Caroline N.Mitchell

Partner

(T) 1.415.875.5712 (F) 1.415.875.5700

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Caroline Mitchell litigates complex commercial disputes with a focus on defending corporations in actions arising from events in foreign countries, including environmental, human rights, RICO, Alien Tort Statute, and fraud claims. She also defends clients against antitrust and unfair competition claims.

Caroline advises clients facing adverse actions from host governments. She frequently raises jurisdictional challenges to efforts to sue clients in unfavorable forums and advises clients on international discovery issues, including those arising under 28 U.S.C. 1782. Caroline was part of the team that defeated class certification and secured dismissal of a multibillion environmental claim. She has successfully defended clients against various slavery and kidnapping allegations. She served on the trial team in Bowoto v. Chevron Corporation, which was recognized by various legal publications as the defense verdict of 2008 in California. As part of that case, Caroline litigated difficult questions relating to choice of law, RICO, the Alien Tort Statute, jurisdiction, preemption, capacity, statute of limitations, and vicarious liability. She also cultivated key third-party witnesses. Caroline has represented clients in the oil, telecommunications, pharmaceutical, video game, health care, and floral industries in price-fixing, monopolization, and unfair competition lawsuits.

Caroline has successfully represented clients in pro bono matters, including veterans' benefit issues, prisoners' rights, medical care, race discrimination, discrimination based on HIV status, and discrimination based on disabilities. She is on the board of directors of the Family Violence Appellate Project, which facilitates pro bono representation of survivors of domestic violence in California's appellate courts.

Experience

  • National retailer defends consumer class action surrounding allegations related to farming practices for shrimpJones Day is defending a national retailer against consumer class action litigation in which plaintiffs allege that the retailer sold shrimp that were farmed using slave labor.
  • Jones Day obtains presidential commutation reducing client's sentence for nonviolent drug-related offenses from 20 years to 24 monthsOn Thursday, January 19, 2017, the Office of Pardon Attorney notified the Jones Day team representing Lawrence Honore that President Obama had commuted Mr. Honore's sentence from 240 months to 24 months.
  • Chevron defends against allegations of environmental damage from oil seeps off coast of BrazilJones Day is serving as lead U.S. counsel for Chevron with respect to various legal and administrative proceedings arising out of oil seeps that occurred off the coast of Brazil in November 2011 and March 2012.
  • Arizona prison inmates successfully challenge adequacy of medical, mental health, dental care, and conditions in isolation in Arizona state prison systemJones Day, working with the ACLU's National Prison Project and the Prison Law Office, has tentatively settled litigation brought on behalf of a certified class of Arizona inmates challenging the adequacy of medical, mental health, dental care, and conditions in isolation in the Arizona state prison system under the U.S. constitution.
  • Asylum Granted by Immigration CourtOn Monday, September 17, Jones Day pro bono client Client R. was granted asylum by Judge Marilyn J. Teeter of the San Francisco Immigration Court. Client R, represented by Jones Day associates Michael McLively and Nandini Iyer, fled to the United States from Guatemala after facing severe physical and sexual abuse at the hands of her domestic partner.
  • Court maintains oversight of disabled prisonersA team of Jones Day lawyers from the San Francisco office along with the Prison Law Office, successfully defended a class of developmentally disabled prisoners from the State of California's motion to terminate a remedial plan designed to ensure that the prisoners' rights under the U.S. Constitution and the Americans with Disabilities Act were observed.
  • Minister and putative class of inmates represented in religious discrimination caseA Jones Day team led by Caroline Mitchell and David Kiernan in the San Francisco office, with support from Matthew Silveira and Michael Scott in the San Francisco office, and Nicole Massey and Dennis Murashko in the Chicago office, is litigating a case on behalf of a Wiccan minister and a putative class of Wiccan/Pagan inmates who are adherents of Wicca and other Pagan religions.
  • Jones Day San Francisco assists the Military Religious Freedom FoundationJones Day San Francisco assisted the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, a non-profit organization committed to fostering religious freedom in the military, in a successful FOIA request to obtain data from the United States Air Force Academy on the results of its "Climate Survey."
  • Prisoner represented in action alleging cruel and unusual punishmentJones Day's Matt Silveira and Caroline Mitchell of the San Francisco office were appointed to represent Nyles Lawayne Watson, an inmate at California State Prison – Solano, in connection with a civil rights lawsuit against several of the prison's physicians.
  • Chevron wins Ninth Circuit affirmance of jury verdict in highly publicized Nigerian human rights caseOn September 10, 2010, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed the jury verdict in favor of Jones Day client Chevron Corporation and two of its subsidiaries in a highly publicized Alien Tort Statute case.
  • Muslim prisoner succeeds in obtaining access to religiously acceptable mealsJones Day helped James F. Menefield, a Muslim prisoner in custody of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation ("CDCR"), settle a case challenging the agency's practice of accommodating Jewish prisoners with Kosher food while denying Halal food to Muslim prisoners.
  • Chevron and Unocal successfully resolve antitrust class actions regarding reformulated gasolineJones Day defended Union Oil Company of California, together with parent corporations Unocal Corporation and Chevron Corporation, in 14 federal (MDL) and state court class actions, all of which were patterned after a March 2003 FTC administrative complaint (i.e., FTC Docket No. 9305).
  • Chevron defends Ecuadorean cancer claimsJones Day successfully defended Chevron Corporation in a toxic tort case originally brought by seven Ecuadorians alleging they contracted cancer from Texaco's (Chevron's predecessor's) former operations in Ecuador.
  • Client wins injunctive relief from vengeful in-lawsThe Firm's San Francisco office filed a complaint on behalf of a plaintiff whose husband was convicted for intentionally transmitting communicable diseases to others.
  • Creating Economic Opportunities for Women provide small business opportunitiesJones Day San Francisco provides intellectual property counseling and employment law advice to Creating Economic Opportunities for Women, a nonprofit that provides low-income refugee and immigrant women with English-language and business training so that they can open their own small businesses.
  • SBC California defends antitrust litigation involving DSL and other servicesJones Day has represented SBC in connection with antitrust litigation involving DSL and other services.
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    October 2015 Commentaries

    The Hague Choice of Court Convention Takes Effect, and With It Greater Certainty for International Transactions

    Fall 2015 External Publications

    Mobile Apps: Redefining the Virtual California Economy and the Laws that Govern It, COMPETITION: The Journal of the Antitrust, UCL and Privacy Section of the State Bar of California

    February 2014 Commentaries

    French Blocking Statute: A Death Foretold?

    October 2013 Commentaries

    Foreign Forum Selection Clauses: Limitations on Enforceability

    October 2009 External Publications

    Pleading State of Mind after Ashcroft v. Iqbal, Financial Fraud Law Report.

    July 2009 External Publications

    Ashcroft v. Iqbal: Taking Twombly a Step Further, GCP Magazine

    June 22, 2009 External Publications

    Guilt by Association?, Los Angeles Daily Journal

    2009 External Publications

    Discovery Channels, Jones Day In Print

    June 2009 Commentaries

    Ashcroft v. Iqbal: The New Federal Pleading Standard

    May 12, 2009 External Publications

    Discovery Channels, Los Angeles Daily Journal
    View All

    Additional Publications

    • August 2015The Inter-Continental Conundrum: Navigating Litigation Holds
    • November 2010New Federal Rules for Pending Cases (Dec. 1, 2010), The Daily Journal 116.231 at 7
    • September 2010The Dawn of a Lawless Era, Daily Journal
    • October 2009Text Messaging: The Next Advertising Frontier Requires Counsel to Proceed With Caution, The Corporate Counselor
    • Fall 2009In re Hydrogen Peroxide Antitrust Litigation: A Forecast of the Future of Class Certification in the Ninth Circuit, Competition, at 23
    • July 20, 2009Shoulder to Lean On: Robert Mittelstaedt
    • 2008Returning RICO to Racketeers: Corporations Cannot Constitute an Associated-in-Fact Enterprise Under 18 U.S.C. § 1961(4), 13 Fordham J. Corp. & Fin. L. 1

    Speaking Engagements

    • October 4, 2012
      Jones Day Hosts California Client Development Event for Women
    • February 2012
      Managing a Data Breach, Bay Area General Counsel's Group
    • February 7, 2012
      Managing a Data Breach. JD CLE University
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