Are Adult Entertainment Clubs Going To Save California’s Restaurants?
12/22/20
By: John Moot
In what could be the beginning of a reopening for restaurants hard hit by California’s new stay at home orders, two San Diego adult entertainment clubs have come to the rescue. A San Diego Superior Court Judge on …
California Assembly Bill 1552 – Near Miss or Cautionary Tale for Insurers?
11/11/20
By: Ryan Greenspan
As fear of the novel coronavirus and COVID-19 continues to grip the world, an array of government rules, restrictions, and guidelines have been imposed. Some businesses have been operating at a limited capacity and some have closed outright. …
Prop 51: CA Supreme Court Creates Noteworthy Exception to Reduction or Apportionment of Non-Economic Damages
11/10/20
By: Zachary Price
Under Proposition 51, although all defendants in California are liable to a plaintiff for 100% of plaintiff’s economic damages (including such things as medical expenses and lost earnings), defendants are only liable for noneconomic damages (such as …
California Lawyers Who Ignore Lienholders Do So At Their (Disciplinary) Peril
10/20/20
By: Greg Fayard
In personal injury law, California lawyers regularly must deal with medical liens. For example, lienholders have certain rights to proceeds from a settled case and expect to be paid. In the past, if a California lawyer ignored …
California’s New Normal: Electronic Service and Remote Depositions
9/25/20
By: Marshall Coyle
Prior to California Governor Gavin Newsom approving Senate Bill 1146 on September 18, 2020, California law provided that, for cases filed on or after January 1, 2019, if a document may be served by mail, express mail, …
Avoiding Implied Attorney-Client Relationships with Individual Members of Small Companies
9/15/20
By: Jennifer Weatherup
Where an attorney represents a partnership or entity, there is the potential for him or her to create an implied attorney-client relationship with its individual members, imposing a duty of care that the attorney may not be …
California Expands Attorney Cooperation Requirement
9/1/20
By: Chuck Horn
In California, for more than ten years, upon request of another party, a party has been required to provide an electronic version of its separate statement in connection with a motion for summary judgment. Since the separate …
Statute of Limitations Tolled in California Amid Pandemic
8/3/20
By: Matthew Jones
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, California’s Governor Gavin Newsom issued a “state of emergency” for the entire State. In response, the California Judicial Council adopted several Emergency Rules to implement during the pandemic. In particular, Rule 9 states …
Seeing is Believing: Effective use of Animations in and out of the Courtroom
7/20/20
By: Paul Bigley
In California, we are blessed with a California Supreme Court case by the name of People vs. Duenas (2012) 55 Cal. 4th 1. The Duenas court addressed the use of animations in trial. The court drew a …
Attorneys, Beware Of The “Settle & Sue” Maneuver!
7/6/20
By: Elizabeth Lowery
Malpractice lawsuits against attorneys are often referred to as a “case within a case” because they must delve deep into the underlying lawsuit in order to determine whether an attorney’s representation fell below the standard of care, …
When Laws Conflict: What Ethics Rule Applies to a California Lawyer Advising On Cannabis?
6/30/20
By: Greg Fayard
It goes without saying that a lawyer—from California or elsewhere—shall not counsel a client to do something illegal.
But what about a state law that conflicts with a federal law? For example, federal laws that criminalize the …
The Right to Recover Costs
6/24/20
By: Dhave Balatero
In California, the right to recover costs is entirely a creature of statute (Murillo v. Fleetwood Enterprises, Inc. (1998) 17 Cal.4th 985, 989) and Cal. Code. Civ. Pro. section 1032 is “the fundamental authority for awarding …