
Overview
Bradley Chapin’s practice is diverse and touches on a variety of industries and practice areas, including complex business disputes involving trade secret theft, fraud, breach of contract, business interference claims, product liability, tax shelter fraud, securities fraud, copyright and trademark infringement, civil embezzlement, defamation, real property, commercial landlord-tenant contracts and relationships, and construction contracting and defects. Brad also has extensive experience defending consumer class actions, as well as assisting clients with product recalls. Brad’s practice includes representing large national companies located in and outside of California, as well as local businesses and business owners in the Orange County community. He practices in both State and Federal Courts, has successfully tried jury cases in California and Arizona.
Not long ago, Brad completed three jury trials in a twelve month period in which he headed up trial teams in all three cases that resulted in complete jury verdict wins for his clients. These cases ranged from defending a local sewing manufacturer against claims of business interference and defamation, defending a successful group of local insurance brokers that split from their former company and were sued for, among other business torts, trade secret misappropriation and officer breach of fiduciary duty, and most recently prosecuting a claim for nearly $700,000 in unpaid invoices for a national tire distributor based in Miami and defending against product liability counter-claims for millions of dollars in damages claimed to be caused by defective tires. Each of these cases concluded with jury verdicts finding in favor of his clients.
Brad also recently completed week-long arbitration where he headed up a trial team that successfully defended one of America’s leading homebuilders and a Fortune 500 company. The dispute involved two former executives who sued for over $10 million for damages based on allegations of breach of contract and fraud. A former California Supreme Court Justice presided over the matter that resulted in a complete defense award and an order that Rutan & Tucker’s client be reimbursed all of its fees litigating the case.
Before heading to law school, Brad graduated magna cum laude from the University of California, at Santa Barbara in 2000 with a B.A. in Political Science. He spent the 1998-1999 academic year as an exchange student studying politics at Glasgow University in Glasgow, Scotland. While at Santa Barbara and Glasgow, he acted in numerous plays as he attempted to rid himself of the acting bug (somewhat unsuccessfully). While at USC, he served as a staff member of the University of Southern California Law Review, and was a Supervisor for the Post-Conviction Justice Project.
Experience
Representative Matters/Cases
- Successful defense of Fortune 500 homebuilder in parallel actions in Arbitration and Superior Court in which two former executives sued for over $10 million based on claims that Rutan & Tucker’s client failed to pay out profit participation under their respective executive compensation agreements. The arbitration was presided over by a former California Supreme Court Justice, who issued a final award finding entirely in favor of Rutan & Tucker’s client and ordering that it be reimbursed all of its fees and costs. The parallel Superior Court action ended less than a year later when summary judgment was entered in favor of Rutan & Tucker’s client.
- Representation of multiple national tire distributors for collection of unpaid invoices and in defense of multi-million dollar product liability claims, resulting in a 2016 jury verdict in Santa Cruz County, Arizona in favor of Mr. Chapin’s Miami-based tire distributor client.
- Representation of local insurance brokerage company and its principals against a nearly $10 million claim based on allegations of trade secret theft, business interference, and breach of fiduciary duties by the plaintiff’s former officers, resulting in a 2015 jury verdict in favor of Mr. Chapin’s clients, including a complete defense verdict against all of plaintiff’s claims as well as prevailing on a counter-claim for defamation against plaintiff’s owner with whom Mr. Chapin’s clients used to affiliated.
- Representation of a local sewing manufacturer against claims for business interference and defamation brought by a formerly prominent local production company, resulting in a 2015 jury verdict in favor of Mr. Chapin’s clients.
- Successfully defended NFL standout Terrell Owens in a three-week jury trial in which Owens was accused of breaching an endorsement agreement with a supplement company.
- Representation of International Corporation in defense of trademark counterfeiting and copyright infringement allegations.
- Representation of technology company in prosecution of claims for method patent infringement, misappropriation of trade secrets, breach of contract, and unfair competition.
- Representation of International Corporation in dispute with Big Four accounting firm over the sale and implementation of failed tax shelter.
- Defended multiple shareholder class-actions arising from mergers.
- Representation of defrauded investors in securities transaction.
- Representation of Southern California developer and its principals in multiple disputes arising out of construction of various new apartment communities.
- Representation of large non-profit organization in dispute with accounting firm over adequacy of auditing services.
- Represented Condominium Developer in defense of multi-million construction defect claim involving plumbing, architectural, and roofing/water proofing defects.
- Represented owner of strip mall in action against developer for defective construction and failure to pay contractually agreed costs.
- Represented HVAC subcontractor in multiple actions to recover payment of funds for work performed on commercial and multi-family housing projects, and defending against alleged defective work claims.
- Represented several subsidiary companies of multi-national corporation client in various construction defect lawsuits claiming defective construction or supply of defective materials on commercial and residential construction projects.
- Represented roofing contractor in various actions involving claims of defective residential construction, including insurance coverage cases stemming from same.
- Represented local community college association in action against design professionals and contractors for defective design and construction of state of the art class rooms and art studios.
- Represented seller of home where purchaser claimed defective windows caused leaks and resulting damage to home.