Debra Belaga

Partner

Debra Belaga is the Head of the Adversarial Department for O’Melveny’s San Francisco office. She is also a leading member of the Firm’s Class Actions, Mass Torts and Aggregated Litigation Practice and the Business Trial and Litigation Practice.

Debra is an experienced litigator who regularly serves as national litigation counsel for public companies. She has extensive experience in partnership and corporate governance counseling and litigation, environmental and product liability lawsuits, crisis management, financial services litigation, and other complex commercial litigation. Debra also has significant appellate and bankruptcy experience. Debra was named one of the "Top 75 Women Litigators in California" by the Daily Journal.

Illustrative Professional Experience

• Lennar. Regularly advises Lennar Corporation, a public real estate developer and homebuilder, on litigation and other matters. Recent engagements include: lawsuits and strategic counseling involving a major redevelopment project in San Francisco to transform a former military base into housing, commercial space and potentially a professional football stadium; a series of lawsuits involving complex partnership and accounting lawsuits in connection with real estate developments in Southern California; and representation of Lennar in connection with the bankruptcy of LandSource, a joint venture with CalPERS.
  
• Home Depot. Trial counsel for Home Depot in connection with a statewide investigation conducted by the California Attorney General’s office and District Attorneys’ offices into the company’s statewide hazardous waste and materials practices. The two-year investigation concluded with a favorable settlement.
  
• FedEx Ground. Led the O’Melveny team that secured a $48 million reduction of a $61 million jury award in a national-origin harassment and discrimination case against FedEx Ground.
  
• Bank of America. Appellate counsel in connection with an adverse class action jury verdict finding illegal the bank’s practice of using directly deposited Social Security benefits to pay overdrafts and fees. Plaintiffs claim that the judgment exceeded $1 billion. The O’Melveny team prevailed in reversing the judgment in the Court of Appeal; a petition for review is pending in the California Supreme Court.
  
• ThermoFisher (formerly Fisher Scientific). National litigation counsel in matters such as product liability lawsuits, enforcement and investigation matters, and complex litigation.
  
• Chemtura. National environmental litigation counsel for Chemtura, a public chemical manufacturing company, handling dozens of cases across the United States.
  
• Contra Costa County. Serves as lead class action litigation counsel. Representative engagements include class actions challenging the county’s strip search policies and a class action on behalf of children challenging the county’s foster care and adoption programs. Also served as lead appellate counsel, obtaining a reversal in the Ninth Circuit of a district court ruling compelling the county to permit use of its public libraries for the conduct of religious services.
  

Professional Activities

Admitted to Practice, US Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit (and all districts within the Ninth Circuit); US Court of Federal Claims; US Supreme Court
Member, American Bar Association; San Francisco Bar Association; Board of Visitors, Stanford Law School; National Association of Women Judges Resource Board