Michael S. Simon Partner The principle areas of Michael Simon's practice is the representation of public agencies in all aspects of litigation and in construction related disputes, with particular emphasis on the assessment of contractor's claims and potential fraud and false claims in both construction and other public contracting. Relevant experience includes: - Construction-public works projects
- Public contracting claims and litigation
- General commercial litigation
Industry Experience Wastewater treatment, Prison/Security Design & Implementation (including work on complex low voltage control systems), California Workers Compensation Administration Client Work - Defending the City of Los Angeles against over $80 million in contractor "requests for equitable adjustment" arising out of alleged changes and design errors and omissions during the design and construction of a $168 million expansion to a portion of the City's Hyperion waste water treatment facility.
- Prosecuting multimillion dollar cross-claims for the City of Los Angeles against those same contractors for violation of the False Claims Act and for fraud.
- Successful defense of the County of Los Angeles in a multi-million dollar public contract dispute with one of the third party administration companies hired by the County to manage the County's self-funded worker's compensation program.
- Presently prosecuting claims by the County against this same third party administrator to recover million in statutory penalties imposed due to that administrator's actions, including the use of complex sampling methods and statistical analysis.
- Successful representation of the League of California Cities and its constituent members as amicus in the Amelco Electric v. City of Thousand Oaks in California Court of Appeals and the California Supreme Court. In this landmark decision the Supreme Court essentially preserved the requirement for competitive bidding in public works contracts and rejected the construction bar's use of claims of "abandonment" to bypass those bidding requirements.
- Advise and representation of Rio Hondo Community College during construction of its Science Building Remodel and Expansion, including working closely with both faculty and the College's CM firm to resolve disputes with the construction, advise on methods to accelerate project completion, and to assist the College in best protecting itself from future construction-related claims
- Advise and representation of El Camino Community College on design, construction and contracting issues and disputes arising out of the college's current $400 million campus-wide expansion and reconstruction program.
- Successful defense for the Trustees of the California State University of over $10 million in contractor delay, disruption, over-inspection and change order claims arising out of the construction of a major new series of buildings at the Northridge campus, including prosecution of false claim allegations against the contractor. The contractor ultimately abandoned all of its claims.
- Successful defense for the Trustees of the California State University of millions in contractor impact claims allegedly resulting from design defects and owner changes arising out of the construction of the performing arts center and related facilities at the Long Beach campus.
- Successful defense against contractor delay and design defect-related claims exceeding $ 10 million on the County of Los Angeles' Emergency Operations Center and successfully, prosecution of cross-claims against the contractor for violation of the California False Claims Act which ultimately resulted in the contractor dropping its entire claim against the County.
- Successful defense of millions in contractor claims against the County of Los Angeles for alleged excessive change order costs and for delays and disruptions for alleged design problems for the hi-tech thermal energy storage system constructed as part of the construction of the County's new "Twin Towers" expansion of the Los Angeles Men's Central Jail.
- Recovery for the County of millions of dollars in damages for defects in the fabrication and construction against the contractors for this same thermal energy storage system.
- Successfully prosecuting claims against the architect and structural engineer for design errors and omissions which lead to tens of millions of dollars in change orders on the County's "Twin Towers" project.
- Defense of multimillion dollar contractor claims and prosecution of false claims on the County of Los Angeles' North County Correctional Facility (Phase II) project, involving both construction issues and the design and implementation of a low voltage majority voting control system.
Reported Cases - Amelco Electric v. City of Thousand Oaks, 27 Cal. 4th 228
- In re Executive Life Insurance Co., 32 Cal.App.4th 344
- Texas Commerce Bank v. Garamendi, 11 Cal.App.4th 460
- Commercial Nat'l Bank v. Superior Court, 14 Cal. App. 4th 393
Publications/Presentations/Speaking/Recognitions Speaking Engagements "Anti-SLAPP Motions: What They Are and What They are Not" March, 2003 Presentation to City Attorneys Association of Los Angeles County Professional Affiliations California State Bar (Litigation Section) American Bar Association (Litigation Section) Los Angeles County Bar Association (Litigation Section) Bar & Court Admissions Bar Admissions State Bar of California
United States Supreme Court
United States District Courts for the Central, Eastern and Southern Districts Court Admissions U.S. Courts of Appeals, 9th Circuit
U.S. District Courts, Northern and Southern Districts of California Education J.D., University of California at Davis, 1989 B.A., University of California at Davis, 1985 | |
