Skapik Law Group

Mark J. Skapik is the founder of the firm and has a broad range of litigation experience that includes trial and appellate work in both State and Federal Courts.  Mr. Skapik graduated from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering in 1985.  He received his law degree from Southwestern University College of Law and was admitted to practice in 1993.

 

As an engineer, Mr. Skapik worked in the areas of mechanical design, manufacturing, quality control and eventually engineered product sales.  This balanced background now allows Mr. Skapik to interface directly on technical and real-life business issues thus allowing the most efficient and cost effective solutions to be explored.

 

As an attorney, Mr. Skapik has litigated matters ranging from automobile and SIU fraud claims to lengthy construction defect trials.  He has extensive experience with large loss product liability matters, government claims, civil rights litigation, employment and class actions, as well as construction defect claims and medical malpractice actions.  

 

More recently, Mr. Skapik has been focusing on class action litigation related to 42 U.S. Code § 1983 civil rights actions, education and employment matters, including wrongful termination, retaliation, wage and hour litigation, and Fair Housing Act (FHA) claims.

 

Mr. Skapik’s team successfully prevailed on a Qui Tam False Claims Act matter recovering $11,000,000.00 on behalf of the Government.

 

As the owner of his own firm, Mr. Skapik strives to understand the clients’ legal requirements and desires and applies his “outside the box” thinking to come up with programs that are cost effective and efficient.  Such programs include both fixed and variable fee structures.

 

Mr. Skapik is a member of the California State Bar, and is admitted to practice in all California State and Federal Courts.

Ms. Skapik’s practice areas focus primarily in litigation of general tort liability, defense of municipalities, environmental law, complex actions, Qui Tam False Claims Act and class action matters involving civil rights violations, employment and labor disputes, wage and hour claims, trucking litigation, and cases against for-profit educational institutions.  Ms. Skapik assists both public agencies and private entities in environmental and land use matters, including matters involving the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan (MSHCP).  Ms. Skapik has been appointed as Special Counsel in many cities, assisting City Council members, city attorneys, city managers, and city staff with legal issues that challenge their city.

 

Ms. Skapik has extensive State, Appellate and Supreme Court experience, and was counsel in the seminal California Supreme Court land use case of City of Goleta v. Superior Court of Santa Barbara County.

 

Ms. Skapik was admitted to practice in 1989, is a member of the California State Bar and is admitted to practice in all California Courts, the California Supreme Court, and the United States District Courts for the Northern, Central, Eastern and Southern Districts of California, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States Supreme Court.  Additionally, Ms. Skapik has served as a volunteer mediator for the Riverside Superior Courts.  Ms. Skapik also has extensive experience in Arbitration, Mediation and alternative dispute resolution forums, including IVAMS, JAMS, the American Arbitration Association and Judicate West. Ms. Skapik has been recently recognized as a Distinguished Lawyer and had been admitted into the Lawyers of Distinction Association.

Attorney Eric C. Morris, provides representation and legal counsel in matters pertaining to Civil Litigation, Civil Rights, Class Action, Bankruptcy, Criminal Defense, Family Law and Qui Tam False Claims Act. Prior to joining Southern California Lawyers Group, PC, Mr. Morris worked for law firms Stone, Rosenblatt & Cha, PLC;   Koeller, Nebeker, Carlson, & Haluck, LLP;   and Somach Simmons & Dunn, LLP.    Mr. Morris has litigated disputes from inception through discovery, pre-trial proceedings,  jury  trial,  arbitration and appeals.  During his years of practice, Mr. Morris assisted in successful litigation resolution of multiple complex-litigation, multi-party disputes on behalf of national developers.  Mr. Morris successfully argued and won a plaintiff judgment in the United States Federal Court, Eighth Circuit, against the Environmental Protection Agency, requiring the revision of the Lead NAAQS Emission Standard to protect public health.  Mr. Morris is admitted to practice before all state courts in California; the Central, Southern and Eastern Districts of the U.S. District Court, California.

Eric C. Morris obtained his Juris Doctorate from Washington University School of Law, St. Louis,where he was Board Editor of the Washington University Law Review.    Mr. Morris obtained his Bachelor of Arts in Business and Economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Prior to pursuing his legal endeavors, Mr. Morris served as a Congressional Page for the Speaker of the House of the United States Congress and Mr. Morris worked as a financial compliance auditor for the State of California, Bureau of State Audits.  He is an active member of the State Bar of California, Los Angeles County Bar Association, Habitat for Humanity, Volunteer Legal Services Program, and Walk Now. During his downtime, Mr. Morris enjoys distance running, hiking, sailing and travel.

Eric C. Morris’ Publications include:

• Moladina v. Naimi (2018) 2018 WL 357436 (Cal.Rptr.3d) (Cal. Ct. App. 2018).

• Simpson v. Zhang (2017) 2017 WL 1101750 (Cal.Rptr.3d) (Cal. Ct. App. 2017).

• Graciela Herrera v. City of Los Angeles Police Dept. (2016) 2016 WL 10706717 (C.D. Cal.) (2:16-cv-02719-DSF).

• Robert Duh v. City of Beaumont Police Dept. (2017) (C.D. Cal.) (5:17-cv-00831-JGB).

• Keivon Young v. San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Dept. (2015) (C.D. Cal.) (5:15-cv-01102-JGB).

• A.M.J. v. Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Dept. (2015) 2015 WL 4648126 (C.D. Cal.)

• Merrill v. Action Educational Services, Inc. (2013) 2013 WL 5486733 (Cal.Rptr.3d.) (Cal. Ct. App. 2013).

• United States of America v. B & H Education (2013) (C.D. Cal.) (2:13-cv-05256-RGK).

• Gallegos v. San Bernardino County Sheriffs Dept. (2013) (C.D. Cal.) (5:13-cv-00042-TJH)

• Sandoval v. B & H Education, Inc. (2012) 2012 WL 4097288 (Cal.Super.).

• Marble v. American International Group, Inc.(2011) 2011 WL 6441738 (Cal. Super.).

• Abigail Real v. Countrywide Home Loans (2009) 2009 WL 249800 (S.D. Cal.).

• United Van Lines, LLC and Mayflower v. Edwards, (2008) 2008 WL 2817574 (E.D. Cal.).

• United Van Lines, LLC v. Besch, (2008) 2008 WL 4066203 (N.D. Cal.).

• Phillips v. Mayflower Transit LLC, (2008) 2008 WL 5043374 (Cal. Superior).

• Missouri Environment v. Leavitt and  E.P.A., (2004) 2004 WL 5608625 (E.D. Mo.) .

• Relicensing Oroville Dam, 14 CAL. WATER L. & POL’Y RPTR 306 (2004).

• Threats Loom to New Melones Water, 14 CAL. WATER L. & POL’Y RPTR 340 (2004).

Mr. Berkley has been a member of Skapik Law Group since 2013.  Mr. Berkley’s practice areas focus primarily in litigation of general tort liability, complex, Qui Tam False Claims Act and class action matters involving employment and labor disputes, wage and hour claims, and trucking litigation. 

 

Mr. Berkley has been a Professor in the Department of Management, School of Business and Economics, California State University, Los Angeles, since 2001.  

 

Mr. Berkley’s impressive educational background includes:

 

J.D.                  University of California, Los Angeles, May 2002

 

Ph.D.               University of Southern California, August 1988

                         School of Business Administration

                         Major: Operations Management

 

M.A.                University of Arizona, May 1985

                        Mathematics

 

M.B.A.            University of Arizona, December 1980

                        School of Business and Public Administration

                        Major: Operations Management

 

B.S.                 Summa Cum Laude, Ohio State University, August 1979

                        College of Administrative Science

                        Major: Business Administration

 

Mr. Berkley was admitted to the State Bar of California on December 3, 2002 and admitted to the State Bar of Arizona on October 24, 2003.

 

Mr. Berkley’s publications include the following:

 

Berkley, B.J., 2015, Alternatives to the Steketee Rule for Cases of Missed Statutes of Limitation, Western State University Law Review, Fall 2015 (forthcoming).

 

Berkley, B.J., 2012, Canceling Deeds Obtained Through Fraud and Undue Influence, Western State University Law Review, Vol. 39, No. 2, 129-153.

 

Berkley, B.J., Spring 2002, Warsaw Convention Claims Arising from Airline-Passenger Violence, UCLA Journal of International Law and Foreign Affairs, Vol. 6, No. 2, 499-535.

 

Berkley, B.J., and Ala, M., August 2001, Identifying and Controlling Threatening Airline Passengers, Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, August-September, Vol. 42, No. 4, 6-23.

 

Berkley, B.J., and Thayer, J.R., 2000, Policing Entertainment Districts, Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, Vol. 23, No. 4, 466-491.

 

Berkley, B.J., 1999, Positive Nightclub Impacts on Entertainment Districts, Economic Development Review, Vol. 16, No. 2, 11-14.

 

Berkley, B.J., 1998, Application of FMEA to Nightclub Security, Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, Vol. 21, No. 3, 93-105.

 

Berkley, B.J., 1997, Preventing Customer Altercations in Nightclubs. Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, Vol. 38, No. 2, 82-94.

 

Berkley, B.J., 1996, A Simulation Study of Container Size in Two-Card Kanban Systems, International Journal of Production Research, Vol. 34, No. 12, 3417-3445.

 

Berkley, B.J., 1996, Designing Services with Function Analysis, Hospitality Research Journal, Vol. 20, No. 1, 73-100.

 

Berkley, B.J., 1996, Analyzing Service Blueprints Using Phase Distributions, European Journal of Operational Research,Vol. 88, No. 1, 152-164.

 

Berkley, B.J., and Gupta, A., 1995, Identifying the Information Requirements to Deliver Quality Service, International Journal of Service Industry Management, Vol. 6, No. 5, 16-35.

 

Berkley, B.J., and Gupta, A., 1994, Improving Service Quality with Information Technology, International Journal of Information Management, Vol. 14, No. 2, 109-121.

 

Berkley, B.J., 1994, Testing Minimum Performance Levels for Kanban-Controlled Lines, International Journal of Production Research, Vol. 32, No. 1, 93-109.

 

Berkley, B.J., 1993, Effect of Buffer Capacity and Sequencing Rules on Single-Card Kanban System Performance, International Journal of Production Research, Vol. 31, No. 12, 2875-2893.

 

Berkley, B.J., 1993, Setting Minimum Performance Levels for Two-Card Kanban-Controlled Lines, International Journal of Production Research, Vol. 31, No. 5, 1003-1021.

 

Berkley, B.J., 1993, Simulation Tests of FCFS and SPT Sequencing in Kanban Systems, Decision Sciences, Vol. 24, No. 1, 218-227.

 

Berkley, B.J., 1992, A Review of the Kanban Production Control Research Literature, Production and Operations Management, Vol. 1, No. 4, 393-411.

 

Berkley, B.J., 1992, A Decomposition Approximation for Periodic Kanban-Controlled Flow Shops, Decision Sciences, Vol. 23, No. 2, 291-311.

 

Berkley, B.J., and Kiran, A.S., 1991, A Simulation Study of Sequencing Rules in a Kanban-Controlled Flow Shop, Decision Sciences, Vol. 22, No. 3, 559-582.

 

Berkley, B.J., 1991, Tandem Queues and Kanban-Controlled Lines, International Journal of Production Research, Vol. 29, No. 10, 2057-2081.

 

Berkley, B.J., 1990, Analysis and Approximation of a JIT Production Line: A Comment, Decision Sciences, Vol. 21, No. 3, 660-669.

Mr. Falkenstein has been an attorney at Skapik Law Group since January, 2021, prior to which he spent much of 2020 as the firm’s Law Clerk. Mr. Falkenstein graduated from Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA with a Bachelor of Science in Music Industry. He received his law degree from Chapman University, Dale E. Fowler School of Law in 2020, where he now serves on the law school’s alumni advisory board.

 

Prior to joining Skapik Law Group, Mr. Falkenstein worked on a wide range of employment law matters and on Lemon Law defense cases. He is admitted to the State Bar of California, as well as the Central and Southern Districts of the U.S. District Court, California.