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Mr.
Ballard specializes in civil litigation, alternate dispute resolution and
trial practice, primarily in the areas of business and commercial
litigation, employment litigation and securities arbitrations. Mr. Ballard
represents individuals, small businesses and institutional clients. He
provides each client with personal service regardless of the size of the
client or the complexity of the legal services to be rendered. Although
primarily a trial attorney, Mr. Ballard is adept at finding creative
solutions to pressing problems in an effort to avoid litigation and the
attendant costs.
Mr. Ballard was honored with a 2008
Outstanding Trial Attorney Award from the Consumer Attorneys of San Diego
and was honored at CASD's annual "An Evening With The Trial Stars" dinner.
Mr. Ballard is recognized in the
2009-2012 editions of Super Lawyers in the Labor & Employment category.
Super Lawyers is a rating service of outstanding lawyers who have attained a
high-degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. The selection
process is multi-phased and includes independent research, peer nominations
and peer evaluations.
Mr. Ballard is AV rated by
Martindale-Hubbell, which is the highest rating possible.
 Recently, Jim
Ballard and Sarah Evans defended two companies in putative class actions
alleging field service technicians were not properly compensated for their
travel time as well as claims for unpaid overtime, missed rest and meal
breaks, and improper deductions. Collectively, the putative classes sought
millions of dollars in allegedly unpaid compensation but both matters were
settled on a class-wide basis for less than 12% of what plaintiffs sought.
Ballard and
Evans have also defended a client sued in a Labor Code Private Attorney
General Act claim. In that PAGA representative action on behalf of employees
of a local tourist business, the plaintiff alleged that the business failed
to comply with certain Labor Code provisions involving rest and meal breaks,
business expense reimbursements, and other issues. This matter was settled
for less than 4% of the penalties plaintiff sought in the case.
Ballard and
Evans successfully defended a financial services firm sued in three separate
class actions by stock broker plaintiffs who alleged that they were
misclassified as exempt from overtime under the federal Fair Labor Standards
Act and state wage and hour laws, that they were not reimbursed for business
expenses, and that they were not given breaks for meals and rest periods as
required by state law. After class counsel demanded a significant amount to
settle the class action, Ballard and Evans negotiated small settlements with
all but one of their client’s then-current account executives then resolved
the remaining class claims at mediation before plaintiffs’ motions for class
certification were filed for settlements totaling well less than 13% of the
original demand.
On October 20,
2010, Jim Ballard successfully defended a real estate broker and its two
agents against claims of negligence, non-disclosure and concealment. The
case was tried to a jury in Vista over the course of five weeks. The
Plaintiff demanded $1m pre-trial and asked the jury for in excess of $3.5m.
On February 22,
2010, Jim Ballard successfully defended a client against claims of racial
discrimination, retaliation and wrongful termination. Jim successfully
sought and received summary judgment which disposed of the case prior to
getting to a jury.
On August 19,
2008, Jim Ballard successfully defended Neopost, Inc. against claims of
racial discrimination and wrongful termination. The case was tried to a jury
in Oakland over the course of three weeks. The jury found in Neopost's favor
on most causes of action and hung on others. After Plaintiff's pre-trial
demand of $1.4m and a claim to the jury in excess of $2m, the case
ultimately settled for $100,001.
On November 5,
2007, Jim Ballard received a judgment in excess of $6.3 million on behalf
of 75 clients involved in failed land deal in Colorado. Factoring in
settlements reached prior to the trial, Mr. Ballard recovered over $8
million for the defrauded clients. The lawsuit, a combination of contract
and security claims, was the culmination of over two years of work
investigating and prosecuting the claims.
On October 31,
2006, Jim Ballard obtained a $5.96 million jury verdict (later reduced
after post-trial motions) in a malicious prosecution action on behalf of his
client Dr. Sara Sukumar. The case was tried to a jury for over four weeks
and resulted in one of the biggest verdicts for malicious prosecution in the
history of San Diego County and one of the largest verdicts for the 2006
year. Jim also handled the appeal of the matter which resulted in the
judgment being affirmed. Ultimately, after costs and interests were added to
the judgment, Jim collected over $3 million for his client.
On April 18,
2007, Jim Ballard successfully defended Neopost, Inc. against two claims of
disability discrimination and one claim of failure to accommodate a
disability by a former employee. The matter was tried to a jury for over
three weeks in Alameda County Superior Court. The jury took less than two
hours to return defense verdicts on all claims. This is Mr. Ballard's second
successful defense of Neopost, Inc. against claims of discrimination
On January 30,
2006, Jim Ballard successfully prosecuted a claim for misappropriation of
trade secrets on behalf of Neopost, Inc. against a former Neopost employee.
In the same trial, Mr. Ballard also successfully defended Neopost against
the former employee's cross-claims for discrimination, harassment and
retaliation. The case was tried before Judge Bert Glennon, Jr., in Van Nuys
Superior Court over the course of three weeks.
Employment
Litigation
Business &
Commercial Litigation
Landlord-Tenant
Securities
Arbitration
University of
California at Los Angeles (B.A., 1992)
University of
San Diego School of Law (J.D., 1995)
San Diego
County, California and American Bar Associations
Consumer
Attorneys of San Diego
William B.
Enright Chapter of the American Inns of Court
Mr. Ballard is
also a lecturer for Continuing Education of the Bar in the areas of
discovery, trial preparation and trial techniques.
Member,
University of San Diego School of Law Alumni Association Board of Directors
Speaker – New
Labor and Employment Law for 2011 (January 2011, American Subcontractors
Association)
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