Month: January 2008

Law & Politics Magazine and the publishers of Los Angeles Magazine select Andrew H. Friedman and Gregory D. Helmer of Helmer Friedman LLP as 2008 Southern California “Super Lawyers”
Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) February 5, 2007 — Helmer & Friedman, LLP is very pleased to congratulate both of its founding partners, Andrew H. Friedman and Gregory D. Helmer, on being selected as Southern California “Super Lawyers” for 2008.
Andrew H. Friedman was selected as a “Super Lawyer” in the category of Labor and Employment Law. This was Mr. Friedman’s third year in a row as a “Super Lawyer.” Mr. Friedman literally wrote “the book” on employment discrimination law — Litigating Employment Discrimination Cases (James Publishing, 2005-2007). The book, a two volume 1400 practice guide, is designed to provide the employment law practitioner with strategies, tactics and forms to successfully handle employment discrimination cases from case inception through trial. It can be purchased at http://www.jamespublishing.com/. “We are obviously very pleased to be recognized by my peers as ‘Super Lawyers'” said Mr. Friedman.

Gregory D. Helmer was selected as a “Super Lawyer” in the category of Labor and Employment Law. This was Mr. Helmer’s third time being selected as a “Super Lawyer.” Among other accomplishments, Mr. Helmer has obtained a $1,643,000.00 arbitration award on behalf of an employee who had been discriminated against and harassed because of his age. The landmark arbitration award was, at the time, reputed to be one of the largest ever received by an individual in a discrimination case.

Helmer & Friedman, LLP, located on the boardwalk overlooking the Pacific ocean in Venice, California, represents celebrities, employees, individuals and businesses in a broad array of legal matters, including employment and wage claims, contract negotiations, defamation and privacy issues, entertainment transactions, trademark and copyright infringement, unfair business practices, class actions, whistle-blowing and retaliation, personal injury, sexual harassment, discrimination and elder abuse claims.

Dog and Cat Owners File California-Wide Class Action Lawsuit Over Pet Food Poisoning
Publish Date : 3/28/2007 3:44:00 AM Source : Animals and Nature News Onlypunjab.com
Class counsel, Helmer Friedman LLP and Schonbrun De Simone Seplow Harris & Hoffman LLP, announced today that Lois Grady of Sacramento, California, and Kaye Steinsapir of Los Angeles, California, have filed a California-wide class action lawsuit against the international pet food company Menu Foods of Ontario, Canada, Nutro Products, Inc., and PETCO for allegedly manufacturing and selling pet food contaminated with aminopterin – a highly toxic rat poison. The lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court and assigned case number BC368561.
Ms. Grady and Ms. Steinsapir allege that each of their cats became extremely ill as a result of eating cat food manufactured by Menu Foods. Defendant Menu Foods has recalled over 60 million cans and pouches of wet, or “cuts and gravy” style, dog and cat foods sold under popular brand names such as Iams, Eukanuba, Nutro Natural Choice, Nutro Ultra, Special Kitty, Loving Meals, Winn Dixie, Science Diet.
The Complaint alleges that “although Menu Foods has issued what is purported to be one of the largest, if not the largest, recalls of products in the pet food industry’s history, countless pets have died, experienced kidney failure and/or suffered other serious adverse health consequences as a result of eating the contaminated food.” The Complaint also alleges that the defendants knew or should have known that the pet food was defective and posed an unreasonable safety risk to the safety of animals who would consume itand that the defendants concealed from members of the consuming public the nature and scope of the product defect.
“Pet owners should immediately go to the Menu Foods website — http://www.menufoods.com/recall/ — to see if their pet food has been recalled,” warned class counsel Michael D. Seplow. “The list of recalled pet food not only includes 42 lines of cat food and 53 lines of dog food under many different brand names such as Nutriplan, Iams, Hy-Vee, America’s Choice, but also many different private label or grocery store brands such as Food Lion, Publix, Schnucks, Stater Bros., Save-A-Lot, Winn Dixie, Wegmans, and Tops.”
Gregory D. Helmer, counsel for plaintiffs, advised: “If your pets have suffered symptoms of contaminated pet food, immediately take them to a veterinarian. Do not discard the unused pet food; instead mark it in indelible ink with the words ‘Do Not Eat,’ ‘Poisoned,’ or ‘Contaminated’ and make certain to store it in a safe place that is beyond the reach of pets and children. Later, the pet food can be tested for the presence of aminopterin and other contaminants. In addition, pet owners should save their receipts from where they purchased their pet food, save any veterinary bills and burial bills, locate photographs of their pets while they were alive, take a photograph of their deceased pets, and journal the loss of their pets to establish pain and suffering from the death of their pets.”
Pet owners with animals injured or killed by the pet food poisoning who wish to learn more about the lawsuit and report their experiences to plaintiffs’ counsel should contact attorneys Gregory D. Helmer/Andrew H. Friedman (http://www.helmerfriedman.com/) at 310-396-7714.