Tanya Greene

Greene defends corporate clients in securities and shareholder litigation, class actions and multi-plaintiff toxic tort cases. She is the pro bono coordinator for McGuireWoods’ Downtown Los Angeles office.

After 11 years at Kirkland & Ellis, she considered a move to an in-house counsel job, but opted to stay with BigLaw. “McGuireWoods lured me in,” Greene said of joining the firm in 2019. “I liked their business plan for developing their West Coast financial services litigation practices.”

For a major bank facing class action claims, Greene co-led a team that won part of a motion to dismiss, substantially reducing her client’s exposure. The court eliminated breach of contract and California Consumer Legal Remedies Act claims over the bank’s practice of charging transaction fees for mortgage payments made online or by phone.

In line with Greene’s arguments, the court held that charging transaction fees did not breach either of the named plaintiffs’ deed-of-trust provisions. As for the CLRA claim, the court found that mortgage loans are not “goods” or “services” under the act and so are not covered by the statute. Dismissal of the breach of contract claim eliminated the proposed nationwide class.

Greene was part of a team led by Gregory H. Evans that won a key anti-SLAPP judgment for client Teledyne Risi Inc. Following a jury trial over a contract and IP dispute in which Teledyne was unsuccessfully represented by another firm, the winning company turned around and sued Teledyne for malicious prosecution. Evans and Greene persuaded the court to strike the claim under the anti-SLAPP statute—underlining the importance of the statute to plaintiffs’ right to file non-frivolous claims without fear of retaliation. Martin Baker Aircraft Co. Ltd. v. Teledyne Risi Inc., 20-cv-03796 (C.D. Cal., filed April 24, 2020).

The court ordered that fees go to Teledyne, but the parties settled for an undisclosed sum.

“It was good not to have to go even further into a fee fight,” Greene said.

— John Roemer