Sean R. Crain

• Obtained summary judgment in federal court for the world’s leading beverage company—mooting the plaintiff’s pending motion for class certification—in a putative nationwide class action challenging the labeling of various 100% juice products.
• Achieved a favorable ruling on demurrer, including on preemption grounds, to a putative class action complaint challenging the labeling of a significant coconut water brand’s 100% coconut water product.
• Defending the world’s leading beverage company (and its subsidiary) in a putative class action alleging violations of state consumer protection statutes premised on FDA regulations concerning the labeling of various juice and smoothie products.
• Defending a prominent ice cream brand against putative class action claims in various matters.
• Represented the world’s leading beverage company as a non-party in numerous lawsuits alleging product liability claims from ingestion of energy drinks.
• Local counsel for the litigation team securing a federal jury verdict for the world’s leading beverage company in a landmark advertising dispute over juice labeling and FDA regulations (after the case was remanded for trial to the Central District of California by the U.S. Supreme Court).
• Member of the trial team that obtained a defense verdict for a Fortune 500 client in Los Angeles Superior Court after a five-day jury trial on claims of discrimination and retaliation, thereafter obtaining an award of costs against the plaintiff and defeating her motion for a new trial.
• Obtained dismissal of a putative class action in federal court, which was thereafter upheld on appeal by the Ninth Circuit, on the grounds that an excess insurance layer was not triggered in a coverage dispute arising from alleged breach of fiduciary duty class claims brought against a bankrupt subprime mortgage company’s officers and directors.
• Obtained summary judgment for a Fortune 500 company in a federal lawsuit asserting claims based on alleged civil rights violations.
• Prevailed on a motion for partial summary judgment on behalf of an international transportation company in a fuel contract dispute.

Sean Crain is a senior associate in Alston & Bird’s Litigation & Trial Practice Group. He is a practical but detail-oriented litigator who has a wide breadth of experience litigating complex commercial litigation matters in both state and federal courts. He represents clients from myriad industries, with a particular emphasis in the food and beverage, media and sports, and industrial and manufacturing sectors. Sean has defended a variety of single plaintiff and putative class action matters, including those implicating state consumer protection statutes and federal regulatory issues.

Sean also has experience litigating cases involving federal securities laws, misappropriation of trade secrets, employment discrimination, and Proposition 65. Sean assists clients throughout all phases of litigation, such as pre-trial discovery, dispositive motion practice, class certification, trial preparation, trial, post-judgment proceedings, and writs and appeals. He is similarly well versed in alternative dispute resolution, litigation prevention, and risk management.

During law school, Sean was the senior business editor for the Tulane Journal of International and Comparative Law. While at Tulane, Sean earned the Dean’s Medal for achieving the highest grade point average in his class during the third year of study. He also served as an extern for the late Honorable Stephen J. Hillman, chief magistrate judge emeritus for the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Bar Admissions

• California
• Texas

Education

• Tulane University (J.D., 2013)
• University of California, Los Angeles (B.A., 2010)

Memberships