Defending Justice: Ezra Landes and
His Impact in the Courtroom
Ezra Landes, a civil rights attorney based in California, has represented hundreds of clients since 2007 in a wide variety of state and federal civil and criminal matters. Landes represents large corporations, CEOs, film and tv actors, influencers, musicians, professional athletes, and other individuals and entities whose success and high profile make them targets. At the same time, Landes also represents people with limited or no means, people who have been accused of serious crimes, vilified, and are most vulnerable to government overreach. Landes has taken on big opponents, including large media companies, government entities, and foreign adversaries.
Landes has a reputation for being a justice warrior, a leading civil rights attorney, and a fierce defender of the Constitution. Landes has mediated and negotiated many favorable settlements for clients but is always prepared to take a client’s case to trial and tell his client’s story to a jury. If the case calls for it, Landes will appeal his client’s case all the way up to the United States Supreme Court.
Ezra Landes Achieves Phenomenal Results for Clients
Personal Injury and Bad Faith Denial of Claims by Insurance Carrier:
Won summary judgment in California state court, in 2023, under the Privette Doctrine, resulting in dismissal of $24 million lawsuit against property owner sued in connection with a construction site injury. Landes then won summary judgment in federal court, in 2025, against an insurance company on the grounds that the carrier had a duty to defend the property owner in the state court action.
Defamation:
Successfully defeated motion to dismiss and motion to strike under California’s anti-SLAPP statute in a case filed in federal court on behalf of former CIA agents against an Uber employee who made false statements in connection with clients’ security work to protect Uber drivers in hostile foreign countries. The case was settled before trial. (New York Times, Nov. 28, 2021, Uber Survived the Spying Scandal. Some Careers Didn’t: A former co-worker accused the men of wiretapping their colleagues, hacking foreign government and stealing trade secrets. It wasn’t true, but the allegations still follow them.)
Automobile Accident:
Obtained a settlement for full insurance policy limits on behalf of a pedestrian injured by a vehicle at LAX arrivals.
Agent and Manager Commissions:
Successfully represented Hollywood actress in lawsuit where actresses’ mother was seeking management fees.
SAG Health Insurance:
Obtained reinstatement of health insurance benefits for talent entitled to healthcare by Hollywood guild.
Wrongful Death Terrorism Case:
Won $307.5 million dollar judgment in federal court in the District of Columbia against Islamic Republic of Iran and The Iranian Ministry of Information and Security in a terrorism case involving complex issues of international law under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, which required translations of French law, valuations of land parcels in Iran, and service of process on Iran through emissaries in Turkey who crossed the border to deliver the
legal papers.
Music Copyrights:
Successfully defeated motion to dismiss in a federal action involving a copyright dispute over “the most sampled song ever.” The case was settled before trial with the client securing ownership of the song.
Idea Theft:
Obtained a reversal of dismissal on appeal and then successfully defeated summary judgment motion in lawsuit against Fox Broadcasting and Dick Clark Productions involving the creation of the television show So You Think You Can Dance. The case was settled before trial.
California Penal Code section 502:
Successfully represented clients in numerous celebrity cases involving unlawful computer hacking.
NFLPA Collective Bargaining Agreement:
Won dismissal of federal action on behalf of NFL player and former first round draft pick where agent sought exorbitant fees.
Civil RICO:
Won dismissal of racketeering lawsuit on behalf of law firm located in Beijing, China.
1983 Civil Rights Action:
In October 2023, Landes obtained a $6.75 million dollar settlement from the County of Alameda on behalf of a cognitively disabled man detained 12 years without a trial. The settlement came after Landes took the depositions of many high-ranking government officials and won a summary judgment motion involving novel legal issues involving Monell municipal liability that created new law in federal courts in California. Landes then represented several other clients in similar lawsuits that also resulted in seven figure settlements.
Copyright Infringement:
Won motion to dismiss on behalf of Amazon, Lord & Taylor, and Macy’s in federal action alleging clients’ sales of lace underwear infringed upon plaintiff’s designs.
Unfair Competition:
Successfully defended unfair competition claims filed against a national outdoor advertising company.
Breach of Contract:
Won dismissal of federal action in Minnesota district court on behalf of California slaughterhouse, in connection with the largest beef recall in U.S. history.
California Penal Code section 632:
Won dismissal in a matter of first impression in California, where client was sued under wiretapping statute for secretly recording his conversation with law
enforcement officials.
Elder Abuse:
Successfully opposed request for restraining order and recovered client’s attorneys’ fees from petitioners where client was wrongfully accused of elder abuse.
Landes is Passionate About His Clients’ Cases.
Landes is selective about the cases he accepts. Landes loves the law and the United States Constitution. Landes considers it a great privilege to work in our judicial system and will sacrifice everything to protect his clients, because he believes that’s how we protect our judicial system, which in turn safeguards our democracy and the many freedoms we enjoy in the United States. He does not take it for granted that in many places around the world, people do not have the opportunity to seek justice or to have someone else seek it on their behalf. Opposing counsel has said about Landes that they fear him but enjoy the experience of litigating against him.
Visit to Angola Prison and Meeting with Sister Helen Prejean
In May 2025, Ezra Landes joined members of the Frederick Douglass Project for Justice for a visit with individuals housed on death row and serving life without parole at the Angola Prison in Louisiana. Landes then met with anti-death penalty advocate, Sister Helen Prejean, who was portrayed by Susan Sarandon in the Academy Award winning film, Dead Man Walking.
For more on Dead Man Walking, visit the film’s IMDb page here.
Ezra Landes Has a Reputation for Rooting Out Public Corruption and Fearing No One
In 2025, Landes personally blew the whistle on federal prosecutors and FBI agents involved in covering up fabricated evidence used in a criminal prosecution in Brooklyn. Because of Landes’s actions, on March 12, 2025, the United States government was forced to publicly admit that the fabricated evidence was not authentic. The government’s admission was widely reported. (New York Times, April 4, 2025, Key Evidence Thrown Out in Jolt to ‘Orgasmic Meditation’ Conspiracy Case: Defense lawyers had argued that diaries by a former adherent of the OneTaste group were tainted by the way they were prepared and edited for a Netflix documentary; Rolling Stone, March 17, 2025, DOJ Won’t Use Journal Evidence in “Orgasm Cult” Case: U.S. Attorney will not use diaries highlighted in Netflix Documentary.) Read more about the incident: DOJ Won’t Use Journal Evidence in “Orgasm Cult.”
Landes’s whistle blowing efforts then led to a face-to-face confrontation in federal court between Landes and more than 20 federal prosecutors. The Frank Report, April 30, 2025, Brooklyn Show of Force: DOJ Turns Protective Order Hearing into a Threat Display (“Ezra Landes, did what any responsible lawyer should do when he suspects misconduct. He sent a private letter to a supervising prosecutor … raising serious concerns about fabricated evidence, alleged misconduct by the case agent … and perjury by government witness.”); The Frank Report, May 2, 2025, 20 Prosecutors, No Arguments: DOJ Flash Mob Storms Brooklyn Court in OneTaste Case (“Landes poked the DOJ bear with a letter, and twenty government suits showed up … Twenty. Young, cocky, overfed. Landes sat there, probably thinking justice had a spine.”) Read more here: 20 Prosecuters, No Argumants, DOJ Flashmob Storms Brooklyn Court in OneTaste Case.
In another case, Landes represented victims of a $100 million Ponzi scheme and diligently reviewed ten years of bank statements for a client trust account belonging to one of the perpetrators of the scheme—a law firm owned by the husband of one of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Landes uncovered a $300,000 wire to the then-Presiding Justice of the California Court of Appeal. Relying on the information Landes discovered, the Los Angeles Times then discovered that the judge had used the client funds she received from the attorney for a down payment on beachfront property. Read more in L.A. Times, August 31, 2022, A Judge’s Affair With Tom Girardi, a Beachfront Condo and a $300,000 Wire From His Firm.
Landes Law Corporation
2450 Colorado Ave., Suite 100E
Santa Monica, CA 90404
Tel: (310) 926-2862
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