Joseph A. Reiter 

Joseph A. Reiter practices complex commercial litigation as a partner and rising star at Hueston Hennigan LLP.

“I was a founding associate,” he said.

He joined the firm in 2015 after graduating magna cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School and clerking at the Colorado attorney general’s office and for Senior Judge Andrew J. Kleinfeld of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, who keeps chambers in Fairbanks, Alaska.

“I got to clerk for a senior judge and live in Alaska, which I loved because I love the outdoors,” Reiter said. “Also, we’d be working in the dead of winter when there’s not much daylight, then fly down to Pasadena for oral argument sessions in sunny California. I was exposed to a lot of different approaches to legal decision-making. It really benefited my writing as a lawyer.”

Reiter is prepping for a major antitrust jury trial in November against Google LLC for client Match Group LLC over claims the search giant illegally monopolizes and exploits the markets for the distribution of mobile apps for Android devices. Match Group LLC v. Google LLC, 3:22-cv-02746 (N.D. Cal., filed May 9, 2022).

“We allege they make developers use Google payment systems that charge above-market fees,” Reiter said. “This is a bet-the-company suit for Match.” Last year, he scored a major win by obtaining injunctive relief for Match that prevented Google from removing its apps from the Google Play Store. “It’ll be a high-profile jury trial, and our arguments will benefit all app developers and consumers.”

For a hospital chain client, Reiter won a favorable mid-trial settlement of claims for hundreds of millions of dollars in alleged underpayments to an emergency health services provider. Los Robles Medical Center et al., v. Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, RG17880285 (Alameda Co. Super. Ct., filed Oct. 26, 2017).

“After Moez Kaba gave the opening statement and I crossed their chief surgeon, a lead witness, they decided to settle on very favorable terms,” Reiter said. “We go into every trial with the goal of winning every day, and we effectively rebutted every element of their case.”

In January, Reiter prevailed on appeal for Amazon.com in a suit under California’s “taxpayer waste” law, accusing the state government of failing to hold the online retailer liable for billions of dollars in taxes and penalties on sales made by third-party sellers on the site. Grosz v. Cal. Dept. of Tax & Fee Administration et al.,; Amazon Services LLC et al., Real Parties in Interest, B309418 (2d DCA, op. filed Jan. 9, 2023).

Reiter persuaded a Los Angeles County trial court to dismiss the case on the grounds that the state tax agency has discretion to decide who a retailer is. A state appellate panel agreed.

—John Roemer