Robert D. Crockett

Robert Crockett is a trial and appellate lawyer in the Los Angeles office of Latham & Watkins. He is a general business litigator with an emphasis in trial work. He is assigned to the firm's Intellectual Property subgroup, but has done much environmental and regulatory litigation.

His representative jury trials to verdict include:

• Dispute against NBA team owner, over $150 million real estate venture
• Two separate condemnation trials condemning an aerospace manufacturing plant in Burbank, California
• Health care antitrust dispute in Kern County, California
• Law firm malpractice defense
• Health care dispute against an HMO
• Outdoor advertising infringement dispute in Los Angeles, California
• Condemnation trial of a refining facility in Kern County
• Defense of fraud case against agricultural lessor
• Plaintiff's action against majority shareholders in health care dispute
• Plaintiff's action against contractor in construction fraud dispute
• Plaintiff, as a foreign government, against an oil trader

Representative bench trials to verdict include:

• Successful eminent domain trial for PG&E in "right to take challenge" to pipeline across the San Joaquin Delta
• Defense of environmental challenges (CEQA and CWA) to a condominium project at Big Bear Lake
• Plaintiff's condemnation of 132 miles of pipeline rights of way in Los Angeles and Kern Counties
• Defense of approximately twenty environmental challenges (CEQA and NEPA) to a 1,000-acre project in Playa Vista, California from 1993 to 2006
• Defense of environmental challenges (CEQA and Coastal Act) to a coastal development project in Westchester, Los Angeles
• Successful verdict against Los Angeles County Assessor for $350 million valuation assessment against Hughes Aircraft plant
• Plaintiff's action for aircraft manufacturer against the State of California for sales taxes imposed upon export products
• Defense of Canadian antitrust case in US Bankruptcy Court
• Defense of entertainment company in takeover and licensing dispute
• Defense of grocery chain in US Bankruptcy Court preference action

Representative appeals include:

• Center for Biological Diversity v. Marine Point Development Co., 535 F.3d 1026 (9th Cir. 2008), upholding Army Corps Engineers permitting decisions
• Televisa S.A. De C.V. v. DTVLA WC Inc., 363 F.3d 840 (9th Cir. 2004), international arbitration ruling
• Wetlands Action Network v. US Army Corps of Engineers [Real Party: Playa Vista Corp.], 222 F.3d 1105 (9th Cir. 2000), cert. denied, 535 US 946 (Oct. 1, 2001), upholding Army Corps of Engineers CWA permit
• In re Hamilton Taft & Co., 53 F.3d 285 (9th Cir. 1995), vacated upon settlement, bankruptcy issues
• City of Santa Monica v. City of Los Angeles [Real Party: Playa Capital Company, LLC], 2007 WL 2677035 (Cal. App., Sept. 13, 2007), non-published/non-citable, CEQA approvals
• AIMCO Venezia, LLC v. State Historical Resources Com'n, 2007 UL 572938, non-published/non-citable, challenge to historical designation
• Environmentalism Through Inspiration and Non-Violent Action v. City of Los Angeles [Real Party:  Playa Capital Company, LLC], 2005 WL 2742822 (Cal. App., Oct. 26, 2005), nonpublished/nonciteable, upholding CEQA development approvals
• Sierra Club v. California Coastal Com [Real Party:  Catellus Residential Group, Inc.]., 35 Cal. 4th 839; 28 Cal. Rptr. 3d 316 (2005), upholding coastal development permit, CEQA and Coastal Act
• Coalition of Concerned Communities, Inc. v. City of Los Angeles [Real Party:  Catellus Residential Group, Inc.], 34 Cal. 4th 733; 21 Cal. Rptr. 3d. 676 (2004), upholding environmental approvals and zone change, CEQA and Coastal Act
• Pacific Coast Homeowners v. J. Paul Getty Trust, 2002 WL 31358807 (Cal. App., Oct. 21, 2002), nonpublished/nonciteable (Oct. 21, 2002), rehearing denied (Nov 18, 2002), review denied (Jan 15, 2003), upholding reopening Getty Museum at Malibu, CEQA and land use
• California Country Club Homes Assn. v. City of Los Angeles [Real Party:  Fox Studios], 18 Cal. App. 4th 1425; 22 Cal. Rptr. 2d 917 (1993), upholding rezoning Fox Studios
• County of Los Angeles v. County of Los Angeles Assessment Appeals Bd., 13 Cal. App. 4th 102, 16 Cal. Rptr. 2d 479 (1993), review denied (Apr 29, 1993), upholding trial court reduction of property tax reduction for property at LAX
• McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. State Bd. of Equalization, 10 Cal. App. 4th 1413; 13 Cal. Rptr. 2d 399 (1992), review denied (Feb 11, 1993), cert. denied, 510 US 814 (Oct. 4, 1993), reversed state imposition of sales tax on high-tech products bound for export

Other work includes:

• Defense of television network in intellectual property dispute
• Defense of investment lender in real estate investment dispute
• Antitrust prosecution for airline
• Trade secrets prosecution for for-profit education business
• Tort defense for religious organizations
• Utility's condemnation of pipeline rights of way through the San Joaquin delta
• Representation of tire company in over ten separate product liability matters
• Successful eminent domain awards for landowner in the path of SR-905
• CEQA and real property advice regarding the relocation of a major league baseball stadium
• Litigation support for the Staples Center arena
• Advice and representation to NFL team owner, motion picture producers, actors and actresses with respect to business and real estate disputes
• General dispute advice to a major Midwestern hospital network
• First Amendment, Free Exercise and Establishment Clause advice to two different religious organizations
• Successful condemnation award for California utility for an 82-mile international pipeline
• Advice to California utility as to thousands of miles of right of way in a restructuring
• Representation of chemical tank manufacturer in product liability matter
• Several arbitration proceedings, including matters for an aircraft manufacturer, a hospital and a cogeneration generator

Mr. Crockett was selected for inclusion in the 2005 and 2010 "Super Lawyers" list, published by Los Angeles Magazine.

Mr Crockett's most recent legal publication is Crockett & Jenkins, "Taking it to the Bank: A Recent Survey of Jury Verdicts in Los Angeles, etc.," LA Law, Sep. 2001, at 47.

Mr. Crockett has served on Latham & Watkins' technology committee from 1989 to 2006, and on its finance committee in the 1980s and 90s. He has been a panelist in Continuing Education of the Bar programs pertaining to use of experts, health care litigation and land use litigation. Mr. Crockett presented a paper in 2002 to the Rubber Manufacturers Association, has served as an Associate Editor of The Los Angeles Lawyer, and also as an economics professor at a California junior college. 

Prior to practicing law, Mr. Crockett was a software engineer for Boeing Computer Services in a cruise missile project in the 1970s, and an academic research computer programmer for Brigham Young University. 

Mr. Crockett, in 2008, placed first in his age class in a 50-mile trail ultrathon. He has run more then eight ultrathons and eight marathons.

Los Angeles Office