Douglas L. Johnson, Partner (bio)

Douglas L. Johnson
Email: djohnson@jjllplaw.com

Douglas L. Johnson is a Partner at Johnson & Johnson LLP. He specializes in entertainment, class actions, and complex business litigation matters. Mr. Johnson received his B.A. from the University of Southern California (1996) (Dean’s List 1993-1996) and his J.D. from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law (2000) (Dean’s List 1999-2000). Mr. Johnson received the top grade in Insurance Law.

• Mr. Johnson has been named a Super Lawyers “Rising Star” in the area of intellectual property litigation for the last eight consecutive years (2006-2013). (Rising Star attorneys represent the Top 2.5% of their profession in Southern California for lawyers 40 years old and younger).
• Mr. Johnson is well known for handling numerous high-profile and wide-reaching entertainment matters. Recently, with his partner, Neville L. Johnson, he settled two class actions against the Directors Guild of America and Writers Guild of America for tens of millions of dollars of unpaid foreign levies.
• Mr. Johnson is an expert in the field of right-of-publicity and regularly speaks on the subject.  He litigates dozens of cases each year for the firm’s clients, including celebrities, models, and professional athletes.
• Many of Mr. Johnson’s clients are producers, actors, directors, production companies, music artists and record labels. He is well known for his successes in theft of idea cases and continues to litigate television, film, and music royalty cases. He is currently representing Jack Klugman (Quincy M.E., Odd Couple) in profit participation disputes against NBC/Universal.
• Represented business owner involved in a partnership dispute resulting in a $10 million dollar arbitration award for his client.
• Represented artist and record company in a copyright infringement and breach of contract litigation resulting in a million dollar jury verdict for his clients in Federal Court.
• Uncovered systematic patterns of substandard medical care, resulting in reorganization of staffing and training at a county jail, in settlement of wrongful death and civil rights case, as featured as the cover story in Sacramento News & Review. The case settled for seven figures and was the largest settlement in the nation at the time for a jail suicide case.
• Contributed to, authored, and argued appeals before the California Court of Appeals and the United States Court of Appeal for the Ninth Circuit. In the past year, Mr. Johnson has argued Walker v. Geico in the Ninth Circuit and Webster v. Allstate in the California Court of Appeals.

Published Cases:

Gerbosi v. Gaims, Weil, West & Epstein, LLP (2011) 193 Cal.App.4th 435

Walker v. Geico General Ins. Co. (9th Cir. 2009) 558 F.3d 1025

Publications:

*Douglas L. Johnson & Neville L. Johnson, What Happened to Unjust Enrichment in California? The Deterioration of Equity in the California Courts, Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review Vol. 44:277, Fall 2010

Speaking Engagements:

Beverly Hills Bar Association, Entertainment Law Section, “Current Issues in Right of Likeness, Defamation and Privacy (2011)

Panelist for Beverly Hills Bar Association, Entertainment Law Section, “Right of Publicity:  How Much Is Your Client Really Worth?” (March 21, 2012)

Donald L. Stone’s Inn of St. Ives: “The Ever-Evolving Courtroom Drama of Net Profits.” (2012)

Adjunct Professor:

Southwestern School of Law: Entertainment and Media Litigation

Publications:

*Douglas L. Johnson & Neville L. Johnson, What Happened to Unjust Enrichment in California? The Deterioration of Equity in the California Courts, Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review  Vol. 44:277, Fall 2010

Bar Admissions:

• State Bar of California
• United States District Court for the Central and Eastern District of California
• United States Court of Appeal for the Ninth Circuit

Memberships:

• American Association for Justice
• Beverly Hills Bar Association
• Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles
• Litigation Section of the American Bar Association