David L. Cousineau, partner, represents plaintiffs in complex commercial litigation including lender liability, intellectual property and class actions.
DAVID L. COUSINEAU
David Cousineau is a seasoned trial and appellate lawyer with a proven track record in complex and technical litigation. He has delivered high-impact victories for his clients across a wide range of sophisticated legal disputes, including lender liability, fraud, business and inheritance disputes, constitutional challenges, and civil rights matters. Known for his sharp analytical skills and strategic precision, Mr. Cousineau excels at distilling intricate facts and law into clear and compelling arguments that win cases. His appellate work includes shaping precedent-setting decisions in areas as varied as property rights, habeas corpus law, and nuclear power plant licensing.
Fluent in French, Mr. Cousineau enjoys the added complexity of cross-border disputes, an area in which he has handled a prominent dispute over the estate of French rock star Johnny Halliday, an inter-family dispute involving a convoluted international money trail, and a fraud investigation over power degradation on in-orbit satellites.
Prior to joining Cappello & Noël in 2014, Mr. Cousineau spent 12 years as a litigator in Kaye Scholer LLP’s Complex Commercial Litigation Group.
Notables Engagements:
- Representing numerous developers whose lenders tried to improperly engineer foreclosures or loan defaults.
- Representing investors defrauded in a $100million Ponzi scheme.
- Convinced California Court of Appeals to reverse judgment after bench trial and issue first published opinion on proper interpretation of easements for a bona fide purchaser (Zissler v. Saville, 29 Cal. App. 5th 630 – Cal: Court of Appeal, 2nd Appellate Dist., 6th Div. 2018 – Google Scholar)
- Complete victory in bench trial involving equitable servitudes and real property restrictions, an area called “the most complex and archaic body of American property law” and “an unspeakable quagmire.”
- Developed arguments adopted by D.C. Circuit related to nuclear power plant licensing after the Fukushima Daiichi accident. (Blue Ridge Env. Defense League, et al v. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, et al, No. 12-1106 (D.C. Cir. 2013): Justia)
- Persuaded D.C. Circuit to alter availability of habeas corpus review for crimes committed in the District of Columbia. (Williams v. Martinez, No. 08-5221)
Education:
- Institut d’études politiques de Paris, Certificat d’études politiques, 1995
- Connecticut College, 1996
- Georgetown University Law Center, JD, 2002
Member:
- State Bar of California
- Consumer Attorneys of California
- American Association for Justice
Admitted:
- U.S. Courts of Appeals for the District of Columbia, Ninth, and Federal Circuits
- U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia