Stalwart Law Group

Dylan Ruga created Stalwart Law Group a little more than a year ago. The firm already has secured defense verdicts and multimillion-dollar settlements for clients, significant victories for such a young firm.

"We started with one or two very loyal clients and we've been fortunate that we've attracted a lot more with our reputation and successes that we've had in the courtroom," Ruga said.

The firm handles commercial litigation, legal malpractice, employment litigation and personal injury matters. The firm has also added four attorneys: Ji-In Lee Houck, Patrick Jacobs, Paul Traina and Ian Samson. Stalwart Law Group successfully defended Reserve Media Inc., a startup that provides a digital dining concierge service for restaurants and diners, in a bet-the-company trademark infringement suit against plaintiff Efficient Frontiers Inc., a software maker for restaurant and hotel reservations.

"Prior to the litigation, Efficient Frontiers sent a cease-and-desist letter demanding that our client either stop using the 'reserve' trademark or pay an outrageous license fee," Ruga said. "Neither was acceptable to our client."

Rather than sit back and wait for a lawsuit to be filed, Stalwart Law Group took a proactive approach to get the case in the venue that it thought would be most favorable.

"We surveyed possible venues and determined that the 9th Circuit was the most favorable," Ruga said. "We then filed an action for declaratory relief to establish venue here."

Once the venue was established, Efficient Frontiers filed trademark infringement counterclaims, according to court documents. Reserve Media, Inc. v. Efficient Frontiers Inc., 2:15-cv-05072 (C.D. Cal., filed July 6, 2015).

"Efficient Frontiers had a competing software app that also used the name 'reserve' in connection with dining reservation and event management software," Ruga said. "The challenge is that the mark 'reserve' is pretty descriptive and, as a result, there was some evidence of confusion in the marketplace."

"Nevertheless, we convinced the judge that as a matter of trademark law, Efficient Frontiers did not have the evidence to demonstrate that their trademarks were enforceable even though several of them had achieved incontestable status," he added.

Central District Judge Dean D. Pregerson agreed in a triad of orders granting Reserve Media summary judgment, finding that Efficient Frontiers' family of marks invokes the common word "reserve" in a business context where there is "almost no other substitute."

The firm has also has also secured multiple multimillion-dollar personal injury settlements for its clients in the year since it started. Stalwart Law Group is now representing consumers in a class action alleging that the Jackson Hewitt Inc. tax preparation franchise manipulated customers' tax returns to generate and keep refunds. The case is still ongoing. Lomeli v. Jackson Hewitt, Inc et al., 2:17-cv-02899 (C.D. Cal. filed April 17, 2017).

"What happens in a lot of these cases is the defendant asserts what's called the arbitration clause," Traina said. "At this point, we have successfully argued that the arbitration clause is not applicable, which means that we won't be forced into arbitration."

The goals for the firm are to continue growing and doing quality legal work, Ruga said.

"The vision is to be a firm of trial lawyers that consistently achieves the best possible results for our clients," Ruga said.

-- Melanie Brisbon