Alison L. Plessman

Plessman, a Hueston Hennigan partner, is also a board member of the Western Center on Law & Poverty.

Despite the office closures and other impacts of the pandemic, her litigation work proceeds. Plessman recently secured a preliminary injunction in favor of her clients, minority shareholders, in an action alleging breaches by company officials of their fiduciary duties. She also won a motion for summary judgment against the plaintiff in a breach of contract claim against her client company, resulting in dismissal. She is currently on the defense team for Southern California Edison in coordinated proceedings over claims arising from the Thomas Fire in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties and from the subsequent Montecito mud and debris slides.

The Thomas Fire litigation “is an incredibly complex set of cases,” Plessman said. Thomas Fire, JCCP 4965 (L.A. Super. Ct., coord. April 16, 2018). “They check all the boxes of why I wanted to become a lawyer.”

In the case regarding her minority shareholder clients, the issue involves claims that the officers of the defendant company, Rancho Santa Margarita-based Sweegen LLC, a maker of the stevia sweetener Bestevia, breached their fiduciary duties and engaged in self-dealing, conversion and conspiracy. ODG SweeGen LLC v. Steven Chen, 30-2020-01140383-CU-BT-CXC (O.C. Super. Ct., filed May 26, 2020).

Obtaining the preliminary injunction “was an important first step,” Plessman said. “It requires the defendants to stop transferring money out of the company.”

For client Broadcom Corp., Plessman is lead counsel in defense of an action by GPS device supplier TomTom International B.V. alleging breach of warranties in connection with semiconductor chips used in GPS navigation systems. TomTom International B.V. v. Broadcom Corp., 8:20-cv-00841 (C.D. Cal., filed May 1, 2020).

She quickly filed a successful motion to dismiss. “They failed to allege their claims are based on a written agreement, so there were statute of limitations problems,” she said. “We have a very happy client, but the other side has filed a motion for reconsideration, so hopefully the dismissal sticks.”

— John Roemer