's sale of a 26-unit condominium project in Pacific Beach.  At the close of a multi-week trial obtained a directed verdict against Stewart Title.
  • 1987: Defense verdict in a federal class action securities action brought against a group of developers, promoters, and attorneys arising out of the financing and construction of an industrial complex near San Diego.  A defense jury verdict in favor of our clients was obtained.  Published decisions in the series of securities fraud cases in this matter included Koehler v. Pulvers, 606 F.Supp.164 (S.D. Cal. 1985) and Koehler v. Pulvers, 614 F.Supp. 829 (S.D. Cal. 1985).
  • 1984:  Represented the business manager of the comedy group "Cheech & Chong" in a jury trial involving the 1978 motion picture "Up in Smoke".  The case settled favorably after several weeks of trial.  A published opinion generated in this case is Playboy Enterprises v. Superior Court, 154 Cal.App.3d 14, 201 Cal.Rptr. (1984).
  • 1981:  Lead trial counsel for Chester Davis, a director and general counsel of Summa Corporation, Howard Hughes' holding company, for alleged mismanagement of Mr. Hughes' business interests.  This case was tried in federal district court in Los Angeles and resulted in a judgment in favor of Hughes' former attorney.  Published decisions in this case are Davis v. The Eighth Judicial Dist. of Nevada, 87 Nev. 332, 629 P.2d 1209 (1981); Davis & Cox v. Summa Corp., 751 F.2d 1507 (9th Cir. 1985).

Mr. Smith has tried numerous other business cases, including an unfair business practices/antitrust case for Coopers & Lybrand (Los Angeles, 1986), a mass tort case for Union Pacific's real estate subsidiary following a landslide at the Spyglass Hills housing development (Los Angeles, 1984), and numerous other commercial matters.

He is frequently called upon to handle appellate matters.  He has participated in over 50 appeals, and has over 20 published decisions.  He has also personally handled or directly supervised well over 25 securities and other class action lawsuits, including litigation against the former directors and officers of numerous failed financial institutions, including Heritage Bancorp, American Continental Corporation (Lincoln Savings & Loan), and Great American Savings Bank, among others.  He has also litigated numerous lawsuits involving the directors and officers of corporations, including International Diamond Corporation, Fabulous Inns of America, and Mission Insurance Company. 

AWARDS 

 Selected as one of “Top Ten San Diego County Attorneys”, by the San Diego Daily Transcript, July 2005.  

EDUCATION 

• Harvard University, Juris Doctor, cum laude, 1976 
• Claremont Men’s College, Bachelor of Arts, summa cum laude, 1973