Greines, Martin, Stein & Richland LLP

Managing Partners: Ted Xanders and Cindy Tobisman

Number of partners: 14

Number of lawyers: 24

Languages: English

Since its founding in 1983, the firm has been one of California’s premier civil appellate boutiques. A powerhouse in the California state and federal appellate courts, the firm also briefs and argues cases in other jurisdictions, including the United States Supreme Court, where it has won eight of its nine cases since 2006. The firm is counsel of record in over 600 published decisions and in many more unpublished decisions. GMSR also frequently consults with trial lawyers to ensure that their cases are well positioned for future appeal by either side. Through its appellate practice, the firm has developed substantive expertise in many areas, including constitutional law, governmental torts and immunities, insurance coverage and bad faith, complex business disputes, business torts, arbitration rights, attorney fee disputes, probate, copyright and trademark, unfair competition, real estate, entertainment law, environmental law, employment law, maritime law, family law, bankruptcy, professional malpractice, and lemon law. The firm’s clients include major corporations; liability, casualty and title insurance companies; state and local governments; hospitals; public and private universities; major entertainment industry figures; and lawyers.

State Appellate Courts:

• Continental Cas. Co. v. Argonaut Ins. Co. (2025) 373 Or. 389: Oregon Supreme Court accepted GMSR’s statutory and policy arguments to restore an 8-figure contribution judgment.

• Town of Apple Valley v. Apple Valley Ranchos Water (2025) 108 Cal.App.5th 62: GMSR won reversal of $13 million fee award and restoring the right to pursue acquiring the utility by condemnation. The California Supreme Court granted review on April 23, 2025, limiting its review to a single issue.

• Rattagan v. Uber Technologies, Inc. (2024) 17 Cal.5th 1: GMSR persuaded California Supreme Court that economic loss rule doesn’t bar all fraudulent concealment claims.

• Niedermeier v. FCA US LLC (2024) 15 Cal.5th 792: California Supreme Court held that vehicle consumers are entitled to full statutory restitution under California’s lemon law—without offset.

• Endeavor Operating Company, LLC v. HDI Global Insurance Company (2023) 95 Cal.App.5th 839: GMSR defeated entertainment company’s novel appeal for pandemic-related insurance coverage.

• Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association v. Powell (2024) 105 Cal.App.5th 955: Court of Appeal reversed denial of our clients’ ant-SLAPP motion and ordered dismissal of the action, holding that the plaintiff’s lawsuit, asserting claims against the directors, consultants and managers of a regional water district, did not come within the public-interest exception to California’s anti-SLAPP law.

• Johnston-Rossi v. Rossi (2023) 88 Cal.App.5th 1081: GMSR obtained reversal of order that would have forced children into months-long “program” isolating them from their mother without a showing of significant changed circumstances or best interest of the children. Case declared rule on issue of first impression.

• Lorch v. Superior Court of San Diego County (2024) 101 Cal.App.5th 1266: Invalidated a local rule that had effectively deprived litigants of their statutory right to disqualify a judge.

United States Supreme Court:

• Rivas-Villegas v. Cortesluna (2021): GMSR won its eighth case in the United States Supreme Court, which reversed a Court of Appeals ruling that erroneously denied a police officer qualified immunity based on inapt precedent.

• L.A. County Flood Control Dist. v. NRDC, Inc. (2013): In a closely watched Clean Water Act case, the Court reversed the Ninth Circuit, holding that the firm’s client had not violated the Act simply by moving water through improved portions of a river into other portions of the same river.

• Messerschmidt v. Millender (2012): In an important decision for law enforcement, the Supreme Court held that sheriffs’ deputies were entitled to qualified immunity from civil liability where their search was carried out pursuant to a search warrant, even though the search itself was unlawful.

• Los Angeles County v. Humphries (2010): In a critical decision for cities and counties, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that a municipality cannot be subjected to declaratory or injunctive relief in a civil rights action under 42 U.S.C. Section 1983 unless the plaintiff establishes that an injury was inflicted as a result of a policy, custom or practice fairly attributable to the local public entity.

• City of Ontario v. Quon (2010): The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a police department’s review of text messages sent and received by a SWAT team officer on his department-issued pager did not violate the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition of unreasonable searches and seizures.

Los Angeles, California

+1 (310) 859-7811

San Francisco, California

+1 (415) 315-1774

Costa Mesa, California

+1 (310) 859-7811