Julia B. Strickland

Strickland is still working with victims of the Great Recession.

“I am in the depths of litigating cases in Hawaii that are still recession-foreclosure-crisis driven,” she said. “These cases all arose from foreclosures in 2009, 2010. It’s very interesting. You would think all of those issues have made their way through the system.”

Even though the recession was the worst since the Great Depression, the issues and types of cases it brought about are not new but cyclical.

Now, she said her clients tend to be more proactive and bring her and her team on board for counseling, compliance, evaluating for potential risks and settling through negotiation.

“That’s been an area where we’ve had a significant impact, it’s just not as visible,” Strickland said.

Last year, a U.S. District Court judge in Northern California granted Strickland’s motion to dismiss on behalf of HSBC after the plaintiff alleged the bank violated state statute by recording personal calls of a former employee without obtaining consent. The case called for heavy interpretation of statutes.

The court ultimately accepted Strickland’s argument that the statutory damages for pre-2017 violations are calculated based on $5,000 per call, not per action, dramatically reducing the value of the alleged claim. The case is on appeal.

“We are confronted, not infrequently, with statues and situations where there’s no definitive case law guidance,” Strickland said. “The HSBC case is a good example of that.”

She was also lead counsel representing PayPal Holdings Inc. in a class action against the online money transfer website. The plaintiffs were alleging that PayPal was putting holds on funds.

“Essentially, whether PayPal had a right to put a hold on monies in an account based upon fraud and other reasons,” Strickland said.

While she prevailed on a motion to dismiss, her team and PayPal negotiated a settlement with 100 million PayPal users that was approved in March 2017.

“The policy was fully disclosed and part of the customer agreement,” she said.

— Arin Mikailian