Practices:

• Litigation
  • Business Disputes / Commercial
  • Class Action Defense
  • Fraud and Criminal Investigations

Experience

Chris Humphreys litigates and tries cases involving complex business and commercial disputes, white collar defense, and securities claims. These are the types of cases in which Mr. Humphreys is best able to take advantage of his accounting experience, which he gained while practicing as a Certified Public Accountant for Ernst & Young and Deloitte & Touche prior to attending law school. Mr. Humphreys is the Managing Partner of the San Diego office of the Firm.

Mr. Humphreys was recognized in 2009 by the San Diego Daily Transcript as one of the top 10 lawyers in San Diego. He has also been recognized in the San Diego Super Lawyers Magazine from 2007 to the present. He is currently on the Board of Directors of the San Diego County Bar Foundation and has previously served as the Chair of the General Civil Litigation section of the San Diego Bar Association. In 2009, Mr. Humphreys was awarded the Wiley W. Manuel Award in recognition of his commitment to the provision of pro bono legal services.

Mr. Humphreys received his J.D. from the University of San Diego School of Law in 1994, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the San Diego Law Review. Mr. Humphreys was elected to the Order of the Coif, and was admitted to the State Bar of California in 1994.

Notable Engagements

• Lead trial counsel in the successful defense of a civil securities fraud action brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
• Lead trial counsel in the successful defense of a business dispute involving breach of contract, fraud and punitive damages, breach of fiduciary duty, violation of California securities laws, and negligent misrepresentation. Chris was able to defeat all but the breach of contract claim through motion practice and obtained a defense verdict on that claim at trial.
• Lead trial counsel in successful defense of a life sciences company against breach of contract and tort claims brought by employees in connection with the acquisition of the company.
• Trial counsel in the successful defense of a hospital against allegations made by the United States that the hospital committed criminal violations of the federal anti-kickback statute by indirectly compensating physicians in exchange for the referral of patients to the hospital.
• Successfully defended a former officer of Peregrine Systems, Inc. against allegations of federal securities fraud in a federal class action in which plaintiffs sought more than $1.5 billion in damages and the court granted our client’s two motions to dismiss.
• Obtained the dismissal with prejudice of a major telecommunications company from a consumer class action seeking tens of millions of dollars in alleged damages.  After granting our client's second motion to dismiss, the court found that giving the putative class plaintiff another chance to amend the complaint would be futile and dismissed the case against our client with prejudice.
• Lead counsel for a medical group that prevailed in a multi-million dollar arbitration brought by the medical group against a hospital system in connection with a contractual dispute over the services rendered by the medical group.

Education

• J.D., University of San Diego School of Law, cum laude, 1994
• B.A., University of California at Santa Barbara, 1987

Admitted

• California
• U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
• U.S. District Court, Southern District of California
• U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California
• U.S. District Court, Central District of California
• U.S. District Court, Northern District of California