Ashley Winn provides a wide range of civil litigation services for individuals and business entities including business owners, newspapers and other media entities, agricultural cooperatives, manufacturers and distributors, inventors and manufacturers, franchise owners, and engineering companies. The major areas of litigation he handles include the following:
Business and Commercial Disputes
Ashley Winn has experience handling private contract and other business litigation including:
• employment disputes • franchiser-franchisee issues • manufacturer-distributor-dealer-sales representative disputes • wine industry distribution cases • joint venture and co-development conflicts • eminent domain proceedings and other cases involving property valuation disagreements • partnership dissolutions (both voluntary and involuntary) • election disputes over corporate boards of directors • breach of fiduciary duty matters • Limited Liability Company dissolution disputes • breach of contract disputes
Insurance
His insurance-related litigation experience includes:
• obtaining insurance coverage or insurance defenses for property and other losses • direct first party lawsuits against insurers that have refused coverage • representation where insurance coverage is acknowledged • representation where coverage is disputed
More specifically, Ashley Winn effectively represented businesses and individuals in lawsuits seeking recovery for losses suffered after the Loma Prieta earthquake which seriously impacted Santa Cruz County. These cases included: insurance broker negligence with respect to providing earthquake coverage on clients' buildings and several first party and third party insurance claims. Ashley Winn was able to recover substantial sums to help compensate clients for losses suffered as a result of the major earthquake.
Unfair Competition, Business Torts, Trade Secret and Antitrust Matters
Ashley Winn represents clients in a variety of industries in matters involving antitrust, unfair competition, unfair business practices and other related business torts. The practice includes both advice and litigation defense and prosecution with respect to competition and related issues.
Ashley Winn’s experience includes the successful handling of several newspaper antitrust cases arising out of the distribution of shopper, total market coverage, and free publications, and involving legal issues related to sales below cost, loss leaders, secret rebates, and combinations or conspiracies in restraint of trade under the Federal Sherman Act, the California Cartwright Act and the California Unfair Practices Act. These cases typically involved disputes between weekly newspapers and daily newspapers, including newspapers owned by Gannet, Dow Jones, and other large newspaper organizations.
In addition he has successfully handled cases involving the movie distribution and exhibition business. In 1990, he obtained a decision from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals establishing significant legal authority on group boycotts and antitrust injury under the Federal Sherman Act (see The Movie 1 and 2 v. United Artists, et al., 909 F.2d 1245).
Other cases he has handled include:
• matters involving agricultural cooperatives and distribution issues related to agricultural products • cases involving manufacturers and distributors or retailers • disputes arising out of covenants not to compete and their effect on employees and new competitors • cases involving the theft or misuse of trade secrets and proprietary or confidential information • disputes between employers and ex-employees over improper use of confidential trade secrets • disputes relating to the theft or misuse of electronic data
Mediation and Arbitration (ADR)
Ashley Winn provides mediation and arbitration services and represents clients involved in mediation or arbitration. His experience includes representation of clients involved in arbitration before the American Arbitration Association, JAMS/ENDISPUTE, and private dispute resolution sessions. In 2009, he won a significant commercial arbitration award, including attorney fees, through a Jams arbitration proceeding.
Ashley Winn has been trained to act as an arbitrator by the American Arbitration Association. He has acted as the Chair of the Santa Cruz County Bar Association’s Client Fee Arbitration program, and is on the Santa Cruz County Superior Court’s panel of Arbitrators and Mediators for the Superior Court’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Program.