Wake up and smell the lawsuits.

International Coffee & Tea LLC, parent of The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf chain, has agreed to pay $100,000 to 350 current and former California employees who allege they were forced to work off the clock and denied overtime pay.

As part of a new state law, called the Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act of 2004, the coffee retailer also agreed to pay $100,000 to the State of California. Under that law, also known as the “Sue Your Boss” law, an individual may act as a de-facto prosecutor by bringing an action against an employer on behalf of other employees and may seek penalties for each violation. Last year, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger passed amendments to the law to make it harder to file such suits.

In the Coffee Bean case, a former Los Angeles store manager claimed that the company policy was to “punch out of the time clock after completing eight hours of work for the day, but to continue working until all of his or her duties were completed,” according to court papers. The store manager, Claudine Rose Alfano, who was fired in April 2004, filed suit on behalf of all store managers, supervisors and trainers who worked at the chain since July 2003 and did not receive overtime.

A lawyer for the employees, Alan Harris, a partner at Harris & Ruble, declined to comment, as did Keith Jacoby, a partner at Littler Mendelson who represents International Coffee and Tea.

Doing Business With



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O’Melveny & Myers LLP represented affiliated funds of Capricorn Investors and White River Ventures Inc., both stockholders of CCC Information Services Group Inc., in connection with its recent $495 million merger with an affiliate of Investcorp. The all-cash deal, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2005, was led by Mark Thierfelder and Paul Scrivano, partners in the Los Angeles office.

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Edwin Feo, co-chairman of the global project finance group at the Los Angeles office of Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy LLP, led a five-person team of lawyers representing Macquarie Infrastructure Co. in its $533 million investment in Dulles Greenway, a 14-mile toll road in Washington D.C. As part of the deal, Australia-based Macquarie would buy 86.7 percent of the partnership that owns Dulles Greenway, with an option to purchase the remaining share, and would control all operation and management of the road that leads from Dulles International Airport to Northern Virginia.

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A state agency created to manage the construction of a rail line along Exposition Boulevard is expected to select a law firm next week that will oversee legal issues involved in the construction of the $630 million project. Rick Thorpe, interim chief executive of the state-operated Exposition Metro Line Construction Authority, said the law firm would handle contracts, procedural issues and lawsuits involved in building the 9.6-mile rail line. The Exposition Metro Line Construction Authority was modeled after a similar joint-powers agency that built the Pasadena Gold Line, whose legal contract went to Richards Watson & Gershon.

Peterson Portrayal


Matt Dalton, the former lawyer for Scott Peterson who publicized the theory that a satanic cult was responsible for the death of Peterson’s wife, Laci, has written a book about the case.

Dalton’s publisher, Atria Books, expects to release “Presumed Guilty” in December.

Dalton, a former prosecutor who now works in Woodland Hills, spoke about the defense’s theory while at his former firm, Geragos & Geragos. The firm’s lawyers maintained that a strangely marked van and suspicious men were in the area when the 2002 murder occurred. The defense later dropped that theory from its arguments.

Dalton left Geragos & Geragos in September 2003 under terms that lead defense attorney Mark Geragos said were “mutual.” Peterson was sentenced to death for murdering his wife and unborn son, Connor.

Comings & Goings


Public Counsel Law Center is celebrating the opening of its new headquarters later this month at 610 S. Ardmore Ave. in Los Angeles. The non-profit organization, which provides legal services to the poor, has been raising money as part of a $5.5 million campaign toward the new facility The former head of the business litigation and intellectual property practices at Robins Kaplan Miller & Ciresi, J. Kevin Snyder, has joined Dykema Gossett PLLC as a partner in its litigation practice Alschuler Grossman Stein & Kahan LLP has hired a new partner in its corporate and securities law practice. Rachael Wexler, formerly a partner at securities boutique Guth/Christopher LLP, focuses on public companies and middle-market issuers.

*Staff reporter Amanda Bronstad can be reached at (323) 549-5225, ext. 225, or at

[email protected]

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