Deborah A. David, Esq. has been a JAMS neutral since 2000 and has acted as a mediator in hundreds of matters, involving cross border disputes, tort claims (including personal injury, products liability, medical malpractice, and mass disaster and consolidated actions), professional liability, business and commercial disputes and employment claims. In the last 5 years she has served as an arbitrator or hearing officer in more than 65 matters involving commercial/business, employment, Title VII and Title IX, professional negligence and tort claims. She has also decided numerous discovery disputes.

Prior to joining JAMS, Ms. David was a litigator for 25 years representing both defendants and plaintiffs in a variety of areas including aviation, general tort, medical negligence, products liability, employment, business disputes, copyright, professional negligence, and insurance claims. In late 2002, Ms. David moved to the United Kingdom and continued her career mediating matters as a panelist with the London-based Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (“CEDR”), the largest provider of mediation services and ADR training in Europe. In late 2016, she returned to live and work in Southern California.

During her career as a litigator, Ms. David held leadership positions in various bar associations, including ABOTA-LA chapter, the Association of Business Trial Lawyers, the Consumer Attorneys of California, and the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles, where she served as the first female president in the organization’s history. Ms. David was appointed by the California courts to mediate roughly 50 cases related to mass tort litigation involving the SUV and tire rollover cases. She served by appointment of the Chief Justice of the State of California on the Judicial Council Task Force on the Quality of Justice, which evaluated and drafted legislation for improvement of the system of alternative dispute resolution in California.

Ms. David is a lead faculty member at CEDR and has taught conflict resolution skills in the US, UK, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.

Representative Matters

• Business Commercial

Broad variety of domestic, international and cross-border business disputes in the US, Europe and Asia

• Alleged breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud and elder abuse arising out the sale of a business—Arbitrator
• Alleged legal malpractice in connection with transactional advice—Co-Arbitrator
• Claims of negligence and breach of contract in connection with repossession of vehicle—Arbitrator
• Claims for fraud, violation of Business & Professions Code and Elder Abuse against business which allegedly operated a fraudulent investment service intended to persuade primarily elderly people to invest their retirement savings into gold and silver coins—Arbitrator: matter settled before hearing.
• Multi-day, complex, multi-party industrial dispute involving 30 participants at all levels in the manufacturing, supply, distribution and marketing chains of a major industry concerning 11 years of complicated commercial transactions and tens of millions in dollar value—both the events giving rise to the claims and the mediation took place in Africa—Mediator
• Three way dispute between an electronic component distribution company, a hardware/software supplier and an international finance company regarding an agreement for the sale, purchase, installation and financing of an IT system—Mediator
• Breach of contract claim that aircraft delivered did not conform to promised specifications and performance parameters—Mediator
• Breach of contract claim between dealership and overseas automobile manufacturer involving obligations under dealer agreement—Mediator
• Claim that an insurance brokerage company negligently provided services and advice regarding group healthcare program—Mediator
• Employment Law

Numerous employment related claims including discrimination (gender, sexual, pregnancy, sexual orientation, disability, racial and/or ethnic origin and religious affiliation), harassment/hostile work environment, violations Cal-FEHA, EEOC and/or the Family Medical Leave Act, wrongful termination, and breach of employment contract

• Discrimination/ Harassment
  • Currently serving as an Arbitrator in numerous matters involving Cal-FEHA, EEOC, Family Medical Leave Act and/or wrongful termination claims
  • Claim against a national corporation for disability discrimination based on disabilities of minor children, failure to accommodate, retaliation, violation of the Family Medical Leave Act, and wrongful termination in violation of public policy—Arbitrator: the matter resolved after extensive law and motion including a motion for summary disposition
  • Discrimination and sexual harassment case by female executive of a large national bank against the bank's chief executive officer—Mediator
  • Alleged failure of hospital to respond and appropriately handle nurses' complaints of sexual harassment and discrimination by a staff doctor—Mediator
  • Breach of employment contract and discrimination on the basis of sex and national origin by Caucasian female executive against Asian owners of the company—Mediator
• Wage and Hour
  • Separate actions against a national retail chain for alleged wage and hour and Labor Code violations—Arbitrator: the matters resolved after law and motion including a motion for summary disposition
• Employment Agreements
  • Claim against a capital investment company by its former CFO for breach of his employment agreement and fraud—Arbitrator
  • Claim by large real-estate brokerage company against an agent for violation of agency agreement—Arbitrator
  • Claim against a multi-national energy trader for wrongful termination in violation of employment agreement, involving complex issues of control between affiliated off-shore entities--Mediator
  • Breach of talent services agreement between a writer/producer and studio—Mediator
• Other
  • Facilitation of an employment grievance between employees of a police department
  • Facilitation of an internal grievance-stage employee/management dispute at an international accounting firm
• Personal Injury

Both as a litigator and an ADR professional, Ms. David has wide and deep experience in the field of tort litigation including insurance bad faith. She has investigated, evaluated, and represented parties in well over a thousand personal injury claims of all types; she has extensive experience mediating and arbitrating such claims. Her experience includes: severe brain injuries; burn injuries; wrongful death; auto accidents; aviation accidents; and, products liability

• Personal Injury
• Action brought by hotel guests against a European resort hotel claiming intestinal illness caused by alleged swimming pool contamination—Mediator
• Claim against a US company by a UK citizen and resident alleging that he sustained serious injuries in an accident in the US when the American-made all-terrain vehicle in which he was a passenger flipped—Mediator
• Claim that negligent behavior on a golf course caused permanent and totally disabling brain injury when the claimant (a high earning business executive) was hit by an errant golf ball—incident and mediation took place in Asia—Mediator
• Auto versus pedestrian accident resulting in serious orthopedic and brain injuries.  Case complicated by insurance coverage issues—Mediator 
• UK-based group action involving allegedly unauthorized post-autopsy use and disposition of body parts—Mediator 
• Product Liability
• Roll-over cases involving alleged defects in SUV vehicles and tires—Court appointed mediator in consolidated California cases
• Multiple toxic exposure claims involving components manufactured by government contractors for use in classified applications—Mediator
  In addition, during her career as an advocate, she was counsel in many products liability cases including:
• Automobiles
• Airbag deployment
• Crashworthiness including excessive roof crush
• Ergonomics relating to pedal placement
• Alleged seat belt failure
• Alleged tire failure
• Alleged defects in a rental vehicle resulting in head-gasket malfunction which led to a fatal accident
• Unintended acceleration
• Aviation
  • Numerous aviation-related matters involving both general and commercial aviation and both fixed-wing and rotor aircraft. The cases cover a broad spectrum of issues including design and manufacturing defects, pilot error, air-traffic control error, maintenance defects and errors and mass disasters
  • Adequacy of tail design
  • Flutter
  • Failure of life-limited parts
  • Engine failures
• Medical devices and drug products
  • Blood product contamination with HIV and Hepatitis
  • Implants
  • Surgical Lasers
  • Prescription medication side-effects, adverse reactions and dosage
  • Vaccines
  • Contraceptive devices
• Mass Torts
• Pharmaceutical product liability cases including vaccine cases
• Medical device liability cases including implants
• Mass disaster commercial airline crashes involving coordinated litigation including KAL and Egypt Air crashes
• Professional Liability

Ms. David has extensive experience in the field of professional liability, particularly medical malpractice.

• Claimed negligent management of labor resulting in spastic quadriplegia—Mediator
• Admitted liability case arising out of a relationship formed by a mental health care provider with his patient—Mediator
• Claim against a hospital for negligence and violation of patient privacy rights—Mediator
• Failure to identify and treat glaucoma--Mediator
• As an advocate, Ms. David participated in numerous medical malpractice cases involving a diverse range of claims and issues including:
• Anesthetic mismanagement allegedly causing brain injury
• Alleged improper positioning of patient during surgery causing compartment syndrome
• Birth and intrauterine injury claims
• Injuries due to alleged improperly performed surgery
• Alleged failures to diagnose and treat conditions including pre-eclampsia, post-caesarean endocarditis, arterial injury, life-threatening infection, variety of cancers, and acute bacterial and fungal meningitis
• Claimed failures to administer properly medications, and/or over-medication
• Alleged failure to order appropriate diagnostics
• Claims of negligent prescription of medication to minor causing severe brain injury
• Cosmetic surgical claims
• Claims that nursing home staff failed to follow physicians' orders and /or call in physician when necessary
• Claims involving allegedly negligent convalescent home management of patients

Honors, Memberships, and Professional Activities

• CEDR Accredited Mediator, United Kingdom, 2003-present
• Member, Lamport Hall Group, United Kingdom, an invitation-only group of leading mediators based in the UK, 2014-2017
• Member, Committee on Alternative Dispute Resolution, State Bar of California, 2002
• Member, Judicial Council Task Force on the Quality of Justice, appointed by the Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court, 1998-2000
• Member, American Board of Trial Advocates, 1998-2023; Executive Committee, 1998, 2000, and 2002
• Board of Governors, Association of Business Trial Lawyers, 1996-2000
• Board of Governors, Consumer Attorneys of California, 1992-2001
• Board of Governors, Consumer Attorneys of Los Angeles, 1990-2001
• President, Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles, 1997

Background and Education

• JAMS Neutral, 2000-2023
• Member, CEDR panel of mediators, 2003-2017
• Faculty, CEDR, 2004-2023; Currently lead faculty member
• Founding Partner, Lebovits & David,1983-2000
• Associate and Partner, Bronson, Bronson & McKinnon LLP, 1975-1983
• J.D., University of California at Los Angeles School of Law, 1975
• B.A., Scripps College, Claremont, California, 1972
• University of Paris, L'Institut d'Etudes Politiques, Paris, France, 1970-1971