A creative and forceful litigator, Padraic Foran focuses on complex civil litigation—primarily fraud, trade secret, and professional liability matters—in California and across the country.
Mr. Foran has guided a wide variety of clients—from Southern California Edison, Epic Games, Bausch Health, Genworth Financial, and Endo Pharmaceuticals, to Qualcomm, SpaceX, Tesla, Willis Towers Watson, and GlaxoSmithKline—through sensitive, high-stakes litigation. He also advises corporate officers and directors in a broad range of industries, such as telecommunications, real estate, and financial services, on their most important and urgent matters.
With experience managing the litigation process from pleadings to verdict to appeal, Mr. Foran brings an abundance of courtroom experience and insight to every case. Working closely with clients, he develops innovative approaches and case strategies designed to achieve clearly articulated goals. He streamlines complex fact and expert discovery, avoids unnecessary disputes, and focuses on what matters: favorable resolution.
Among his recent victories, Mr. Foran won a “landmark” opioid trial for Endo Pharmaceuticals in a closely watched $50 billion case alleging public nuisance, unfair competition, and false advertising. Following a four-month trial, the full defense verdict was hailed by The American Lawyer as “giv[ing] drug companies their first major victory in the litigation brought by cities and counties across the country over the opioid crisis.”
Mr. Foran was also a key member of the trial team that helped strike down a land use ordinance, passed by Malibu voters, that The New York Times described as “one of the most stringent anti-development measures ever attempted in the country.” Drawing on his nuanced understanding of the relevant administrative, statutory, and constitutional laws, Mr. Foran developed a winning legal strategy that revealed the ordinance’s overreach and illegality—then tried the case on the pleadings and obtained an excellent result, sparing his client costly discovery. The victory was affirmed by the California Court of Appeal in a unanimous decision described by the Daily Journal as “a major appellate win in a high-profile legal and political battle.”
Mr. Foran’s wins also include scoring a successful jury verdict on all claims in a patent litigation trial in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, leveraging his deep knowledge of the patented smartphone technology at issue to craft a compelling, persuasive trial narrative.
His ongoing matters include defending Epic Games against numerous high-profile lawsuits in multiple jurisdictions related to alleged “video game addiction.” The plaintiffs claim Epic and other video game manufacturers and distributors designed their games to be addictive, and they assert novel claims for product liability, negligence, and fraud, among other things.
Mr. Foran has been selected to Benchmark Litigation’s “40 & Under” list and has been recognized on the “Southern California Super Lawyers” and “Rising Stars” lists.
Updated Sep 2024
