Mr. Benedict is an experienced trial attorney who has conducted multiple jury and bench trials in state and federal courts. He has a national practice handling complex business disputes, including domestic and international arbitrations and class actions.

Mr. Benedict has represented clients in diverse industries including retail, food services, transportation, aviation, telecommunications, cable, entertainment, manufacturing, banking, insurance, real estate development and billing service providers. He has litigated a wide range of complex and high stake matters, including labor disputes, professional negligence, business torts, unfair competition, commercial contract disputes, defective product cases, consumer protection and fraud actions. Mr. Benedict has also conducted corporate internal investigations, including for boards and board committees, both domestically and abroad.

Significant recent experience includes:

• Prevailed on behalf of medical billing services provider in class action alleging violations of the Rosenthal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act;
• Conducted internal investigation for international construction equipment supplier in connection with potential Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) violations and travel and expense irregularities;
• Defended Consortium de Realisation S.A., an agency of the Republic of France, in connection with a $1 billion litigation over the sale of the assets of the Executive Life Insurance Company;
• Prevailed on behalf of a real estate developer in an arbitration concerning a $1.5 billion development project in Las Vegas, NV;
• Prevailed on behalf of an Australian-based vision institute in ICC arbitration concerning royalties for contact lens designs;
• Successful defense of a class action lawsuit against a prominent non-profit charitable corporation concerning allegations of various wage and hour violations;
• Obtained an order vacating a temporary restraining order in a federal class action that would have barred the sale and marketing of phone services nationally. The client, a prominent cable provider of voice-over IP telecommunications services, was wrongfully accused of "slamming," fraud and violations of RICO. The case was ultimately dismissed at the pleading stage on primary jurisdiction grounds;
• Representation of a semiconductor chip manufacturer in its defense of a disk drive customer's warranty claims in excess of $1 billion. The case settled on the eve of trial, with a net gain of $25 million to the client on a cross-claim filed against the plaintiff for unpaid invoices; and
• Defended an international bakery giant against a class of delivery drivers who, claiming they were employees of the company and not independent contractors, sought more than $70 million in damages for breach of contract, unfair competition, and other torts.

Bars and Courts
California State Bar
US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
CA Bankruptcy Apellate Panel ("BAP")
US District Courts for the Central, Northern and Southern Districts of California

Education
JD, Pepperdine University School of Law, 1999
BS, Nazareth College of Rochester, 1995

Professional Associations and Memberships
American Bar Association
Los Angeles County Bar Association
Association of Business Trial Lawyers
ABTL Young Leadership Committee
Trial Advocacy Program ("TAP") Alumni

Awards and Recognition
Named Top Young Lawyer by California Super Lawyer Magazine in 2005, 2007, 2009, and 2010.

Publications
"Caution: Are Your Employees Blogging?," California Litigation Report, September 22, 2006; also published with permission in “Employee Discipline – Concepts and Issues,” ICFAI University Press, 2008.

Languages
English

Citizenship
United States