Noel J. Meza

Noel J. Meza represents clients in employment, contract, class action, PAGA, and business litigation. He has provided representation in complex cases involving claims of wage and hour violations, harassment, retaliation, discrimination, meal period and rest break violations, wrongful termination, and other violations of California employment and labor laws, including under the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) and the Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA). Noel also advises clients in a broad range of business, contract, and real estate matters, including in the areas of landlord-tenant law, leasing, and transactions.

Some of Noel's notable achievements and successful outcomes include:

• Successfully obtained a full defense verdict in a one-day bench trial involving negligence and premises liability claims (Lead Counsel / First Chair).
• Successfully secured a full defense verdict in a three-day arbitration for a wrongful termination and retaliation case, serving as Second Chair.
• Successfully obtained dismissal with prejudice of 8 of 9 claims in discrimination lawsuit brought under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act.
• Obtained dismissal of tort, negligence, and fraud claims with prejudice in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.  The court found that the plaintiffs’ claims were frivolous and imposed monetary sanctions on the plaintiffs, their lawyer, and the lawyer’s law firm, covering all of client’s defense fees from the date of removal.
• Successfully obtained dismissal of claims of eight plaintiffs for attorneys’ fees, declaratory relief prejudgment interest, waiting time penalties, and compensatory and general damages from a multi-plaintiff class action lawsuit.
• Successfully moved for denial of class certification in a wage and hour putative class action in San Diego County Superior Court.  
• Successfully moved to limit the class period in a putative class action and struck class claims.
• Successfully obtained dismissal of a complaint for breach of contract and payment for services and labor rendered (quantum meruit).
• Successfully eliminated punitive damages from a demand for arbitration in a wrongful termination and retaliation case.
• Successfully opposed consolidation of major class action lawsuits in San Diego County and Riverside County Superior Courts.
• Successfully opposed intervention in a class action in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California.
• Successfully moved for terminating sanctions.
• Successfully moved to compel plaintiff’s compliance with discovery obligations under CCP § 2031.320, resulting in the production and removal of redactions of thousands of pages of documents.
• Successfully opposed 5 motions to compel discovery based on untimeliness pursuant to statutory and jurisdictional deadlines.  
• Successfully dismissed 3 or 4 claims in a high-stakes personal injury lawsuit in Orange County Superior Court.
• Successfully opposed motion for monetary sanctions of over $50,000 against client and evidence/issue sanctions striking client’s evidence from the case, resulting in no sanctions at all being imposed on the client.  
• Successfully moved to compel the deposition and for an award of monetary sanctions.
• Successfully secured temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. Despite the opposing party’s request for a $2,500,000 bond, no bond was imposed on the client based on our arguments.
• Successfully opposed a motion to stay a wage and hour putative class action.
• Successfully opposed a motion to strike client’s answer to plaintiff’s complaint.
• Successfully opposed a motion for leave to amend a complaint to add three whistleblower claims in a retaliation lawsuit.
• Successfully obtained evidence sanctions in class action lawsuit.
• Taken and defended numerous depositions of plaintiffs, key witnesses, and persons most knowledgeable.

Prior to joining Greene & Roberts LLP, Noel was an attorney at a full-service law firm in San Diego, where he represented clients in business, employment, real estate, insurance, and securities litigation.

Noel earned his Juris Doctor degree from the University of San Diego School of Law. During his time there, he served as an associate editor/member of the San Diego Law Review and was awarded multiple prestigious scholarships, including the San Diego La Raza Lawyers Association (SDLRLA) Scholarship, the SDLRLA Bar Stipend Award, the Jerry G. Gonick and Susan S. Gonick Student Scholarship in Honor of Dean Stephen C. Ferruolo, the Mary & Alan Schulman Scholarship, the Warren Family Endowment Scholarship, and the University of San Diego School of Law Merit Scholarship. In addition to his academic achievements, Noel gained valuable practical experience as a Judicial Extern for the Honorable William V. Gallo of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. He also served as a Law Clerk for the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California and both the Financial Fraud and Special Prosecutions Unit and eCrime Unit of the California Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General.

In his free time, Noel loves spending time with his family and friends.