Jeffrey M. Blank

Managing Partner

• Overview
• Professional Highlights
• Honors
• Community
• Speeches & Publications

Professional Highlights

As a certified baseball agent and sports attorney, Mr. Blank has handled complex negotiations and baseball arbitrations. In 2008, Mr. Blank obtained the second largest raise of any major league baseball player through the arbitration process and in 2009, he obtained a contract in excess of $7 million through the arbitration process for his client Garrett Atkins.

Recent accomplishments include successfully trying a business litigation case with partner Norma Garcia Guillen where the Court entered a $2.7 million judgment in favor of GRBB’s client following a bench trial. Mr. Blank and Ms. Garcia Guillen also teamed up to obtain a bench trial victory in a lawsuit involving an ownership dispute concerning a duplex. Mr. Blank obtained dismissal of a lawsuit brought by six operators of medical marijuana dispensaries regarding the constitutionality of a city’s total ban on such dispensaries.

Mr. Blank has worked on numerous high profile litigation cases.

• He was Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton’s lead associate on the high-profile dispute between the City of Anaheim and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim concerning the team’s name change.
• In a matter of first impression in California courts, Mr. Blank conducted extensive research and carefully drafted briefs arguing that the right to rescind contracts under the Truth In Lending Act does not apply on a class-wide basis. The trial court agreed with Mr. Blank’s arguments and the trial court decision was upheld in a landmark decision by the Appellate Court, which held that the right of rescission under the Truth In Lending Act is a personal remedy not suitable for class action treatment. Laliberte v. Pacific Mercantile Bank (2007) 147 Cal.App.4th 1.
• In a highly publicized eminent domain case, Mr. Blank authored the critical briefs which led to Cottonwood Christian Center successfully obtaining a preliminary injunction against the City of Cypress which was trying to take Cottonwood’s land. Cottonwood Christian Center v. City of Cypress (C.D. Cal. 2002) 218 F.Supp.2d 1203.