Frank Gooch III is a partner of Gilchrist & Rutter. His practice is 100 percent devoted to litigation in California trial and appellate courts, U.S. Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit, and District Courts for the Southern, Central, Eastern and Northern Districts of California, as well as before the Judicial Panel on Multi-District Litigation.
Mr. Gooch's practice focuses on the areas of civil, commercial, business, intellectual property, insurance (including anti-trust issues), First Amendment and real estate. His clients include Del Monte Foods, First Colony Life Insurance Co., GE Life and Annuity Insurance Co., Genworth Financial, Manco, Inc., SAFECO Life Insurance Co. and Winner International.
Mr. Gooch received his J.D. degree from the University of Southern California Law Center, Los Angeles, where he was Chairman of the Moot Court Honors Program. He received his B.A. summa cum laude in Political Science from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, where Mr. Gooch was Phi Beta Kappa.
Representative Experience:
Real Estate / Public Entities: Prosecution of claim for damages against municipality for regulatory taking that set limits on a public entity to impose conditions on real estate development. Prosecution of appeal against county board of supervisors that established an important principle on Proposition 8 regarding reductions in property values. Prosecution of claims against public entity that established appropriate standards for local rental review board.
Real Estate / Commercial & Residential: Litigate actions involving questions of title, easements and boundary disputes; unlawful detainer actions; and actions involving the Subdivision Map Act. Represent clients in breach of contract actions involving leasehold disputes; claims involving the acquisition of real estate; claims of contractor and architect negligence with respect to residential properties; claims of real estate broker negligence; and the enforceability of mechanics' liens.
Insurance: Represented a major life insurance company and a surety insurer in anti-trust litigation; defense of bad faith and punitive damage actions, and the prosecution of actions against brokers and agents for negligence; and issues involving the rescission of life insurance policies based upon material misrepresentation and/or concealment of material facts.
Libel / Defamation: Represented a major Los Angeles daily newspaper in defense of its First Amendment rights in a number of defamation and invasion of privacy cases brought by public figures, as well as by a professional sports team.
General Business: Represent clients in breach of contract actions involving private parties and governmental entities; partnership dissolution matters; partnership and shareholder disputes; unfair competition matters; rescission actions involving acquisitions of businesses; wrongful termination and other business tort issues, including misappropriation of trade secrets, intentional interference with economic advantage and inducement of breach of contract; and collection actions.
Civic: Negotiated teacher contracts and advised private schools regarding compliance with the Child Abuse Reporting Act.
