Frederick L. McKnight (Rick)

Partner

Rick McKnight's practice focuses primarily on complex litigation, including successful bench and jury trials involving antitrust, contract, securities, oil and gas, health care, fraud, intellectual property, business tort, ERISA, entertainment, product liability, toxic tort, bankruptcy, environmental, and tax matters. He has tried cases in such venues as Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Boston, Miami, Wilmington, Palm Springs, Seattle, Orange County, Anchorage, and Washington, D.C. Rick also has been active in alternative forms of dispute resolution and has both recovered and defeated substantial punitive damages awards.

As part of the defense of Yamaha Motor Company in a series of product liability claims throughout the United States relating to alleged rollovers of a recreational utility vehicle, Rick recently obtained a complete defense verdict for Yamaha after a three-month jury trial of a significant bellwether case.

Rick represented DirecTV in a $75 million patent/commercial dispute recognized by the Daily Journal as one of the "Top Plaintiff's Verdicts of 2010."

Rick was the lead lawyer for Dole Food Company in the five-month trial of the claims of Nicaraguan banana workers who alleged their sterility was caused by their exposure to pesticides on Dole's farms. Of the original 42 plaintiffs selected from thousands of claimants worldwide, only four were awarded damages and their aggregate award was less than plaintiffs' costs. These awards were later vacated.

Rick frequently lectures on trial and pretrial practice and procedure for the Federal Practice Institute, the Los Angeles Barristers, the Federal Bar Association, the Bankruptcy Judges Conference, the American Bar Association Corporate Counsel Program, and the Los Angeles Complex Court Symposium Program. Rick serves on the board of directors of St. Vincent Medical Center.