Chaka Okadigbo

Chaka Okadigbo, a graduate of Harvard Law School and an experienced litigator, is the Managing Partner of HKM’s Los Angeles office. Mr. Okadigbo represents employees in all aspects of employment litigation. He has handled cases at every stage of the litigation, from trial to appeals.  In addition to employment matters, Mr. Okadigbo’s experience encompasses litigation of general business disputes, soft intellectual property claims, breach of contract claims, and real estate claims, among others, before various tribunals.  Mr. Okadigbo has also previously defended public entity clients in a variety of matters, including employment, Proposition 218 claims (regarding the protocol for utility rate increases), matters arising under the California False Claims Act, and school district certificated employee terminations.

Specific matters Mr. Okadigbo has handled include:

• Successfully defending the board of trustees of an out-of-state university system in a JAMS arbitration proceeding on a breach of contract claim concerning the State of South Dakota’s EB-5 foreign investor visa investor program.  The complainant demanded $4 million in damages but received no award.
• Successfully achieving the denial of class certification on behalf of a municipality in a Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) collective action brought in state court, followed by prevailing on behalf of the city in the California Court of Appeal in a published decision.  Haro v. City of Rosemead (2009) 174 Cal.App.4th 1067.  The decision clarified that the opt-out nature of state class actions may not be super-imposed in a FLSA class action brought in state court because FLSA class actions are opt-in in nature.
• Successfully defending a school district client before the California Court of Appeal in a mandamus proceeding regarding the district’s termination of a certificated employee on the issue of whether a school board’s failure to technically comply with the procedural rules regarding their authorization of termination proceedings warrants invalidating the ultimate decision after an adjudicatory hearing to terminate the employee.  The case resulted in a published decision.  DeYoung v. Commission on Professional Competence (2014) 228 Cal.App.4th 568.
• Successfully representing the Oxnard School District in a highly publicized teacher termination proceeding concerning the matter of the teacher’s participation in several pornographic videos. Accusation Against Stacie Halas (2012) (OAH No. 2012051091).
• Successfully defending video dame publisher in breach of contract lawsuit initiated by video game developer in a JAMS arbitration.
• Obtaining injunctive relief on behalf of a video game publisher with respect to obtaining source code of video game under development prior to conclusion of arbitration proceedings.

Education:

• Harvard Law School, Cambridge, MA, J.D., 1996
• University of Maryland, College Park, MD, B.A., 1993

Admissions:

• California, Maryland, Washington, D.C

Practice Areas:

• Employment law