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Simona Weil

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Simona Weil is an associate in the Litigation Department in the Los Angeles Office. Simona’s practice encompasses a broad range of complex civil and commercial litigation matters, including copyright, trade secret, contract, and product liability defense. She has represented clients in a variety of industries in state and federal courts across the United States at various stages of litigation.

At the University of Southern California Gould School of Law, Simona served on the Executive Board as an editor of the Hale Moot Court Honors Program. While at USC, she worked as a judicial extern for the Honorable Magistrate Judge Andrew J. Wistrich in the Central District of California.

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On June 30, 2021, pop star Kesha was reportedly handed a victory by a New York state court, which ruled that the state’s new anti-SLAPP legislation applied retroactively to music producer Dr. Luke’s lawsuit, in which he claims Kesha defamed him by allegedly falsely accusing him of rape.

The court’s decision means that Dr. Luke will face an elevated burden of proof at trial, needing to prove by clear and convincing evidence that Kesha acted with “actual malice” when she made her allegations against him. Previously, a New York state trial court held that Dr. Luke was not a public figure and therefore only had to prove that Kesha either knew her statements were false or acted with reckless disregard for the truth. That court did not take into account the new anti-SLAPP law, which was passed on November 10th, 2020.

Trying to collect attorney’s fees based on a void contract? Surprisingly, you can, according to a recent California Court of Appeal case. In California-American Water Co. v. Marina Coast Water Dist., the California Court of Appeal held that prevailing parties were entitled to recover attorney’s fees and costs based on a contract, even though the underlying contract at issue in the litigation was declared – void.