Plaintiff car buyer filed a putative class action case alleging a defect. The purchase agreement required arbitration, waived class actions, allowed appeals from arbitration awards, consumer pays costs of arbitral appeal, excluded self help remedies to benefit car...
Experienced Real Estate And Business Attorney
Month: June 2016
“Take it or leave it” is evidence of an unconscionable arbitration clause after Sanchez v. Valencia Holding
In Carlson v. Home Team Pest Defense, Inc. (2015) 239 Cal. App.4th 619 [First Dist., Div. Four, relying on pre-Sanchez authorities, but citing Sanchez in a footnote, the court affirms the trial courts denial of employer’s motion to compel arbitration, concluding that...
Only a Calif. Admitted Lawyer gets Class Action fees!! (Golba v. Dick’s Sporting Goods)
A non-California attorney who has not been admitted pro hac vice may not recover attorney fees as plaintiff’s class action counsel. In Golba v. Dick’s Sporting Goods, Inc. (2015) 238 Cal.App.4th 1251. After settling a class action, plaintiff ’s counsel sought $210,000...
Legal Malpractice Statute of Limitations not extended even if damages caused by lawyer resulted in a smaller settlement after one year.
A legal malpractice action time-barred where filed more than one year after attorney’s act of negligence but less than one year after plaintiff negotiated a settlement with third parties that was reduced in value due to the attorney’s negligence. Shaoxing City Maolong...
CCP §473(b) Attorney Affidavit of Fault does NOT require the reason for the mistake to be disclosed. (Martin Potts & Associates, Inc. v. Corsair, LLC (2016) 244 CA4th 432)
In Martin Potts & Associates, Inc. v. Corsair, LLC (2016) 244 CA4th 432 defendant was defaulted and its long time counsel simply said the failure to respond was his fault but did NOT state the reason for not filing a timely response. The trial court set aside the...
Contracting to exclude “extrinsic evidence” is enforceable. ( Hot Rods, LLC v. Northrop Grumman Systems Corp. (2015) 242 CA4th 1166
A written contract for the sale of real property included an integration clause stating that “no extrinsic evidence whatsoever may be introduced in any judicial proceedings involving this Agreement.” The referee who tried the case considered such evidence, finding for...
Representative Cases
Representative Cases and Clients of Simkin & Assoc. (This is a sample of some of the thousands of cases handled.) Quiet Title Prescriptive Easement Quiet Title unclear deed description Partition of Apartment Buildings after dispute between owners. Partition House...
Equitable Easements require “greatly disproportionate” hardship on the trespasser (Shoen v. Zacarias (2015) 237 CA4th 16
While it is possible to obtain an equitable easement to allow a trespasser to continue use of the property in exchange for damages, the hardship on the trespasser must be “greatly disproportionate” to the hardship of the landowner losing a portion of her land. In...
No Duty to Defend Encroachment Action building fence & trimming Trees (Albert v. Mid-Century Ins. (2015) 236 CA4th 1281
The court in Albert v Mid-Century Ins. Co. (2015) 236 CA4th 1281 held that an insurer did not have a duty to defend the homeowner in a suit for encroachment arising out of the building of a fence and trimming of trees, because the acts were taken intentionally even if...
Grocery Store Workers Protected from Termination for 90 days after merger (Labor Code §2504)
For the first 90 days after a grocery store is sold to a new owner, grocery store workers cannot be fired. AB359 codified as Labor Code §2500, et seq. The store must be at least 15,000 square feet.