Brock J. Seraphin

My focus

I focus my practice on complex commercial disputes and employment litigation. I have significant experience litigating commercial disputes as well as single-plaintiff and class action matters involving tort claims, contract disputes, trade secrets, employee mobility, and discrimination and harassment allegations. I represent entities and individuals from a diverse range of industries in both state and federal court, as well as in arbitration.

In addition to my litigation experience, I serve as a trusted advisor and provide clients with strategic compliance counseling. I counsel clients on personnel issues such as employee hiring, discipline, termination, disability accommodations, and other employee compliance issues. Sensitive to the expense and stresses that litigation imposes on businesses, I help clients identify risks to anticipate and prevent future threats before they ripen into litigation.

Representative experience

Prior Experience

Before joining Nixon Peabody, Brock was in private practice, including at an AmLaw 100 firm and another nationally recognized law firm. Additionally, Brock previously served as an adjunct professor for the Pro Se Mediation Clinic at Loyola Law School and as a judicial extern for the Honorable Philip S. Gutierrez of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Representative Experience

The below representative experience includes representations from prior firm.

• Successfully defended numerous claims against employers involving allegations of discrimination, harassment, and wrongful termination, including securing early dismissals at the pleading stage, prevailing on motions for summary judgment, and obtaining favorable settlements by efficiently attacking the substance of employee claims
• Obtained dismissal of a putative class-action lawsuit filed by emergency room patients against a national healthcare provider; after removing the case from New Mexico state court to the US District Court for the District of New Mexico, successfully argued that the plaintiffs’ complaint failed to allege adequate facts to state a claim for breach of contract or negligence. The US Court of Appeal for the Tenth Circuit upheld the district court’s ruling, resulting in a complete dismissal for the client
• Responded to and successfully quashed a third-party deposition subpoena served on a global risk consultancy company by a foreign multibillion-dollar aluminum company embroiled in a federal criminal investigation and a California civil lawsuit involving claims of unfair competition and trade libel; within the complicated framework of California’s anti-SLAPP (strategic lawsuit against public participation) laws, successfully argued that the consultancy’s earlier limited document production satisfied any discovery obligations and obviated the need for any witnesses to appear for deposition
• Prevailed on a motion to quash a non-party subpoena served on a high-profile CEO of a media company in a dispute between the media company’s clients; successfully argued that the apex doctrine applied to limit the time and scope of the CEO’s deposition
• Successfully compelled fraud claims to arbitration in Delaware in action brought against a CFO by his former employer, an engineering company; argued before the US District Court for the Central District of California that the engineering company’s claims arose out of the merger agreement that created it; this procedural victory provided the CFO client significant leverage in a complex multi-jurisdiction case involving multiple actions in state court, federal court, and arbitration

Looking ahead

Developments in jurisprudence surrounding the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) are impacting the enforceability of arbitration agreements.