Paul Weiland, Ben Rubin & Brian Ferrasci-O'Malley Noted as Litigators of the Week for Ninth Circuit ESA Win

A Nossaman team led by Paul Weiland – and including Ben Rubin and Brian Ferrasci-O'Malley – was featured in Law.com’s “Litigators of the Week” (subscription required) column for its ESA win in the Ninth Circuit in December 2025.

The column noted the Nossaman team “secured a win for San Luis Obispo County, California, at the Ninth Circuit” in a matter “where a federal judge in Los Angeles had issued a mandatory injunction forcing the county to take a number of actions at the Lopez Dam and Reservoir, including releasing water in some instances and installing fish screens, to protect the South-Central California Coast steelhead trout living downstream of the dam. The species is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.”

Law.com added that thanks to the Nossaman team’s work, the injunction was vacated by a Ninth Circuit panel that found “the district judge below failed to weigh the balance of equities or the public interest regarding two other ESA-protected species—the California red-legged frog and the tidewater goby—the county maintains will be affected by the measures.”

The article closed by saying, “Paul Weiland argued the appeal before the Ninth Circuit.”