Daniel J. Woods

A partner in the Firm's Los Angeles office, Daniel J. Woods is one of the most accomplished and decorated litigators in Los Angeles, indeed, the entire country. The American Bar Association, California Bar Association, Inner City Law Center, Chambers USA and Los Angeles Daily Journal are just some of the publications and peer organizations which have honored Mr. Woods for his work.

Mr. Woods’ recent victories include:

• In 2024, he briefed, argued, and won a motion in limine (a year before trial) drastically limiting the amount of restitution available to plaintiffs in a putative class action alleging false advertising and unfair competition claims;
• In 2024, he won a motion to dismiss a complaint against a major religious organization in Hawaii on First Amendment freedom of religion grounds;
• In 2024, he filed an action in Chancery Court in Delaware involving the amount possibly owed by the client to the seller of a mining business, resulting in a favorable settlement;
• In 2023, he tried and won a hotly contested four-day court trial in Los Angeles Superior Court in an insurance coverage/bad faith case.
• In 2023, Mr. Woods briefed, argued, and won an appeal in the California Court of Appeal for client Wells Fargo Bank, in Garland Connect v. Wells Fargo Bank, et al.

Other recent cases highlight Mr. Woods’ ability to obtain significant results on behalf of clients in a variety of cases.

In Certain Collapsible and Portable Furniture, ITC Inv. No. 337-TA-1178, Mr. Woods defeated patent infringement claims against client MacSports, Inc. before the International Trade Commission.

After lengthy pre-hearing proceedings, in December 2020, an ITC Administrative Law Judge in Washington D.C. conducted a three-day, remote, evidentiary hearing involving lawyers and witnesses from around the country. In February 2021, the Administrative Law Judge issued a 300-page decision in which he found that the MacSports chairs did not infringe its competitor's patents. Mr. Woods’ devastating cross-examination of GCI’s expert witness was critical to this finding.

On May 6, 2021, the full ITC issued its decision affirming the finding that MacSports’ chairs did not infringe the patent and terminated the investigation.

In 2021, he also defeated not one, but two motions for class certification for a municipality client sued for violations of the ADA and related claims.

He defeated a $300 million antitrust claim brought by a prominent litigation firm and obtained a judgment for over $2 million in defense fees and costs. The case involved an Indian yarn spinner filing a $300 million Sherman Act Section 1 antitrust lawsuit against Mr. Woods' client, cotton-grower J.G. Boswell Company. In May 2018, Mr. Woods won the arbitration with the three-judge panel ruling in J.G Boswell’s favor on every point and also awarded it over $2 million in fees and costs.

In Dexter Street Limited Partnership v. Wells Fargo Bank, Mr. Woods represented Wells Fargo in a commercial lease dispute. Dexter sought approximately $8 million in this long-running case. Mr. Woods secured a unanimous jury verdict for Wells Fargo on three of Dexter’s four specific claims and while it found in favor of Dexter on the fourth claim, awarded it only $1 in nominal damages, based on the suggestion to do so in Mr. Woods’ closing argument.

His greatest and most well-known case came when he represented the Log Cabin Republicans in the well-publicized “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” trial which ended the United States Military’s discriminatory policy towards the LGBTQ community. The trial took place in the Central District of California in July 2010 and Mr. Woods, on behalf of his client, won a judgment declaring the US military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT) policy to be unconstitutional and an injunction against further enforcement of the policy on due process and First Amendment grounds. Mr. Woods litigated the case over the course of seven years on a pro bono basis, and it was his truly tenacious efforts that even got the case to trial in the first place. Mr. Woods was in attendance when the President signed the official repeal of the policy. For this work, he won high praise from peers, military leaders, members of the LGBTQ community and a score of others.

Mr. Woods has been interviewed by and quoted in several publications, including the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Law360, the Los Angeles Daily Journal, the San Jose Mercury News, Benchmark Litigation, the BBC, several national radio stations and more. Over the course of Mr. Woods’ career, he’s been recognized by The American Lawyer, National Law Journal, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, The Recorder, The Guardian, the Washington Post, NPR, CNN, USA Today and several other publications for his work.

In his spare time, Mr. Woods has authored many articles and, for 20 years, authored the annual update to the California Continuing Education of the Bar’s three-volume treatise, California Civil Procedure During Trial. Mr. Woods' publications include:

• Mention, “Coming Out Republican—A History of the Gay Right,” page 290; Mr. Woods, who was originally involved in the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell Case, is described as “one of the nation’s most successful and well-regarded litigators”
• Author, Annual Updates to California Trial Practice: Civil Procedure During Trial, California Continuing Education of the Bar, 1998 - 2016.
• Co-author, "Understanding the Repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell, "Aspatore Special Report, 2011.
• "Easy Cases Can Make Bad Law – Belaire-West Landscape and Discovery in California Wage and Hour Class Actions," California Litigation Report, July 2008.
• "Employers Prevail in Class Actions Challenging Overtime Pay Exemption Status," California Litigation Report, February 2007.
• “Enforceability of Covenants Not To Complete in California,” December 2004.
• He has also been a community leader; a past President of the boards of directors of the Inner City Law Center, Uncommon Good, and the Los Angeles County Bar Foundation. He also volunteered as a judge pro tem in California state courts for 15 years.

Admissions & Associations

State Bar of California

United States District Court for the Northern, Eastern, Central and Southern Districts of California

United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit

Federal Circuit

United States Supreme Court

Litigation Counsel of America, Senior Fellow (2021)

American Bar Foundation, Patron Fellow

Inner City Law Center, Board Member (1999-present) and Board President (2006-2012)

Uncommon Good (2000 to present), Board Member

Association of Business Trial Lawyers, Member

Representative Matters

Shane v. American Wholesale Insurance Holding Co. In putative class action in San Francisco Superior Court, won a motion in limine a year before trial that reduced the potential restitution claim by tens of millions of dollars. San Francisco Superior Court case no. CGC-23-606288, Order Granting Motion in Limine entered November 7, 2024.

Aiea Korean United Methodist Church v. California Pacific Conference of the United Methodist Church, et al. Won motion to dismiss all claims in Circuit Court of the First Circuit in Hawaii on First Amendment freedom of religion grounds. Circuit Court of the First Circuit, State of Hawaii, Civil No. 1CCV-24-0000194, Order Granting Motion To Dismiss First Amended Complaint filed August 9, 2024.

Lantz v. Topa Insurance Company.  Won bench trial on bad faith insurance case with $10 million claim. Los Angeles Superior Court case no. 21STCV 28402, Statement of Decision issued on October 10, 2023; judgment issued on October 20, 2023.

Garland Connect v. Wells Fargo Bank. Won appeal for the bank in a case with a $25 million claim, following a win on a demurrer a couple years before. Los Angeles Superior Court case no. 19STCV16050, Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, Division 7 case number B316135.  Court of Appeal opinion affirming dismissal filed on August 28, 2023.