Curt Cutting

Curt Cutting has been lead appellate counsel in cases involving products and premises liability, toxic torts, insurance coverage and bad faith, contract disputes, and inverse condemnation. He is admitted to practice in California, Washington and several federal appellate courts. Mr. Cutting was lead appellate counsel for the City of San Diego in Border Business Park v. City of San Diego, in which the Court of Appeal published an opinion reversing a $122.5 million judgment against the City for inverse condemnation and breach of contract. In 2007, Mr. Cutting was honored with a CLAY (California Lawyer Attorney of the Year) award for his work on the Border Business Park case. (Click here to read the article.) In 2008, Mr. Cutting was named one of the top 20 California lawyers under the age of 40. (Click here to read the article.) Mr. Cutting has handled a number of cases in which multi-million dollar punitive damage awards were reversed or sharply reduced. He has also filed several amicus briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court in punitive damages cases, including Cooper v. Leatherman and State Farm v. Campbell. He is also one of the primary contributors to the firm's blog on punitive damages litigation. Mr. Cutting is a founding member of the American Bar Association's Council of Appellate Lawyers, the first national bench-bar organization for appellate lawyers. He served on the executive board of the Council from 2000-2003. Mr. Cutting has been a frequent speaker on the subjects of appellate practice, punitive damages, and California's civil jury instructions. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Cutting held a judicial clerkship with the Hon. Ruggero J. Aldisert, U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit. Before that, he was an attorney with the Office of Chief Counsel of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. Mr. Cutting received his Bachelor of Science in physics and Bachelor of Arts in history from Ohio University and his Juris Doctor from Seattle University School of Law.