Sarena Kustic defends large corporate entities against serious injury and wrongful death claims, including high-exposure matters. Her practice also includes representing individuals and businesses in contractual and property disputes. Sarena brings her broad range of skills and abilities to every case she handles, from inception to conclusion. She prides herself on efficiency and effectiveness, both in the courtroom and when seeking informal resolution.
Sarena has represented clients, plaintiffs and defendants, in a broad range of civil matters, including breach of contract and warranty, fraud, discrimination, premises liability, trade secrets, personal injury, unfair competition, debt collections, quiet title, subrogation, products liability and consumer legal remedies.
In addition, Sarena is experienced in appellate work, establishing the evidence and parameters that make for a successful appeal.
Areas of Focus
Commercial Litigation
Sarena defends businesses and corporations in contract, warranty and product liability actions. She also provides clients with strategic counsel to help them make better-informed decisions, resolve complex legal challenges and achieve specific business goals.
Securities
Sarena handles the claims that arise in the securities and financial services industries, including regulatory inquiries and enforcement actions, customer disputes and intra-industry disputes.
Aviation
Sarena defends litigation arising from product issues and aviation-related injuries, as well as cases involving aircraft crashes and wrongful death. She is part of a team with national reach that immediately provides guidance through an NTSB investigation, identification and preservation of relevant documents and electronic information, counsel on remedial measures, retention of relevant outside forensic experts and preparation for litigation and trial.
Appellate
With the skills to effectively challenge or defend lower court decisions and assist clients in bringing the litigation cycle to a satisfactory conclusion, Sarena works with the firm’s dedicated Appellate Practice to provide forceful arguments and innovative resolutions.
Representative Matters
Successfully defended an appeal in the Ninth Circuit stemming from a civil rights action that was dismissed with prejudice.
Successfully defended a civil rights action in the Northern District of California brought by five plaintiffs against a national corporation. Despite three amended complaints, the plaintiffs did not survive the pleading stage and the case was dismissed with prejudice.
Successfully defeated a CLRA claim in consumer arbitration, acting as first-chair in an evidentiary hearing and obtaining a defense award for a financial institution.
Successfully first-chaired a bench trial, recovering personal property and title thereto on behalf of a financial institution.