V. Sathienmars
- vCard
- vcard
V. Sathienmars is an accomplished litigator defending clients across a range of complex civil litigation matters in federal and state courts across the United States.
Vasudhsiri defends high-profile corporate clients in significant exposure and “bet the company” lawsuits, as well as high-net-worth clients with sensitive and unique legal concerns. He routinely handles civil litigation matters in multiple state and federal jurisdictions from pre-suit through to and including trial. V. regularly serves on winning teams in both jury and bench trials. He has represented clients in appeals before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and California appellate courts. V. has also successfully resolved legal controversies at various kinds of administrative hearings and in atypical venues such as religious tribunals.
V. is known for his spot-on evaluations of evidence, legal issues, and risk exposure, as well as his ability to leverage soft variables and unpredictable case developments, which allows him to develop aggressive, yet thoughtful, defense strategies. He provides strategic direction and optimizes resources through close coordination and collaboration with the client team, which often includes client leadership, risk management, in-house counsel, insurance companies, local counsel in other jurisdictions, and coverage counsel. V. also manages some of the busiest state and federal court dockets for several high-profile corporations, consistently obtaining favorable results in high-value cases filed against them across the country.
Clients often call on V. to serve as monitoring counsel or coordinating counsel to ensure that litigation goals are met and expectations are exceeded. This experience includes supervising and coordinating case management strategy, discovery practice, and law and motion practice in cases with large numbers of corporate defendants, as well as in federal multidistrict litigation and Judicial Council Coordinated Proceedings in California state courts. V. is also known for his ability to come into a case, often on extremely short notice or as late as on the eve of trial, to closely evaluate what has been done to date on both sides; completely reorganize litigation strategy to maximize the probability of prevailing at trial; and then implement novel tactics to obtain desired results.
V. routinely defends clients in complex products liability cases, mass tort cases, and a wide variety of other civil litigation matters inclusive of business and commercial litigation. He also has experience defending the most challenging personal injury and wrongful death cases, as well as multimillion-dollar breach of contract cases. V. also has experience defending clients in other civil litigation and transactional matters across diverse practice areas, including public agency law, environmental law, entertainment/sports law, construction law, transportation law, nonprofit law, and employment law. He has also defended clients with licensing requirements in regulated industries, inclusive of attorneys, realtors, engineers, and insurance agents in professional liability lawsuits.
During law school, V. completed clerkships with California Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald George and San Francisco Superior Court Judge Richard Kramer. He also served as an American Bar Association Environmental Law Fellow with the California Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of the Secretary.
Before becoming an attorney, V. served California State Assembly Speaker Karen Bass as a Jesse Marvin Unruh Assembly Fellow, during which time he prepared and carried nine bills through the state legislative process, with seven bills signed into law. Prior to working in Sacramento with then-Speaker Bass, V. served as a Legislative and Governmental Relations Intern in City Hall with former Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
A California native, V. grew up in Los Angeles and currently resides in San Francisco. He has completed three marathons and many more half marathons as an endurance runner. He enjoys spending time with his family, traveling, cooking, cycling, and volunteering with several San Francisco bar associations and various Bay Area nonprofit organizations.
- Education
- University of California College of the Law, San Francisco (J.D., 2011); Property Law Note Author and Senior Editor, Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly; Award for Appellate Brief in Constitutional Law, Snodgrass Moot Court Competition
- University of California, Irvine (B.A. with honors, 2006); UC Irvine Alice B. Macy Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Research Paper; First Amendment and Tax Law Note Author, School of Social Sciences Law Journal
- State Admissions
- California, 2012
- Washington, 2024
- New York, 2025
- Federal Admissions
- Supreme Court of the United States
- United States Tax Court
- United States Court of International Trade
- United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
- United States Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit
- United States District Court, Central District of California
- United States District Court, Eastern District of California
- United States District Court, Northern District of California
- United States District Court, Southern District of California
- United States District Court, District of Colorado
- United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois
- United States District Court, Southern District of Illinois
- United States District Court, District of Nebraska
- United States District Court, Eastern District of New York
- United States District Court, Northern District of New York
- United States District Court, Southern District of New York
- United States District Court, Western District of New York
- United States District Court, Eastern District of Washington
- United States District Court, Western District of Washington
- Certifications
- Arbitrator Certification Program, Bar Association of San Francisco
- Mediator Certification Program, University of California, Irvine
- State Legislative and Regulatory Advocacy Program, Capitol Seminars
- Service Areas
- Mass Tort & Product Liability
- Business Litigation
- Guided a large corporate client to the favorable informal resolution of a technically complicated, multimillion-dollar contract dispute with the State of Oregon in which the State contended that the client overcharged it hundreds of thousands of dollars for more than a decade for product inspection and maintenance work undertaken at a large number of state-owned properties; to resolve the dispute – and relatedly prevent the State from expanding the dispute by millions of dollars, terminating the contract, and pursuing legal action – V. argued that the disputed work was outside the contracted scope of scheduled work, based on the relevant state regulations and the State’s idiosyncratic enforcement of those regulations – such that the additional charges for the disputed work was warranted and lawful; V. also assisted in contract negotiations to remove all relevant ambiguities in favor of the client by proposing a “no lookback” provision for completed work accepted by the State and by proposing a provision giving the client more discretion to identify when something falls outside the contracted scope of scheduled work
- Prepared and implemented a multi-state litigation strategy that leveraged Court orders by the New York State Supreme Court to obtain a Court order in Washington State Superior Court against an activist real estate investor; in extensive oral argument, convinced the Washington State Superior Court to issue an order that rejected all of the activist investor’s forensic accounting and receivership arguments, which were delay tactics intended to stop the client from closing a $55 million real estate deal and threatened to derail the deal in its entirety; obtained this favorable result on an expedited briefing schedule and by reconciling the complex objectives of the client with those of its stakeholders and under unusual circumstances inclusive of an unexpected statewide court shutdown that was not conducive to the very short contractual timeframe in which the client had to close the deal
- Attained client group objectives by handling all aspects of discovery, dispositive motion, and pre-trial activities through to time of trial, inclusive of day-to-day supervision of local counsel, in a multi-plaintiff federal product liability case venued in Seattle, Washington, in which plaintiffs questioned the fundamental safety of a complicated power management component used in hundreds of thousands of buildings worldwide; prepared extensive law and motion, summary judgment, and pre-trial document filings in coordination with the client group; synthesized complicated liability expert opinions into a compelling defense incident narrative that accounted for the subject product’s life cycle from design, manufacture, and supply chain logistics to installation, safe operating standards, and replacement; helped resolve the lawsuit to the client group’s satisfaction by (1) establishing the inherent safety of the product, (2) highlighting the comparative fault of Plaintiffs in failing to observe basic safety protocols for installation and maintenance of electrical components, and (3) discrediting Plaintiffs’ catastrophic personal injury and emotional distress claims
- Obtained dismissal of Plaintiffs’ complaint without leave to amend in a federal court case defending a regional public transportation agency sued for civil rights violations resulting in the catastrophic personal injury of a minor and deprivation of a parent-child relationship; the complaint’s dismissal was then the subject of an ultimately unsuccessful appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal
- Obtained summary judgment in Santa Clara Superior Court in favor of a Yosemite-based hotel chain sued for negligent employee supervision resulting in a wrongful death and a catastrophic personal injury
- Defended and favorably resolved a premises liability lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court against a high-profile celebrity musician and her personal real estate investment company, during which major discovery disputes were the subject of extensive adverse national news reporting, inclusive of claims that the musician’s family members concealed critical evidence by taking it across state lines, and the musician’s highly adverse deposition testimony on the whereabouts of the evidence and the identities of its owners
- Obtained a favorable statement of decision in Alameda Superior Court for a Northern California law firm and its attorneys, which were sued for legal malpractice in relation to an underlying high-profile governing board dispute at a large religious institution, following a one-month bench trial during which V. examined witnesses, made evidentiary objections, and argued trial motions as second chair; in its statement of decision, which was rendered in both the client’s lawsuit and the related governing board lawsuit, the court further adopted the Defendants’ proposal to resolve the governing board dispute with court-supervised reforms and a long-term community reconciliation effort through a structured alternative dispute resolution program overseen by a court-appointed referee
- Supervised the successful appeal of an interlocutory order granting a $1.1-million attorneys’ fee award against a property ownership and management company in a habitability and civil rights lawsuit filed in San Francisco Superior Court, which in turn forced a favorable settlement in the middle of a month-long jury trial; while handling the trial court matter, V. successfully opposed two petitions for writ of mandate on unrelated discovery and trial preference disputes, convinced the court to exclude large volumes of evidence at multiple Evidence Code section 402 hearings and reject adverse proposed jury instructions and verdict form language, and completed three days of jury selection as second chair
- As outside counsel for several Northern California municipalities, advised city council members on the legality of proposed legislation and drafted ordinances eventually enacted into law, such as an ordinance in one city requiring hotels within the vicinity of a major international airport to maintain detailed hotel guest registers in a format that can be readily inspected by local law enforcement, and an ordinance in another city requiring restaurants to use compostable materials for take-away orders
- Obtained summary judgment in Santa Clara Superior Court in favor of a San Jose-based trucking company sued for negligence resulting in a wrongful death, despite the fact that the client viewed this as a liability accepted case due to the graphic nature of the death, by obtaining evidence through an expert discovery strategy focused on highlighting personal responsibility for workplace safety
- Defended and favorably resolved a copyright lawsuit filed by a world-renowned photographer and filmmaker, which involved the photographic depictions of two prominent deceased rap and hip hop stars in iconic clothing and poses on the client’s t-shirts, hats, and other garments that were being sold at major clothing retailers nationwide; one of V.’s roles during the lawsuit was to develop and implement an investigation and discovery strategy in coordination with the musicians’ estates in response to the photographer’s contention that her photographs had very high commercial value because she “created” the iconic looks by advising the musicians on what to wear and how to pose
- Obtained a favorable resolution of what two corporate clients initially perceived to be a liability accepted catastrophic injury case by taking the deposition of a veteran state police officer and eliciting testimony that this investigating officer’s findings and conclusions in his highly adverse incident report applied an improper methodology inconsistent with his basic training at the state police academy, inclusive of a failure to collect and preserve critical evidence as well as interview key witnesses, such as a favorable percipient witness who the officer knew had important information about the incident and the Plaintiff who actually caused the incident
- In a special engagement, V. assisted a prominent San Francisco-based regional public transportation agency with the top-to-bottom revision of its Master Ordinance governing bridge, ferry, and bus operations and with its implementation of major infrastructure projects, including a transition to all-electronic bridge tolling and the construction of a movable median collision barrier for bridge traffic
- Defended a Fortune 500 company in a wrongful death lawsuit that alleged that one of its executives was within the course and scope of employment when they drove on the wrong side of a freeway and crashed into decedent’s vehicle after drinking large amounts of alcohol at a restaurant at which work matters were discussed; the defense of the case through to trial was coordinated with a parallel criminal proceeding against the executive and ultimately resulted in a favorable resolution
- Obtained early favorable resolution of what the client thought was a high-exposure, liability accepted premises liability lawsuit by creating and implementing an investigation and discovery strategy to reveal that the Plaintiff was not totally disabled by the alleged incident as she contended, but rather that she was fit enough to make pizzas all day and climb ladders at her pizza parlor
- Prepared two separate summary judgment motions in Inyo County Superior Court for a New Hampshire-based fleet management company and a Florida-based car rental company sued in a catastrophic injury case; prevailed at oral argument, winning summary judgment for the car rental company based on the Graves Amendment (49 USC §30106(a)) and obtaining Plaintiff’s dismissal of the fleet management company
- Following multiple informal discovery conferences and the filing of a motion to compel that addressed various unsettled areas of law regarding physical and mental examinations, obtained a court order requiring Plaintiff to appear at an extensive, all day mental examination undertaken by the client’s retained neuropsychiatrist in order to evaluate Plaintiff’s traumatic brain injury claim, resulting in a report that Plaintiff’s claimed cognitive issues were not related to the alleged incident
- Obtained a dismissal with prejudice of Plaintiffs’ wrongful death lawsuit after filing a summary judgment motion on behalf of a prominent taxi and ride share company, with V.’s motion arguing that Co-Defendants’ no contest pleas to the vehicular manslaughter of Plaintiffs’ mother in related criminal proceedings was an admission of gross negligence and therefore conclusive evidence in the wrongful death lawsuit that Co-Defendants were solely at fault for the death of Plaintiffs’ mother
- Obtained summary adjudication in Kern County Superior Court in favor of an elevator company sued for negligence and products liability
- In response to a significant number of mass tort lawsuits filed by a particular law firm against a high-profile pharmaceutical company on behalf of a large number of Plaintiffs domiciled in the same foreign country, developed a jurisdictional defense resulting in a court order granting V.’s forum non conveniens motion in a bellwether case; this forced the law firm to step away from its aggressive litigation against the company
- Organized and supervised a comprehensive e-discovery strategy for a community college district that filed a large construction defect lawsuit against a Japan-based general contractor that was responsible for completing the client’s long-term and multi-campus expansion project; certain documents obtained through e-discovery established that the general contractor delivered several new facilities to the client that were not constructed in compliance with local and state building codes or otherwise failed to meet the client’s project specifications
- Prepared a summary judgment motion in a San Francisco Superior Court products liability trial preference lawsuit involving a complicated maritime component found on many U.S. Navy warships; the motion argued that there was deficient product identification evidence to connect the client’s equipment to plaintiff’s contended terminal illness, which prompted the plaintiff to dismiss their lawsuit against the client instead of having to file an opposition
- Prevailed in a nearly one-year-long discovery dispute initiated by Plaintiffs in a technically complicated products liability matter filed in California state court; Plaintiffs sought to obtain an extremely high-profile company’s global prior lawsuit information under the premise of obtaining a large amount of proprietary business information and trade secrets relating to a safety device installed in more than a million of the company’s products worldwide; in response to the discovery dispute, which threatened the company’s bottom line, V. developed and implemented a multi-faceted litigation strategy that convinced the court to grant his motion for a discovery protective order, with V. also leveraging the dispute itself and its ultimate resolution to corner Plaintiffs into only being able to contend a factually unsupported, technically implausible, and legally untenable theory of liability
Media
- “Tucker Ellis Adds Jones Day, Kronenberg Attys,” Law360 Pulse (August 2022)
- San Francisco Department of Police Accountability, Volunteer Mediator
- Facilitates the informal resolution of citizen complaints against San Francisco Police Department officers in cases involving alleged conduct unbecoming an officer, neglect of officer duty, and unwarranted police action
- San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, Leadership San Francisco
- Intro San Francisco Leadership Program (2026)
- American Bar Association, Judicial Internship Opportunity Program Mentor
- Mentors first-year law students participating in summer judicial internships with state and federal court judges in San Francisco
- San Francisco Department of Police Accountability, Volunteer Mediator
- Facilitates the informal resolution of citizen complaints against San Francisco Police Department officers in cases involving alleged conduct unbecoming an officer, neglect of officer duty, and unwarranted police action
- Washington State Bar Association, Rule of Law Ambassador
- Educates and informs local community members about the concept of rule of law and its importance in protecting and preserving a free and independent judiciary
- Leadership Council on Legal Diversity
- City Co-Lead, San Francisco, California (2025–2026)
- Pathfinder Program (2024)
