Chewning, Donald J.

Mr. O’Dell earned his law degree from Pepperdine University School of Law, in Malibu, where he secured inclusion on the Dean’s List, the National Dean’s List, and in Who’s Who Among American Law Students. 

During the vast majority of his 20+ years of law practice experience, Mr. O’Dell has focused primarily on litigation.  By the time he joined Marlin & Saltzman, he had been the senior associate at one of Orange County’s larger litigation firms and had spent time in a solo practice.  He has single handedly tried numerous cases ranging from simple personal injury actions to complex insurance bad faith and construction defect matters, gaining trial experience in a wide variety of courtrooms throughout the state, including Los Angeles, Orange, and San Diego counties.  Mr. O’Dell has also been a member of the federal bar and an active practitioner in the federal courts throughout the State of California, since 1987.  He has labored on behalf of clients in numerous appeals, helping to create governing law in cases of first impression, including the published decision in Bennett v. Regents of the University of California (2005) 133 Cal.App.4^th 347.

Mr. O’Dell has devoted the lion’s share of his practice to class action litigations since the 1990’s, diligently prosecuting matters on behalf of clients against such corporate giants as IBM, Walmart, New York Life and other insurance companies, Sears Holding Corporation, FedEx, General Electric Co., Intel, Cisco, Kaiser Permanente, Toyota, Lowe’s, Countrywide Financial Corporation, and Bank of America.

Stephen currently litigates several class action wage and hour cases, including actions against construction contractors on behalf of drywall workers and fence installers, on behalf of line workers against a manufacturer of plastic storage devices, on behalf of nurses against a constellation of after-care and nursing home facilities, on behalf of hourly workers against a home furnishings retailer, and on behalf of commission-based employees against mortgage lenders.

Mr. O’Dell’s publications include the 2001 “National Law Journal” article, “The ‘Good News’ Ruling,” which explored  landmark U.S. Supreme Court rulings impacting significant First Amendment rights.  Mr. O’Dell also contributes to the Marlin & Saltzman blog.