Stephen T. Owens
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Stephen T. (Steve) Owens (1948 - ) is a civil trial lawyer in Los Angeles, California with the law firm of Squire, Sanders & Dempsey. Owens has represented many major U.S., Japanese, Chinese and other international corporations, including Bridgestone Co., EchoStar/Dish Network, Suzuki Motor Corporation, Toyota Tsusho, Mexicana Airlines, Union Bank of California and Sinochem, as well as various governmental bodies, including the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco, the City of Pomona (California), the City of West Covina (California), and municipal redevelopment agencies. In addition, he has acted as litigation counsel to a number of noteworthy individuals and companies in the entertainment industry.
He represented Afeni Shakur, the mother of Tupac Shakur, and the Estate of Tupac Shakur in a racketeering (civil RICO) lawsuit against Marion "Suge" Knight, Death Row Records and their attorney, David Kenner, which resulted in the Estate's recovery of the unreleased master tapes recorded by Tupac prior to his murder in 1996. The tracks on those master tapes were released on the posthumous, quadruple platinum, double album entitled R U Still Down? (Remember Me) and on several later albums. Owens also represented Afeni Shakur and the Estate of Tupac Shakur in a wrongful death lawsuit filed against Orlando Anderson, aka "Baby Lane", a reputed gang member from Compton, California with whom Tupac had fought at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas just hours before he was murdered. Afeni Shakur, et al. v. Orlando Anderson, et al., Superior Court of California for the County of Los Angeles, Case No. BC 177861.
In another widely publicized case, Owens represented Internet Entertainment Group against Pamela Anderson's unsuccessful attempt to prevent the company from posting the so-called "honeymoon video" made by her and then-husband Tommy Lee on the internet. Adopting the argument that the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution generally bars courts from issuing a "prior restraint" on speech, the court denied Anderson's application for a temporary restraining order that would have barred, in advance, IEG's distribution of the video. Pamela Anderson Lee and Tommy Lee v. Internet Entertainment Group, et al., Superior Court of California for the County of Los Angeles, Case No. BC 180801. Immediately after the plaintiffs' application for a restraining order was denied, the video was widely distributed on the internet.
Owens has also represented, on a pro bono basis, a number of elderly, low-income, African American homeowners victimized by home equity fraud schemes. In one of those cases, the jury awarded the homeowner $1.3 million in damages against the dishonest mortgage loan broker and his associates. The case was featured on the ABC television program "PrimeTime Live". "'Primetime' Is the Right Time for a Lawyer", Los Angeles Daily Journal, July 22, 1992, p. 2; "$1.3 Million Awarded in House Scam", Los Angeles Times, April 4, 1992, p. B3; Henry v. Alcove Investment, Inc. (1991) 233 Cal. App. 3d 94; "The Elder Helper", California Lawyer, June 1992, p. 28.
In another pro bono case, Owens obtained a sizeable jury verdict in favor of an African immigrant and his family who had been swindled in a home equity loan transaction by a Beverly Hills mortgage company. Geoffrey Ukwuoma, et al. v. Barry Marine, United Financial Services, et al., U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Case No. CV-85-6557; "Couple Awarded $1 Million in Suit Over Loan", Los Angeles Times, June 10, 1987, Metro, p. 1.
In recognition of his pro bono work, Owens received the American Bar Association’s John Minor Wisdom Award for Professionalism and Public Service in October 1993 and accepted the President’s Pro Bono Service Award, conferred by the President of the State Bar of California, on behalf of the Graham & James Home Equity Fraud Team, a team of pro bono lawyers formed by Owens, in October 1992.
Owens was designated a Southern California “Super Lawyer” in the field of Business Litigation, in the February 2004, February 2005, February 2006, February 2007 and February 2008 issues of Los Angeles magazine. He has served on numerous boards and commissions, including the California State Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation (1996-1998), the Board of Directors of Public Counsel, the public interest law firm sponsored by the Los Angeles County and Beverly Hills Bar Associations (1992-1995), and the Board of Directors of the Constitutional Rights Foundation, a non-profit educational foundation developing and providing teaching materials and programs regarding the U.S. Constitution and American democracy to junior high school and high school teachers in Southern California (2002-2004).
