Eric M. Khodadian

Eric Khodadian is an associate with Morris Polich & Purdy's Los Angeles and San Francisco offices. His practice includes civil litigation and transactional services. Eric has successfully represented architects and engineers in professional liability matters; contractors in construction defect, products liability, and breach of contract actions; property managers, owners, and businesses in premises liability, wrongful death, catastrophic injury, and landlord-tenant matters; and public entities in government torts claims. Eric has also provided transaction support to owners and contractors on both public and private construction projects.

Prior to joining MPP, Eric served in the Antitrust Section of the California Office of the Attorney General as a University of Southern California grant recipient. In that capacity, he helped investigate and prosecute large-scale, complex matters, including alleged business interference claims in the portable chemical lab industry, alleged sham patent or troll litigation claims in the smart HVAC industry, possible anticompetitive contracting practices between hospitals and third-party payers and insurance carriers, and merger approval/divesture analysis. Eric also worked in the legal department of Black House MMA-a sports agency representing some of the biggest names in the UFC (himself a grappler and boxer).

Eric graduated from the University of Southern California, Gould School of Law, where he was the Editor-in-Chief of the Southern California Review of Law and Social Justice and externed for Los Angeles Superior Court Commissioner John Green (retired).

Distinctions

•Editor-in-Chief, Southern California Review of Law and Social Justice, University of Southern California Gould School of Law
•Business Law Certificate, University of Southern California Gould School of Law
•Student Body President, School of Public Affairs, American University

Speeches, Publications and Email Alerts

•Speaker, In Defense of Engineers: Risk Management Tools and Legal Case Studies, American Society of Civil Engineers Los Angeles Chapter, May 24, 2016
•Co-Author, “Preparing for the Big One: Los Angeles's New Seismic Retrofit Ordinance and Recommendations for Mitigating Risk, Dealy, Renton & Associates Newsletter, Volume 22, April 2016
•Author, “California Attorney General Releases California Data Breach Report Outlining Data Breach Trends and “Reasonable” Cyber Security Measures Required by California Law, www.privacydatasecurity.com, March 7, 2016
•Author, “The Untapped Competitive Advantages of Sound Data Security and Privacy Practices, www.privacydatasecurity.com, May 14, 2015
•Author, “Unlike Its Users, Snapchat's Policy May Save It From Exposure, ” www.privacydatasecurity.com, October 17, 2014
•Production Manager, California Antitrust and Unfair Competition Law (2010, Supp. 2013, Matthew Bender), a treatise published by the State Bar of California
•Author, Genocide and Insurance: A Review of Movsesian v. Victoria Versicherung AG, 21 S. CAL. REV. L. & SOC. JUST. 245 (2012)

Articles

5/19/2016

Preparing for the Big One: Los Angeles's New Seismic Retrofit Ordinance and Recommendations for Mitigating Risk
A major earthquake in California is inevitable. Most Californians recall the 1994 Northridge earthquake that rocked Los Angeles with a 6.7 on the Richter scale. In that earthquake, some of the structures that suffered the greatest damage were wood-framed “soft story” buildings and concrete multi-level non-ductile structures constructed prior to 1978. The damage was terrible. Many soft story buildings (i.e. those with large openings, such as parking areas, where a shear wall might otherwise have been installed for seismic resistance) collapsed causing serious personal injury and death, and damage to property, which cost Californians billions of dollars.

3/7/2016

California Attorney General Releases California Data Breach Report Outlining Data Breach Trends and “Reasonable” Cyber Security Measures Required by California Law
Since 2012, California law has required all organizations to self-report to the Office of the California Attorney General data breaches affecting 500 Californians or more. Recently, California Attorney General Kamala Harris published a report analyzing the types of breaches, types of data breached, and industries affected, as well as recommendations to companies, organizations, or any person who collects personal information.

5/14/2015

The Untapped Competitive Advantage of Sound Data Security and Privacy Practices
We have written extensively about the risk management benefits of employing sound data security and privacy practices. Now a recent study by Deloitte indicates that such practices can also serve as a competitive business advantage in the market place.

10/17/2014

Unlike Its Users, Snapchat's Policy May Save It From Exposure
In what has been called the “Snappening, ” hackers divulged 98, 000 personal photographs transmitted through the popular application Snapchat despite the fact that such users' photos were meant to disappear after being viewed. The disclosure of these photographs once again illustrates the difficulties that individuals face in keeping certain “parts” of their lives private in the online world. Snapchat's stance on the episode also demonstrates the importance that well-drafted Terms of Use for computer applications may play in shielding a company from liability associated with unauthorized third party applications.