Bethany W. Kristovich

Complex Civil Litigation

Los Angeles

Bethany Kristovich describes much of her litigation practice as "specializing in resolving very big problems." Particularly in mass tort cases, she concentrates on "figuring out ways to resolve the situation on a global basis."

On behalf of Juul Labs, Kristovich helped guide the e-cigarette manufacturer in reaching more than $1 billion in settlements with 45 states over the last year and a half, as well as thousands of individual lawsuits. In Re: Juul Labs, Inc., Marketing, Sales Practices, and Products Liability Litigation, 3:19-md-02913 (N.D. Cal., Oct. 2, 2019).

She is doing similar work as lead counsel for the firm representing PG&E in the litigation over the July 2021 Dixie fire. In those cases, she also is gearing up to try some bellwether cases. In re: Dixie Fire Cases, CJC21005208, (S.F. Super Ct., filed March 23, 2022).

For Kristovich, resolving big litigation doesn't necessarily mean settlements. "Sometimes solving the problem is 'let's settle it,'" she said. "Other times, ... we need a neutral fact finder or a jury or a judge or arbitrator to tell us who's right. And so sometimes solving the problem requires trying cases and trying them aggressively."

In one very unusual approach to resolving a case, she went to trial on behalf of a Los Angeles investment firm that held a lease to a terminal at the Austin, Texas airport. The city moved to end the lease through eminent domain for just $1.8 million. Instead, Kristovich took the city to trial in a special administrative court that valued the lease at a record $90 million. Finally in April last year, the city settled with her client for $88 million. Lonestar Airport Holdings LLC v. City of Austin, 1:22-cv-00770 (W.D. Tex., filed Aug. 1, 2022).

Some cases can be resolved with pretrial motions. In October, she won the dismissal of an unusual potential class action against client MGM alleging that it and other big hotels on the Las Vegas Strip fixed room prices by using the same pricing software. "Essentially, the allegation was that ... the software had learned how to fix prices the way old school antitrust cartels would," Kristovich said. She argued that using the same software isn't an antitrust violation. Gibson v. MGM Resorts International, 2:23-cv-00140 (D. Nev., filed Jan. 25, 2023).

She now is representing the hotel chain in a matching class action out of Atlantic City.

Among her new cases, she is representing Philip Morris subsidiary Swedish Match in class actions in Florida and California accusing the company of marketing its Zyn nicotine pouches to minors. Both were filed in March. Doe v. Phillip Morris International, 2:24-at-00393 (E.D. Cal., filed March 29, 2024).

Another new matter is a first for her. Kristovich is slated to go to trial this fall as co-counsel for Monsanto over its Roundup weedkiller. "This is my first Roundup trial," she said. Prossegger v. Monsanto Co., SCV-272735 (Sonoma Super. Ct., filed March 3, 2023).

-- Don DeBenedictis