
Arthur I. Willner
PARTNER
213-234-1750
213-234-1747
awillner@leaderberkon.com
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Art has successfully represented clients in state and federal court in business cases involving claims of violations of civil rights, disability-based discrimination, ethnic profiling, defamation, wrongful termination, breach of contract, and officer and director liability. He has served as lead defense counsel in numerous jury and non-jury trials, mediations, and arbitrations, and has substantial experience in multidistrict and mass tort litigation, including class actions. He has also argued multiple appeals before the Ninth Circuit and the California Court of Appeal.
Aviation Litigation
Title IX & First Amendment
Representative Successes
The defense of the pilot’s estate in the litigation arising out of the death of Kobe Bryant, his daughter, and the other passengers in the crash of a Sikorsky S76 helicopter in Calabasas, California on January 26, 2020.
The defense and extremely favorable settlement in Los Angeles Superior Court on behalf of a Part 145 engine overhaul and repair station in $10 million property damage case arising out of crash of Sikorsky twin-engine helicopter. Summary judgment on behalf of a major domestic airline, affirmed on appeal, in a discrimination case in which an obese passenger was required to purchase two seats on a flight.
Summary judgment on behalf of a major domestic airline in a case in which two Mexican-American law enforcement officers claimed to have been racially profiled as Middle Easterners.
In a case receiving national media attention, represented a faculty member in the Central District of California in a case receiving national media attention, represented a faculty member in the Central District of California whose First Amendment rights had been violated by his community college. The court ruled that the instructor’s classroom lecture constituted protected speech and Art obtained a six-figure settlement of his attorneys’ fees.
Represented a Los Angeles community college student who had been prohibited from distributing a Spanish-language version of the U.S. Constitution on campus. The college required that the student first obtain a permit to hand out the pamphlet and limited his expressive activity to a tiny campus “free speech zone.” The litigation ended in a settlement in which the Los Angeles Community College District abandoned its free speech zones and its requirement for a student to obtain a permit to exercise his First Amendment right to free speech.
Education
St. John’s University School of Law, J.D.
1981
Columbia University, B.A.
1976