McVicker, Michael

Rick McKnight's practice focuses primarily on complex business litigation, including successful bench and jury trials involving antitrust, contract, securities, oil and gas, health care, fraud, intellectual property, business tort, ERISA, entertainment, product liability, bankruptcy, environmental, and tax matters. He has tried cases in such venues as Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Boston, Miami, Wilmington, Palm Springs, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. Rick also has been active in alternative forms of dispute resolution and has both recovered and defeated substantial punitive damages awards.

In Tellez v. Dole, Rick was the lead lawyer for Dole Food Company in the five-month trial of the claims of Nicaraguan banana workers who alleged their sterility was caused by their exposure to pesticides on Dole's farms during the 1970s. Of the original 42 plaintiffs selected from thousands of claimants worldwide, only four were awarded damages and their aggregate award was less than plaintiffs' costs.

Rick is currently aiding the defense of Yamaha Motor Company in a series of product liability claims throughout the United States relating to alleged rollovers of a recreational utility vehicle.

Rick is Partner-in-Charge of the Los Angeles Office. He frequently lectures on trial and pretrial practice and procedure for the Federal Practice Institute, the Los Angeles Barristers, the Federal Bar Association, the Bankruptcy Judges Conference, the American Bar Association Corporate Counsel Program, and the Los Angeles Complex Court Symposium Program. Rick serves on the board of directors of St. Vincent Medical Center.