Diane M. Doolittle

Over more than a quarter century as an active trial lawyer, Doolittle has taken 72 cases to trial. She has won more than 92% of them, she says.

With that record, many of the cases she gets are out of the ordinary.

In Doolittle’s biggest recent trial, she won a $91 million jury verdict for an underdog, a small hair products company that accused L’Oreal USA Inc. of stealing its trade secrets. The case is now on appeal. Liqwd Inc. v. L’Oreal USA Inc., 1:17-cv-00014 (D. Del., filed Jan. 5, 2017).

One reason for her reputation may be that an individual client is more likely to arrive with a crazy case than a corporation, and Doolittle says she knows how to work with very successful, very demanding individuals.

“They want, need and deserve the kind of care and attention that someone who’s used to representing Fortune 500 companies isn’t used to giving,” she said.

One example of a very crazy case for a successful individual is that of Michael Goguen, a billionaire Silicon Valley venture capitalist sued by his former lover for $30 million. On his behalf, Doolittle counterclaimed for extortion and fraud. Baptiste v. Goguen, 537691, (San Mateo Super. Ct., filed March 8, 2016).

In September 2019, the judge dismissed the former lover’s lawsuit as terminating sanctions for repeated refusals to comply with discovery orders. Following a nonjury trial, the judge found for Goguen, granted a permanent injunction against the woman and ordered her to pay $14 million in damages. She appealed last May.

Doolittle does more than crazy trials, of course. In April, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of her client, a large investment bank, to enforce an arbitration agreement. Zoller v. GCA Advisors, 2021 DJDAR 3478 (9th Cir., 2021).

She also conducted internal investigation for the charismatic Christian group, People of Praise, into allegations of child sexual abuse in the 1970s.

“I have an incredibly varied caseload, and it’s so fascinating to learn one day about drywall manufacturing in the United States and then the next day the most interesting faith-based organization in America, if you believe the press, to another day a trade secrets case involving hair care products.”

— Don DeBenedictis