Vahe Mesropyan

Secured a complete victory including a $23 million judgment, following a five-week jury trial concerning a Silicon Valley real estate fraud dispute, on behalf of a limited partnership and its limited partners for the years-long fraud by the partnership’s general partner.  For more information on the trial and the verdict read more here.

Secured total victory for digital asset exchange Kraken in a whistleblower and discrimination claim by former employee. After filing summary adjudication motions on the former employee’s claims and Kraken’s cross-claims for former employees breach of employment agreements, plaintiff agreed to settle by dropping all claims against Kraken without any payment. 

Obtained an order phasing discovery in a class action dispute, requiring that plaintiff’s counsel first conduct discovery on and prove that plaintiff is adequate class representative before being permitted to conduct class discovery. The prohibition on class discovery resulted in plaintiff abandoning class claims. 

Obtained TRO against departed executive who took customer and vendor contact information after separation. Even though information taken was not protected by confidentiality agreements, Vahe prepared a complaint and request for TRO arguing that the information amounted to trade secrets. The Court granted the TRO in total and ordered that the departed executive turn over all devices and accounts for forensic examination, that she submit to a deposition and respond to discovery on an expedited basis, and preclude her from using the stolen information. 

Secured defense verdict for digital asset exchange Kraken after a month-long jury trial, defeating plaintiff's whistleblower claims against the company and securing verdicts that plaintiff misappropriated trade secrets from the company and breached his confidentiality obligations and duty of good faith and fair dealing to the company. Kraken stated “We're pleased with the outcome and thankful to testimony from happy Kraken employees and advocacy from our counsel at Withers.” For more information on the trial, the verdict, and Withers' and the client's reaction, please read more here.