The firm is pleased to announce that KHIKS partners Larry Iser and Allen Secretov have been recognized by the Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily Journal in its “Top Verdicts of 2025” issue for the complete defense victory they secured on behalf of California Senator Susan Rubio and California Assemblyperson Blanca Rubio in the lawsuit brought by former Assemblyman, and Senator Rubio’s ex-husband, Roger Hernandez. KHIKS team members Larry Iser and Allen Secretov were honored by name in the issue for their contributions to this outstanding result.
In May 2022, Hernandez filed a defamation lawsuit against the Rubios, seeking to have them enjoined from speaking about Senator Rubio’s personal experience as a domestic violence survivor. KHIKS responded with an anti-SLAPP motion to strike the defamation claims, pointing out to the court that two Superior Court judges had issued and then renewed domestic violence restraining orders against Hernandez. Following a September 7, 2022 hearing, a judge granted the anti-SLAPP motion, striking Hernandez’s defamation claims.
“We SLAPPed it,” Larry tells the Daily Journal. “You can’t relitigate what two judges had found to exist.”
On September 11, 2025, Los Angeles Superior Judge Allison Westfahl Kong disposed of Hernandez’s remaining interference claims, which alleged that the Rubios conspired with El Monte city officials to block an energy services contract between Alliance Business Solutions and the city that would have earned him a consulting fee.
As the Daily Journal notes, Allen attacked the remaining interference claims by exposing a fatal flaw in the plaintiff’s “expectancy” of economic benefit: when a governmental agency maintains broad discretion in voting on a contract, a plaintiff cannot establish a “reasonable probability” of future gain.
In granting the Rubios’ motion for summary judgment, the Court found no evidence of interference by the Rubios, and that Hernandez’s claimed economic expectancy was “too speculative” as a matter of law. With the summary judgment ruling, KHIKS achieved a complete defense win for the Rubios before trial.
“Allen and I were so pleased with the outcome,” Larry concludes. “It really was justice.”
For more information and to read the Daily Journal’s full profile of KHIKS in its “Top Verdicts” issue, click below (subscription required).
Daily Journal‘s 2025 “Top Verdicts” – Roger Hernandez v. Susan Rubio and Blanca Rubio
