LOS ANGELES – August 22, 2011 – Arent Fox LLP won a major defense victory for its client Ken Garff Automotive Group, a Utah-based automotive group with more than 35 automotive dealerships in California, Utah, and Texas.

After a five-day bench trial, Arent Fox partner Aaron H. Jacoby and senior associate Victor P. Danhi defeated plaintiff’s $7 million claim that Ken Garff was responsible for the breach of a 20-year commercial lease. The Arent Fox team also won an attorneys’ fee award against plaintiff. The litigation involved a dispute over an undeveloped parcel of land on the famous Beach Boulevard of Cars in Huntington Beach, California. Ken Garff sought to assume the lease of the property as part of its acquisition of a nearby dealership. After months of unsuccessful negotiations with the landlord, Garff withdrew from the negotiations on the leased parcel. After the rent payments stopped, the landlord sued its tenant (the dealership’s former owners) for breach of lease and Ken Garff (the new owner), under the theory of third party beneficiary, for breach of a proposed assignment agreement.

In rejecting plaintiff’s $7 million claim against Ken Garff, the judge adopted Arent Fox’s arguments at trial that plaintiff was not a third party beneficiary on the assignment agreement it sought to enforce because plaintiff never consented to the assignment. The court also agreed with the defendants that plaintiff unreasonably withheld its consent to the assignment of the master lease.

The trial victory is the latest win for Arent Fox LLP’s Automotive Industry Practice Group, which was recently named one of the top five practice groups of the year in California by the Daily Journal, California’s leading legal publication.

About Arent Fox:
Arent Fox LLP (www.arentfox.com), with offices in Los Angeles, Washington, DC, and New York, is a recognized leader in areas including government relations, intellectual property, real estate, telecommunications, health care, automotive, sports, white collar, international trade, bankruptcy, and complex litigation. With more than 350 lawyers nationwide, Arent Fox has extensive experience in corporate securities, financial restructuring, labor and employment, finance, tax, corporate compliance, and the global business market. The firm represents Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, trade associations, foreign governments and other entities.