Experience

ADMIN Law – Representative Matters

  • We have assisted numerous clients in obtaining licensure and rate approvals at the Department of Insurance.
  • We have also assisted clients in successfully applying for California Energy Commission grants.
  • In 2012, Nielsen Merksamer successfully defended a contract award of $30 million to Aon Hewitt to administer California state employee 401(k), 401(a), and 457(b) retirement plans against a bid protest brought by a competitor.
  • In 2011, the firm represented a card club that federal and state agencies raided and seized documents from, and ordered to close indefinitely for business without notice or a hearing, based on allegations that illegal loan-sharking took place on the premises. We negotiated an agreement to re-open the club within days, and further negotiated an order that committed the club to taking certain remedial steps to prevent any illegal activity on its premises, but which resulted in no action against the club’s gaming license.
  • In In re matter of Specialized Day Care Services, California Dept. of Public Health Case No. 13-AL-LNC-5842 (2013), the firm successfully obtained a dismissal of the state Department of Public Health’s regulatory accusation seeking to revoke respondent’s license.
  • In In re Matter of Kern Health Systems, Dept. of Managed Health Care Enforcement Matter No. 11-367 (2011), the firm successfully negotiated a settlement agreement involving a dispute between the county health system and the state Department of Managed Health Care.
  • In RFP 2660-421 (2009), the firm successfully protested the bid documents for a multi-million dollar software procurement by the state Department of Transportation.  Once the bid documents were modified by the Department of Transportation, the firm successfully defended the award of the contract to the firm’s client.  (Bentley Systems, Inc. v. Dept. of General Services (2011) OAH No. 2011030323.)
  • Before the State Controller’s Office, the firm successfully represented a claimant seeking what at the time was the single largest return of unclaimed property assets.  Specially, the claimant recovered stock in a biotech company with a value over $8 million.
  • In 2007, levee improvements proposed for the Feather River in Yuba County would have resulted in the condemnation of significant portions of Rice River Ranch, a family-owned fruit orchard and farming operation bordering the Feather River near Marysville, California.  On behalf of Rice River Ranch, Nielsen Merksamer was able to develop and successfully execute a strategy that convinced the Central Valley Flood Protection Board (then known as the State Reclamation Bd.) to re-route the levee improvements on a path that avoided Rice River Ranch land, thereby saving the family’s farms and orchards.
  • The firm successfully represented a franchisee of a national convenience store chain in a regulatory action by the San Francisco Department of Public Health that sought to suspend the franchise’s tobacco license for 45 days for alleged violation of state laws prohibiting the sale of tobacco to minors, based on the Department’s conduct of an illegal decoy operation.
  • The firm has represented a number of alcohol importers and wholesalers in obtaining proper licensing from the California Alcoholic Beverage Commission.
  • In Dept. of Alcoholic Beverage Control v. The Southland Corp./Tolentino, California Alcoholic Beverage Control Appeals Board No. AB-6981 (11/98), the firm successfully obtained reversal of a regulatory order revoking the respondent’s alcoholic beverage license, on due process grounds.
  • In Digital Biometrics, Inc. v. Anthony, 13 Cal. App. 4th 1145 (1993), the firm successfully represented the awardee of multi-million dollar state contract against claimed violations of state contracting and MBE/WBE statutes.
  • We routinely advise current and prospective government contractors regarding so-called “pay-to-play” restrictions—special campaign finance and lobbying rules—that apply to such contractors at various points in the contracting process.