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Steven D. Park

Partner
E: spark@parklawless.com        T: 213.640.3770
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About Steven D. Park

Steven Park is a partner at Park Lawless & Tremonti with extensive experience handling a wide range of complex commercial, consumer, environmental, professional, and tort litigation, and investigatory matters for Fortune 100 and other large companies in various industries, including automotive, finance, petrochemical, and pharmaceutical. Steven has significant case management, deposition, motion, and trial experience, and has worked closely with experts and other team members to evaluate cases, develop case and trial strategies, and, ultimately, obtain favorable outcomes for his clients.

Steven received his J.D. from Cornell Law School, cum laude, in 2001. Before starting Park Lawless & Tremonti, Steven was one of three lawyers that helped found the Los Angeles office of King & Spalding, an international Am Law 50 law firm.

Steven is a member of several professional groups including the Los Angeles County Bar Association and Defense Research Institute. In 2017, Steven was nominated as a Fellow for the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity program.

Steven enjoys spending quality time with his wife, Heather, and children, Kylie and Conner. Steven is an avid practitioner of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

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Steven represented an East Coast based financial firm against unfounded claims that it participated in a fraudulent investment offering. As the lead attorney handling the case, Steven developed an aggressive case strategy, which ultimately resulted in the court granting the motion to quash based on lack of personal jurisdiction.

Steven was counsel for Equifax in thousands of cases, including those that were consolidated in Orange and San Diego counties, involving alleged damages as a result of the 2017 data breach. Steven also handled many other cases for Equifax where plaintiffs claimed violations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Steven handled all aspects of these cases, including filing dispositive motions and participating in successful mediations and settlements.

Counseled a leading manufacturer of industrial fireproofing materials pertaining to the potential termination of an exclusive licensing agreement for manufacturing and distribution of their products in the Middle East. 

Represented a premises owner in a lawsuit against a general contractor who breached material terms of a contract. Steven was the lead attorney for this case and handled all aspects of the case, including preparing for trial. Ultimately, approximately one month before trial, Steven negotiated a favorable settlement for the client. In particular, Steven structured innovative settlement terms that allowed the general contractor to pay the settlement funds to Steven’s client in installments while providing abundant protections against default.

Represented Bristol Farms in a matter involving claims of alleged breach of contract pertaining to an purported advertising contract, in which he has secured a favorable settlement.

Represented Albertsons against claims that the terms of a third-party factoring agreement applied to the supermarket chain. He resolved the case by obtaining a favorable settlement.

Represented Akzo Nobel Paints in a commercial litigation matter relating to the sales of paint and coating products. He successfully negotiated a favorable settlement in that matter.

Steven served as counsel for Ford Motor Company and General Motors in warranty (Song-Beverly Act), including those where the consumers alleged fraud, throughout the State of California. He handled all aspects of these cases. Of particular note, Steven defended Ford’s corporate witness at depositions in many of these cases.

Steven was a member of a team that conducted an internal investigation for Porsche AG and Porsche Cars North America and defended the sports car manufacturer against allegations that it knowingly installed undisclosed auxiliary emission control devices in some of their vehicles. Mr. Park was involved in many aspects of this internal investigation, including conducting interviews of key employees, assisting the team analyze and prepare responses to requests or information from various entities—including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, California Air Resources Board, New York and other Attorneys General, and consumer action plaintiffs—and worked closely with senior team members to prepare a defense.

Steven was a member of the team representing General Motors that responded to inquiries and orders from the U.S. Congress, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the Justice Department, and other governmental entities pertaining to the recalls of various vehicles. For General Motors, Steven also assisted the team respond to inquiries and orders from NHTSA pertaining to air bags manufactured by a third-party.

Represented the manufacturer of a gas tank in a case involving an explosion of a Sea-Doo personal watercraft. Steven and his team conducted fact and expert discovery and established that the explosion did not occur as a result of any gas tank malfunction. Plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed Steven’s client.

Steven managed the day-to-day activities in defending Chevron and Texaco against allegations that they entered into a joint venture or were the alter egos of a corporation that operated the refinery located in Abadan, Iran, from 1954 to 1973. Steven handled all aspects of the case, including preparing substantive pre-trial and trial motions, taking and defending depositions of fact and expert witness, and conducting investigations. Ultimately, the Los Angeles Superior Court granted Chevron’s and Texaco’s motion for summary judgment, which was affirmed on appeal by the California Court of Appeal in Sabetian v. ExxonMobil Corporation (2020) 57 Cal.App.5th 1054.

Steve has also represented various clients, including UOP, Chevron, Union Oil, Texaco, West Coast Shipping Company, and Cytec Solvay, in products and premises liability matters involving allegations of exposure to asbestos. He has experience in handling all aspects of these cases and has filed and won summary judgments, secured dismissals, or otherwise obtained favorable settlements for his clients. Steven has also defended asbestos cases that have been set for “preference” and given a trial date within 120 days or less pursuant to section 36 of the California Code of Civil Procedure.

Steven has also represented Wyeth, a major pharmaceutical company, in defending hundreds of complex products liability litigation matters venued in California, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Utah involving alleged claims of valvular heart damage or primary pulmonary hypertension as a result of ingesting diet medication. Steven was involved in all stages of litigation, including trial, for these matters and helped achieve favorable outcomes for Wyeth. As a member of this team, Steven took hundreds of depositions, including those of experts and treating doctors. He worked closely with other Wyeth team members in litigating MDL and coordinated matters in California, including being part of a trial team that took a case to verdict in Los Angeles.

Steven was a member of a national coordination team for AstraZeneca overseeing lawsuits involving over 1,200 plaintiffs who alleged injury from the ingestion of Crestor®. This litigation involved claims that treatment with Crestor® caused or contributed to the development of diabetes, rhabdomyolosis, renal damage, and cardiovascular injuries. Steven was an integral part of the team and is involved in all aspects of the litigation, including being instrumental in getting the claims of all non-California resident plaintiffs that were coordinated before one judge in Los Angeles Superior Court dismissed on forum non conveniens grounds.

Represented GlaxoSmithKline in nationwide product liability litigation concerning allegations of a link between the company’s antidepressant, Paxil®, and an increased risk of certain congenital defects as well as an increased risk of suicidality in adult and pediatric patients. Among other tasks, Steven was intimately involved in conducting discovery in these cases, including taking depositions of plaintiffs, treating physicians, and fact witnesses.

Represented AstraZeneca in numerous products liability actions regarding allegations of chondrolysis allegedly resulting from the administration of an anesthetic medication through a “pain pump.” He successfully filed various pleading challenges for all of these cases, including motions to dismiss based on forum non-conveniens, demurrers, and motions to strike, resulting in dismissal of the AstraZeneca entities in all of those actions.

Steven was part of AstraZeneca’s California Nexium® litigation team, for which the Central District of California was assigned as the MDL Court. Steven worked with other team members, including AstraZeneca’s national counsel, to prepare cases for trial.

Represented AstraZeneca in a products liability case involving injury allegedly caused by Seroquel®, an atypical antipsychotic medication. After the parties participated in a mediation, Steven successfully negotiated a favorable settlement for AstraZeneca.

An integral member of a 3-lawyer trial team that represented UOP against allegations of professional negligence. Steven handled all aspects of the case from inception through trial, including preparing dispositive pre-trial and trial motions, taking and defending fact and expert witness depositions, assisting the team in formulating case strategy, and participating at trial. After a four-week trial, the court granted UOP’s motion for nonsuit.
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