KENT RAYGOR
Partner
Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP
Sheppard Mullin partner Kent Raygor obtained major wins for public health this year. He defeated an injunction that would have enjoined LAUSD and LA County Department of Public Health from requiring masks, testing protocols, and contact tracing for students and school staff as a condition for in-person learning. A parents group asserted substantive due process, equal protection, unlawful search and seizure, free school, and privacy claims. The court rejected virtually every argument and most of plaintiffs’ proffered evidence.
Raygor also obtained dismissal of a suit by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco seeking to invalidate LA County’s 2019 ordinance banning the sale of flavored tobacco products. The ordinance was enacted to protect public health and counter tobacco companies’ efforts targeting Black communities with addictive menthol products and youth with flavored e-vaping products. Reynolds argued the County’s ordinance was preempted by the 2009 Tobacco Control Act. Raygor successfully moved to dismiss the case.
