Benjamin Chapman Email & Phone Number

Los Angeles, California, United States

Los Angeles, California, United States

Supervise, manage, and assist all of the DWP Division’s attorneys in coordination with the GeneralCounsel. In that role, advise on a variety of issues affecting every aspect of the DWP Division’sactivities (litigation, labor and employment, drafting and reviewing contracts, procurement, waterand power legal issues and projects, regulatory issues, rates, etc.).Serve as the acting supervisor for the Civil Litigation group, which handles more than400 tort cases. In that role, assist with litigation strategy, approve all settlements and expenditures,manage personnel issues, and manage outside counsel.

Handled the City’s most important and high-profile cases relating to business disputes and constitutional claims (state and federal), including:-Eck v. City (LASC) - drafted a successful motion for judgment on the pleadings based on a never before cited statute of limitation in a class action challenging the City’s annual transfer of nearly $300 million from the DWP to the City’s general fund. Other cities lost similar cases; had the City lost, it would have been forced to pay back the preceding three transfers (more than $800m), and would have been barred from making future transfers, resulting in steep cuts to City services. -hand-picked to handle all challenges to the City’s COVID-19 stay-at-home order. Successfully handled cases brought by gun stores, restaurants, churches, and gyms.-AIDS Healthcare Foundation v. City (LASC) – demurrer sustained without leave to amend in lawsuit seeking to halt any City action on real estate projects tied to corruption of two former City councilmembers.-Parker v. City (LASC) – defeated writ of mandamus seeking to overturn the Ethics Commission’s determination that a police officer’s disclosure to TMZ of a confidential recording made on duty violated the City’s ethics laws. Federal court orders include:-Matthews v. City (C.D. Cal.) - 2023 WL 8414865 (C.D. Cal. Oct. 31, 2023)-Government APP Solutions, Inc. v. City of New Haven, 2023 WL 2957862 (E.D. Cal. Apr. 14, 2023), aff'd 2024 WL 1299993 (9th Cir. 2024)-Patel v. City (C.D. Cal.) – 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 56222 (C.D. Cal. Feb. 9, 2022). -Apartment Owners Association of Los Angeles v. City – 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 103864 (C.D. Cal. June 1, 2021), affirmed in part by 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 22792 (9th Cir. Aug. 16, 2022).-Sampson v. City (USDC, C.D. Cal.) – 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 127911 (C.D. Cal. May 18, 2020).-Abcarian v. Levine (USDC, C.D. Cal.) – 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1196 (C.D. Cal. Jan. 3, 2019), aff’d 972 F.3d 1019 (9th Cir. 2020).

As the only full-time, dedicated eBay associate at Cooley, represented eBay and its related companies (e.g., PayPal, StubHub, etc.) in more than two hundred cases and pre-litigation disputes around the country. I also regularly advised eBay on various aspects of their business, including providing legal advice regarding proposed changes to eBay’s services. Notable matters included:-Ticketmaster LLC v. StubHub (LASC) – successfully defended StubHub in a high-profile lawsuit regarding the sale of “artist hold” tickets. Directly responsible for conducting extensive discovery, including taking key depositions of concert venue PMKs. -StreamCast Networks v. Skype (USDC, C.D. Cal.) – Represented Skype and eBay in this closely followed action alleging civil RICO and antitrust claims based on StreamCast’s alleged ownership interest in the technology underlying Skype. Drafted two motions to dismiss which were both granted. 2006 WL 5437323 (C.D. Cal. Sept. 14, 2006) and 547 F. Supp. 2d 1086 (C.D. Cal. 2007) (with prejudice). -Universal Grading Service v. eBay (USDC, N.D. Cal.) – 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 25193 (N.D. Cal. Mar. 8, 2011) and 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2325 (N.D. Cal. Jan. 9, 2012), aff'd. 563 Fed. Appx. 571 (9th Cir. 2014). -Dunkel v. eBay (USDC, N.D. Cal.) – 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13866 (N.D. Cal. Jan. 31, 2013) and 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 37903 (N.D. Cal. Mar. 19, 2014) (with prejudice). -Block v. eBay (USDC, N.D. Cal.) – 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 63866 (N.D. Cal. May 7, 2012), aff'd 747 F.3d 1135 (9th Cir. 2014). Handled more than twenty class actions for companies like Sony, eBay, PayPal, StubHub, Linden Labs, and Yelp against claims brought under various privacy and consumer protection laws. Represented more than fifteen companies in connection with FINRA, SEC and DOJ requests and investigations. Notable representations included representing Sony in a global, multi-year investigation by the DOJ and European Commission into the lithium ion battery market.

Doctor Of Law (Jd)

Bachelor Of Arts (Ba), History