James Robert Noblin | Attorney

Rob Noblin is a partner representing clients in a wide array of complex business litigation, with an emphasis on antitrust, unfair competition and intellectual property cases. He has published numerous articles involving antitrust issues in legal journals.

Significant Matters:

• Represented large municipal entities with respect to cutting-edge pass-on defense issues in Cartwright Act litigation arising from the California energy crisis.
• Represented a media company whose sale of radio stations and newspapers worth hundreds of millions of dollars was allegedly thwarted by a lending institution that threatened potential buyers with ill-founded lawsuits.
• Represented a credit report reseller in an antitrust case against a credit depository accused of a vertical price-fixing conspiracy with other resellers.
• Represented fishermen in a class action against landings based on allegations that the landings engaged in a horizontal price-fixing conspiracy for fishing charters.
• Represented used car dealerships in an antitrust class action against a wholesale auction company alleged to have conspired to rig bids.
• Represented a high-tech company in a shareholders' derivative action whose controlling interest was taken over by a control group that is allegedly draining money from the company.
• Represented a class action of physical therapists in an antitrust case against a preferred provider organization and a health insurer arising out of an alleged conspiracy to allocate customers.
• Represented numerous independent service organizations in an antitrust case against equipment manufacturer arising out of manufacturer's service software.

Appellate Experience:

• Knevelbaard Dairies v. Kraft Foods, Inc., 232 F.3d 979 (9th Cir. 2000) (landmark California Cartwright Act claim reversing motion to dismiss on grounds that Cartwright Act is broader than federal Sherman Act).
• Image Technical Services, Inc. v. Eastman Kodak Co., 125 F.3d 1195 (9th Cir. 1997) (upholding approximately $40 million of damages awarded by a jury to independent service organizations on monopolization claims)
• American Ad Management, Inc. v. GTE Corp., 92 F.3d 781 (9th Cir. 1996) (plaintiff resellers of yellow pages advertising obtain reversal of summary judgment on Sherman Act conspiracy claims)
• ABC International Traders, Inc. v. Matsushita Electric Corp., 14 Cal. 4th 1247 (1997) (landmark California Unfair Practices Act case reversing demurrer and setting forth elements of price discrimination claim)
• Newcal Indus. v. Ikon Office Solution, 513 F.3d 1038 (9th Cir. 2008) (authorizing plaintiff to proceed on antitrust and RICO claims arising out of allegedly deceptive office equipment contracts).
• Brill Media Co., LLC v. TCW Group, Inc., 132 Cal. App. 4th 324 (Cal. App. 2d Dist. 2005) (seminal decision narrowing scope of SLAPP statute)
• Proctor v. Vishay Intertechnology Inc., 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 22254 (9th Cir. Oct. 9, 2009) (delineating type of state law claims that survive a challenge under SLUSA)

Education:

B.A., summa cum laude, University of Southern California (1980)
J.D., cum laude, Harvard Law School (1983)
Note Office Chairman, Harvard Law Review, Volume 96 (1982-1983)

Judicial Clerkship:

Law Clerk, Honorable William A. Norris, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Los Angeles, 1983-1984

Authorship:

The Confluence of Muddied Waters: Antitrust Consequential Damages and the Interplay of Proximate Cause, Antitrust Injury, Standing and Disaggregation (with Maxwell M. Blecher),
13 St. John's J. Legal Comment. 145 (1998)

Fair Deal, Los Angeles Daily Journal, December 15, 1997, at page 6

The Tumult in State Antitrust Law: Cel Tech and the California Example in Little FTC Act Cases (with Maxwell M. Blecher), Antitrust Report (Matthew Bender) 2 (June 1999)

United States v. AMR Corp. and Judicial Hostility: Toward Predatory Pricing Cases, Antitrust Report (Matthew Bender) 17 (January 2002)

Bar Admissions:

1984 State Bar of California
1984 United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
1984 U.S. District Court for the Central District of California
1994 U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California
1997 U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California
1987 U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California

Professional Affiliations:

State Bar of California
Association of Business Trial Lawyers
Los Angeles County Bar Association