Suzanne R. Fogarty

Special Counsel

  • Suzanne R. Fogarty
  • Phone: +1 415 957 3207

    Import to Address Book

  • Duane Morris LLP
    Spear Tower
    One Market Plaza, Suite 2200
    San Francisco, CA 94105-1127
    USA

Suzanne R. Fogarty is a trial and appellate lawyer practicing in the areas of business and technology-based litigation, including class actions, as well as complex insurance coverage litigation.

Ms. Fogarty's litigation practice emphasizes bringing an efficient resolution to complex disputes through settlement or judgment. She has represented plaintiffs and defendants in suits involving issues of contract, business tort, intellectual property, and insurance coverage. Her business litigation experience includes the representation of international Internet companies and other commercial entities in all aspects of litigation at the trial court and appellate level, including complex case management, discovery, alternative dispute resolution and appellate briefing. She also counsels clients on e-commerce and Internet law issues.

A member of the Bar Association of San Francisco and the Litigation Section of the State Bar of California, Ms. Fogarty is a 1991 graduate of the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, and a graduate of the University of California, Davis.

Representative Matters

  • JRI, Inc. v. City and County of San Francisco – Commercial Litigation – (Alameda Superior Court) Represented Aircraft Firefighting Rescue Vehicle manufacturer in contract dispute regarding vehicle purchase. Matter settled on favorable terms.
  • FlightCar, Inc. v. City of Millbrae – Commercial Litigation/Land Use – (San Mateo Superior Court) Represented start-up car share company in land use dispute with local government entity. Matter settled on favorable terms
  • In re Zynga Privacy Litigation – Class Action Litigation – (Northern District of California, Ninth Circuit) Obtained judgment dismissing consolidated federal class actions alleging claims under Electronic Communications Privacy Act, Stored Communications Act, Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, as well as state common-law and statutory claims. Plaintiffs alleged that Zynga shared personally identifiable information with advertisers through the transmission of referrer headers that linked to Facebook user pages – allegations that were based on an October 18, 2010, front-page Wall Street Journal article. Zynga argued that any leakage did not involve the "contents" of any communications under the federal privacy statutes, that any transmissions resulted from standard web-browser operations and that plaintiffs had not alleged any actual harm. In May 2014, the Ninth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of all claims against Zynga and the dismissal of most claims against Facebook in the parallel Facebook Privacy case. In re: Zynga Privacy Litigation, No. 11-18044, ___ F.3d ___, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 8662, 2014 WL 1814029 (9th Cir. May 8, 2014)
  • dw-link Incorporated v. Giant Bicycle, Inc. and Giant Manufacturing Co., Ltd. – Patent Litigation/Commercial Litigation – (Central District of California) Represented defendants in patent infringement lawsuit relating to vehicle suspension systems. Matter settled on favorable terms.
  • Ackerman v. Zynga, Inc. – Class Action Litigation – (San Francisco Superior Court) Defended Zynga in Nationwide class action. Plaintiffs alleged claims under the UCL and CRLA for false advertising in connection with Zynga's Words With Friends games. Matter settled on favorable terms.
  • Telswitch, Inc. v. Billing Solutions Incorporated, et al., – Intellectual Property Litigation – (Northern District of California) Representing defendants and counter-claimants in trade secrets and Computer Fraud and Abuse Act case.
  • Tuition Options, LLC v. ATI Enterprises, Inc. – Commercial Litigation – (Philadelphia Arbitration ) Lead counsel in arbitration for prevailing defendant and counter-claimant company in the career education sector regarding complicated accounting and contractual issues pertaining to a servicing agreement.
  • Swift v. Zynga, Inc. – Class Action Litigation – obtained a dismissal with prejudice of a class action brought against Zynga Inc. under the California Unfair Competition Law and the Consumer Legal Remedies Act, following a successful motion to compel arbitration based on the U.S. Supreme Court's 2011 AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion decision. In the first application of that decision to an online terms of service agreement, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California found that the Zynga's modified click-wrap agreement was effective to bind the plaintiff to arbitrate the claims as an individual – and, not as a representative of the putative class.
  • The Kindred Limited Partnership v. Screen Actors Guild (Central District of California) – Copyright infringement and wrongful foreclosure action brought on behalf of Feldman/Meeker Co. to obtain return of copyright for the motion picture, The Kindred. Obtained partial summary judgment that SAG's foreclosure on the motion picture copyright was unlawful and ineffective. Damages claim settled shortly before trial set for June 2010.
  • Ivanhoe Capital v. Janna Hospitality Holdings, LLC (San Francisco Superior Court) – Represented defendant potential real estate investor in complex commercial real estate dispute arising from an alleged breach of contract regarding the potential development of a property in Idaho; obtained dismissal of the complaint without leave to amend. Obtained a unanimous decision from the California Court of Appeal affirming the trial court's decision.
  • Topa Insurance Group v. RCM Technologies, Inc. (Los Angeles Superior Court) – Represented plaintiff insurance company in a major software defect case against a company it had hired to design, install and implement custom-built software; obtained pre-trial rulings and trial resolution that the client found favorable.
  • PeopleData v. Yahoo! (Santa Clara Superior Court) – Represented Yahoo! in defense of breach of "pay-per-click" advertising contract and various related tort claims and prosecution of cross-complaint for successor liability and fraudulent conveyance of business assets. Matter was settled, with Yahoo! as a defendant obtaining an affirmative recovery.

  • Premises Liability Litigation (Eastern District of California) – Represented defendant restaurant owner in a premises liability action alleging that plaintiff's decedent died as result of being run over outside of restaurant; obtained settlement.

  • Environmental Coverage Litigation – Represented insurance companies in complex coverage claims and litigation arising out of environmental contamination and/or product injuries.

  • Advised and represented highly visible internet social gaming company on multiple litigation and corporate matters relating to content policies, virtual currency issues, internal risk management and terms of service.

Admissions

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

Education

  • University of California College of the Law, San Francisco, J.D., 1991
  • University of California, Davis, B.A., 1988

Experience

  • Duane Morris LLP
    - Special Counsel, 2006-present
  • Hancock Rothert & Bunshoft LLP
    - Senior Associate, 1991-2005

Professional Activities

  • Bar Association of San Francisco
  • State Bar of California
    - Litigation Section
  • 2012 Duane Morris Women's Initiative Award