Education

LL.B. Hastings College of the Law, University of California, 1964

Stanford University, B.A., 1960

Bar Admissions

California

Court Admissions

All courts of the State of California

U.S. District Court, Eastern and Northern Districts of California

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals

Affiliations

American College of Trial Lawyers, 1986

Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame Award, California State Bar, 2001

Distinguished Lawyer of the Year, Sacramento County Bar Association, 2001

Anthony M. Kennedy American Inn of Court, Bencher and former member of Executive Committee

Alumnus of the Year, Sacramento Chapter of the Hastings Alumni Association, 2002

The Best Lawyers in America, 1993-Present

Northern California SuperLawyers, 2004-Present

Sacramento Host Committee, Chair, 2008-2009

Former Chairman, Lawyer Delegation, Eastern District of California, Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference

Sacramento Area Commerce and Trade Organization (President, 1990-1991)

American Leadership Forum, Senior Fellow and Former Chair

Sacramento County Law Library Foundation, Founding Member

Joseph S. Genshlea

Contact information:

Founding Shareholder

jgenshlea@weintraub.com

T: 916.558.6020

F: 916.446.1611

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Practice Areas

• Litigation

Joe is a founding shareholder of the firm. He received his undergraduate degree from Stanford in 1960 and his law degree from U.C. Hastings in 1964. He served for two years as a law clerk to U.S. District Judge Thomas MacBride from 1964-66. He also served in the U.S. Army Reserves from 1961-1967.

With over 40 years of practice before the federal and California trial and appellate courts, Joe has handled many complex business jury trials and is acknowledged as one of the foremost business trial lawyers in the state. Joe has successfully represented financial institutions in lender liability cases, commercial real estate, agricultural lending and related matters, and has handled a variety of securities cases, shareholder derivative suits, copyright infringement matters, real estate litigation, partnership and corporate dissolutions, accounting malpractice, contract disputes and fraud claims, to name but a few. Joe is member of the California State Bar Trial Lawyers’ Hall of Fame and has been in Northern California SuperLawyers and Best Lawyers in America since their respective inceptions and was the Best Lawyers in America selection as the Commercial Litigator of the Year for Sacramento, 2010. Joe has also been a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers since 1986.

Joe has lectured for the Business Litigation Section of the State Bar of California, as well as for a variety of continuing education of the bar courses related to litigation. Joe served for many years as a panelist with local federal judges conducting courses on recent developments in the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and local rules for practitioners in the Eastern District. Joe conducts seminars on commercial lending litigation and has lectured to groups such as the Sacramento Young Lawyers Association, the Business Litigation and Business Counseling Sections of the Sacramento County Bar Association, as well as the Sonoma and San Mateo County Bars.

A Sacramento native, Joe has strong ties to the area and places great significance on local civic activities through his many years of involvement in area non-profit groups. He is a past member of the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of Valley Vision, a non-profit dedicated to promoting regional thinking. He is also a former member of the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the Special Olympics of Northern California and a member of the Executive Committee of Protect and Defend, a public education program. Joe is also a Board member of Sierra Forever Families, an agency devoted to placing foster children for adoption; a member of the Sacramento Theater Company Foundation Board; and former president of the Sacramento Area Commerce and Trade Organization.

Joe is a member of the American Leadership Forum, Mtn. Valley Chapter and a former Chair of the Board and served on the Board of Directors of KVIE Channel 6 (public television), the Sacramento Symphony, the League to Save Lake Tahoe and was a co-chair of the Sacramento Regional Economic Forum. He is a former Trustee of the Mercy Hospital Foundation and a founding member of the Board of Directors of Gateway Foundation, a home for alcoholic women. Additionally, Joe has twice served as a Trustee of Christian Brothers High School.

Joe also finished 5,411 in the 83rd annual running of the Boston AA Marathon.

A sample of the varied nature of Joe’s practice follows:

• ITSI Development Corp. v. California Authority of Racing Fairs (“CARF”)
  Joe represented CARF in an action brought by the plaintiff to establish that it had a copyright in the simulcasting of horse racing at various county fairs around the state. In a federal jury trial, the defendant established that, even though the plaintiff did hold the copyright, an implied license had been granted to CARF and that the plaintiff was estopped to deny the license, in equity. The case was affirmed on appeal by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
• Bank of America v. KMPG Peat-Marwick
  Joe represented the Bank of America against KMPG for accounting malpractice. The bank had extended a loan to a mortgage banker in reliance on an audited financial statement prepared by KMPG. The Bank was successful in a state court jury trial winning for the Bank all of its losses together with a jury verdict for punitive damages in favor of the Bank.
• California State Lottery v. High Integrity Systems, Inc. (“HISI”)
  In this case Joe represented High Integrity Systems, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Equifax defending a case brought by the California State Lottery claiming a breach of the HISI contract to automate lottery ticket sales and to supply back-office functions to the State Lottery. HISI cross-complained for damages and after extensive discovery, the case was settled. HISI prevailed on its cross-complaint. In the settlement the Lottery agreed to an initial payment of $25 million with 66 months of revenue guaranteed to HISI. The anticipated total revenue stream being well in excess of $100 million.
• Delta Investment Company v. Union Bank
  In this case Joe represented a wealthy local businessman who guaranteed a loan from Union Bank to a company of which he owned 50%. Union Bank was represented at trial by Morrison & Forester and on appeal by Joseph Ball of Ball, Hunt, Brown & Baerwitz. After a six-month jury trial, Joe’s client was exonerated from his guarantee and awarded for all of his lost investments in the company and punitive damages against the Bank. The case was settled on appeal.
• California Fair Political Practices Commission v. Dianne Feinstein
  In this case Joe represented Senator Feinstein in resisting an enforcement proceeding brought in connection with her campaign for Governor of the State of California. Joe was able to settle the matter for a small fraction of the claim made against her.

• Sacramento Savings Bank v. B&B and Sons Enterprises, Inc., et al
  For more than eight years Joe served as lead counsel representing Sacramento Savings Bank and its successor-in-interest, Alleghany Properties in a vehemently disputed joint venture dissolution involving B&B and Sons Enterprises, Inc. and the ownership of approximately 700 acres of real estate located in the Natomas area of Sacramento valued variously among the parties between $30 million and $160 million.

  The matter was arbitrated twice. The initial arbitration was held before former U.S. District Judge Raul Ramierz, former Court of Appeal Judge George Paras and former San Francisco Superior Court Judge Victor Campalongo. Following a successful decision by the arbitrators and a subsequent success at the Court of Appeal for the Third Appellate District, litigation was renewed by B& B and Sons Enterprises, Inc. In spite of the successful appeal, the matter was once again compelled into arbitration. This time the arbitration was held before former judges Ramirez and Paras and former San Francisco Superior Court Judge Ira Brown. The arbitrators once again ruled in favor of Sacramento Savings Bank and its successor-in-interest Alleghany Properties on all issues. Our clients recovered their costs of suit and attorneys’ fees as well.

• Woodland Production Credit Association v. Nicolai Nicholas
  Joe’s client Nicolai Nicholas was a cattle breeder who had his herd foreclosed upon by the Woodland Production Credit Association (WPCA). Nicholas contended that the WPCA loan was a capital loan and couldn’t be called when cattle prices dropped pursuant to the normal cattle cycle. After a six-month jury trial, the jury found in favor of Nicholas on the defense of the complaint and on the cross-complaint giving him all of his compensatory damages plus $500,000 in punitive damages. The trial judge struck the punitive damages. The matter was affirmed on appeal.
• Shuper/Gumps Arbitration
  In this matter Joe represented the Shuper family. The Shupers owned the building on Post Street in San Francisco which, at the time, housed the Gumps store. The lease between the Shupers and Gumps had expired and the arbitrators were to determine the fair rental value of the property for the renewal lease term. The matter was arbitrated in San Francisco before three commercial real estate brokers with a result satisfactory to the Shupers.
• Bank of America v. State of California
  In this case Joe represented the Bank of America against the State of California. It was a contractual indemnity case arising out of the settlement by the Bank of a qui tam action brought against the Bank claiming the Bank had failed to escheat millions of dollars in unclaimed bond funds to the State. The settlement amount was $187 million in return for which the Bank received the State’s agreement to indemnify against future claims. Alaska made such a claim resulting in this action which was ultimately settled favorably to the Bank.
• Hird & Hawes v. Michael Best & Friedrich, et al
  In this case Joe represented Michael Best & Friedrich a law firm based in Milwaukee. It represents Harley Davidson. In earlier action, Harley Davidson had been the plaintiff in a matter which arose out of its commitment to a local company to develop a process for decorating Harley Davidson products. The contract called for a substantial investment by Harley Davidson and it developed that the investment was fraudulently obtained. In its complaint, Harley Davidson sued, among others, the plaintiffs in this action, Hird & Hawes. Subsequent to the conclusion of that action, Hird & Hawes filed this action for malicious prosecution against Harley Davidson and its attorneys, among others. After extensive discovery and motion practice, the court granted our motion for summary judgment on behalf of our client Michael Best & Friedrich.
• Templeton v. Emergency Physicians Medical Group (EPMG)
  After the trial of this case in Las Vegas, EPMG retained Joe to settle a runaway verdict in a wrongful death case of approximately $30 million. After lengthy and extensive negotiations, a settlement was effected for less than $1 million.
• Cascade Housing v. Englund
  Joe represented Cascade Housing which had purchased real property which contained toxic and hazardous materials not disclosed by the seller. After a court trial in Monterey County Superior Court, the Court’s verdict was in favor of Cascade Housing which was fully compensated, including attorneys’ fees.
• Dublirer v. A.M.C.
  In this case Joe represented Arthur Dublirer who was an investor in a Silicon Valley company which had been acquired by A.M.C., a high tech firm then located in Santa Barbara. Subsequent to the acquisition, the value of the stock acquired by Dublirer in the transaction dropped dramatically. Our action was based upon misrepresentations made by the acquired company in the context of the acquisition. Due to the fact that it was a merger, A.M.C. became responsible for those representations. A.M.C. was represented by Stewart Harrison of Brobeck Phleger & Harrison and we were able to settle the matter for 100 percent of our client’s claim.
• Macciavelli v. F.I. Dupont Glore Forgan, Inc.
  Joe represented Dupont Glore Forgan a member of the New York Stock Exchange against claims of fraud, negligence and violation of both state and federal securities acts. Macciavelli had lost roughly $8 million in the stock market crash of 1973 and brought this action to recover his losses. The claim by the plaintiff was that he had made special margin call arrangements which had been violated by the defendant brokerage company. After a federal court jury trial, a verdict was returned in favor of the defendant.
• Bains v. Bank of America
  In this case Joe represented the Bank of America in an agricultural lender liability case arising out of the financial difficulties sustained by many farmers in California during the 1980s. Bains had farming operations up and down the Central Valley as well as in Canada. The debt owed to the Bank of America was in excess of $12 million. Bains alleged a host of claims against Bank of America including breach of a previous work-out agreement, breach of agreements to provide crop financing, mishandling of crop proceeds, breach of fiduciary duty and negligent and intentional misrepresentation surrounding the loan documents and work-out agreements. The matter was arbitrated before Lawrence Jordan of San Francisco. The result of the arbitration was that Bank of America recovered 100 percent of its claim, plus its attorneys’ fees.
• Miller v. Circle K.
  In this case Joe represented Circle K which had been sued by the previous owners of a local convenience store which had been acquired by Circle K by merger. The claim was that Circle K had committed fraud and violated various state and federal securities acts in connection with the acquisition. Plaintiff sought compensatory and punitive damages. After a federal court trial before Judge E. Dean Price, a decision was entered in favor of the defendant. However, and after a motion for a new trial and over a year had passed, the Court reversed itself and entered a different decision in favor of the plaintiff and granted punitive damages. The matter was appealed to the Ninth Circuit which directed the case back to the District Court for a settlement which was effected for an amount which was less than what had been offered before the trial of the case.
• Sacramento Savings & Loan v. Price-Waterhouse, et al.
  In this matter Joe represented Sacramento Savings & Loan Association which had been the subject of a large-scale fraud. Action was brought against various defendants, including Price-Waterhouse, based upon its failure to detect the fraud during its annual audit of Sacramento Savings. The case was ultimately settled among all the defendants and the savings and loan recovered all of its losses.
• Lofings v. Lightoleer
  In this case Joe represented Lofings, a local retailer of lighting fixtures. The suit was brought alleging an illegal tying arrangement whereby Lightoleer, the manufacturer of lighting fixtures would require the retailer to purchase certain fixtures before it would be able to buy other high-demand items. Lightoleer was represented by McDonough Holland Schwartz & Allen and after discovery was underway, we were able to settle the matter for 100 percent of the losses claimed by Lofings.
• Miller v. Sunrise Bank.
  In this action Joe represented Sunrise Bank against claims made by a group of doctors which had suffered fraudulent losses in their pension plans effected by the plan administrator who was then in prison. The doctors claimed Sunrise Bank had knowledge of the activities of the administrator through its extensive dealings with the fund administrator through his deposits at the Bank. The case was tried to a Superior Court jury. The result of the decision was that the net recovery was to Sunrise Bank against the doctors including attorneys' fees.

Mediation and Arbitration

Over the years Joe has been asked to act as both mediator and arbitrator in a wide variety of cases. At this point in his career Joe is devoting more and more of his time in this area and is actively seeking to expand this part of his practice.