Juthamas Judy Suwatanapongched

Judy Suwatanapongched is a partner in the Business Trial Practice Group in the firm's Los Angeles office.

Areas of Practice

Judy represents clients in complex business litigation, healthcare litigation, and consumer class actions involving:

• Breach of contract
• Fraud
• Violations of California’s Unfair Competition Law, False Advertising Law and Consumers Legal Remedies Act
• Privacy rights
• Breach of fiduciary duties
• Indemnification claims
• Unlawful detainer
• Commercial loan defaults
• Lender liability

Judy is known and valued as a collaborative, approachable, attentive and detail-oriented litigator. Her clients rely on her clear communication, organization, and management skills to execute their litigation strategies. Judy handles all stages of litigation, from case filing to dispositive motions to mediation, arbitration, trial, and judgment enforcement.

Judy leads teams of associates and legal staff in handling complex discovery, e-discovery, and trial preparation. She is a member of the firm’s E-Discovery Team and Technology Advisory Council.

Activities

Judy is an active member of the Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander (“AANHPI”) community and enjoys utilizing her skills to help the AANHPI community at large. In November 2012, Judy helped found and launch the Thai American Bar Association (“TABA”) and served as its Founding President. TABA is the first organization to support Thai and Thai-American legal professionals in the United States. She currently serves on TABA’s Board. Judy also assisted in the formation of the Thai American Samakkee Coalition (“Samakkee”), a national organization that promotes the unity and interests of Thais and Thai Americans in the United States. She is currently the National Director of Samakkee.

Judy currently serves on the Advisory Board of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Los Angeles (“APABA”), where she has served on the Board of Governors since 2007 and was its President in 2015. As former APABA Scholarship Fund Chair for more than 10 years, she coordinated the Law School Fellowship Committee, which awards an annual $5,000 scholarship to a law student who spends a summer working at a Los Angeles County nonprofit organization in a unit that serves the AANHPI community.

In addition to her external leadership roles, Judy is a firmwide Co-Leader of Sheppard Mullin’s diversity group, the Diversity and Inclusion Attorney Network (“DIAN”). She also serves as a Co-Leader of the Los Angeles Office Working Group.

Experience

Ms. Suwatanapongched represents large and small businesses in the health care, consumer product (beverage, food, cosmetics and retail), financial, real estate, data and electronic service, aerospace, and medical device, industries, among others. She has helped her clients favorably resolve the following disputes:

Complex Business Disputes

Represented environmental testing company in litigation involving real estate dispute. Second-chaired a several week bench trial. Resolved by favorable settlement.

Represented real estate development company in litigation involving fraudulent transfer and conspiracy. Second-chaired and obtained unanimous defense verdict after several days of jury trial.

Represented financial institution in dispute regarding negotiated instrument. Prevailed on motion to dismiss, and judgment in favor of client affirmed on appeal.

Represented aerospace client in arbitration related to breach of contract dispute. Resolved by favorable settlement.

Represented online services company in dispute related to outages at customer’s site. Resolved by favorable settlement.

Represented real estate companies and subsidiaries in commercial unlawful detainer cases. Resolved by obtaining judgments for possession and evictions, favorable settlements and lease amendments.

Represented international frozen food manufacturer in breach of contract dispute in arbitration. Obtained arbitration award in client’s favor.

Represented financial institution in foreclosure and lender liability action with guarantors of defaulted loan. Prevailed on summary judgment.

Represented medical device manufacturer in dispute with financial institution involving unauthorized diversion of client’s credit card payments to a third party. Resolved in client’s favor.

Integral member of team of attorneys across several law firms in representation of insurer related to complicated excess insurance claims. Resolved by favorable settlements.

Class Actions

Represented beverage manufacturer in class action involving unfair competition and false advertising related to product labeling. Prevailed on motion to dismiss.

Represented hospital in class action involving emergency room charges. Prevailed on summary judgment.

Represented lender in class action alleging class members' privacy rights were violated. Prevailed in arbitration, and judgment in favor of client affirmed on appeal.

Represented canned food manufacturer in class action involving unfair competition and false advertising related to product labeling. Resolved by favorable settlement.

Represented retail chain in class action related to collection of customers’ data. Resolved by favorable settlement.

Represented retail chain in multiple separate class actions and class actions consolidated in multi-district litigation related to collection of customers’ data. Resolved by favorable settlement.

Honors

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Visionary, Los Angeles Times, 2024

Top Attorney, Pasadena Magazine, 2017

Southern California Rising Star, Super Lawyers, 2014-2019

Articles

Class Action Defense Strategy Blog Posts

• "Baker v. Microsoft Corporation Revisited: Video Gaming Company Seeks to Stop Class Action Plaintiffs From Shortcutting the Appeals Process," May 8, 2015
• "Baker v. Microsoft Corporation: Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Decision in Class Action Against Video Gaming Company May Make It More Difficult to Defeat Class Actions," April 28, 2015 
• "Dennis v. Kellogg Company: Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Sets Aside Class Action Settlement Because Terms Did Not Meet Legal Standards for Cy Pres Distribution," September 17, 2012
• "California Court of Appeal Clarifies Breach of Warranty Law in Class Actions and Vacates Order Certifying Class of Consumers in American Honda Motor Company, Inc. v. Superior Court," December 9, 2011
• "California Court of Appeal Holds Class Action Waiver in Commercial Contract Not Unconscionable," September 21, 2010
• "Second Circuit Court of Appeals Finds Arbitration Provision Waiving Class Actions Unenforceable And Applies Stolt-Nielsen to Deny Class Arbitration," July 30, 2010

Game Counsel Blog Posts

• "Activision Files Lawsuit Over the Rights to Use the Word “Warzone” in the Call Of Duty Series," April 27, 2021

Video Game Law Blog Posts

• "Baker v. Microsoft Corporation Revisited: Microsoft Seeks to Stop Class Action Plaintiffs From Shortcutting the Appeals Process," May 14, 2015
• "Baker v. Microsoft Corporation: Game Companies Beware, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Decision May Make It More Difficult to Defeat Class Actions," April 15, 2015
• "Redbox Collection of ZIP Codes Does Not Violate Song-Beverly Privacy Rights," July 11, 2014
• "Kid Gamers: Safe Harbors for Video Game Providers," February 28, 2014
• "Machinima: Machine + Cinema," March 16, 2010 

Media Mentions

Speaking Engagements

• “A Contract is a Contract – or Is It?” myLawCLE, June 4, 2024

Events

Memberships

Board Member/Former Founding President, Thai American Bar Association

Advisory Board/Past President, Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Los Angeles

Member, Los Angeles County Bar Association

Member, National Asian Pacific American Bar Association

Member, Association of Business Trial Lawyers

National Director, Thai American Samakkee Coalition