Yvonne Dalton

Yvonne Dalton is a partner in the firm's Newport Beach office with more than two decades of experience advising and defending automotive and consumer product manufacturers. Her practice focuses on automotive safety regulation, product liability litigation, and complex class actions. Drawing on extensive experience in both regulatory counseling and litigation, she helps clients navigate government investigations, evaluate product safety issues, and defend claims involving alleged product defects.

Ms. Dalton advises domestic and international manufacturers and distributors on regulatory compliance and automotive safety matters, including the identification and evaluation of potential safety issues, analysis of field performance data, responses to inquiries and investigations by governmental agencies such as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and Transport Canada, and recall-related matters. She works closely with clients to assess potential safety concerns, navigate regulatory requirements, and develop appropriate responses to government inquiries.

Her regulatory experience also provides a distinct advantage in defending automotive manufacturers in product liability litigation and complex class actions, particularly those arising from recalls, regulatory investigations, and alleged safety defects. With a thorough understanding of how safety issues are investigated, regulatory decisions are made, and supporting records are developed, Ms. Dalton can assess claims early, evaluate alleged defects against field performance data and regulatory history, and identify weaknesses in class-wide defect theories and claims of injury. She also develops litigation strategies that account for clients' regulatory obligations and maintain consistency with positions taken before government agencies.

Ms. Dalton leads national discovery strategy for automotive clients, coordinating discovery positions across jurisdictions to ensure consistency with each other and with the client's regulatory record. She has represented Korean and German automobile manufacturers and distributors, as well as foreign consumer product companies, in complex product liability and consumer fraud litigation involving individual claims, multi-state proceedings, and class actions.

Her representation frequently extends beyond the resolution of litigation. In class action settlements, Ms. Dalton serves as the client's liaison with settlement administrators, overseeing notice, claims processing, and the distribution of settlement benefits to help ensure that settlements are implemented accurately, efficiently, and in accordance with their terms.

Ms. Dalton is admitted to practice before the state courts of California and the United States District Court for the Central District of California. She is an active member of the Orange County Bar Association, the Defense Research Institute (DRI), and the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE).