Recent litigation:

Vu v. Prudential Property & Casualty Ins. Co.
(2001) 26 Cal.4th 1142
This important insurance " bad faith" case arose from the Northridge earthquake. The decision from the California Supreme Court is "published" in the Official Reporter.

Hellinger v. Farmers Insurance Grp. Inc.
(2001) 91 Cal.App.4th 1049
This is one of the most important decisions regarding insurance law which arose from the Northridge earthquake. The California Legislature extended the statute of limitations for an additional year for all of those homeowners who were unjustly taken advantage of by insurance companies. The insurance industry attempted to challenge the constitutionality of the California Legislature and did so in this case. Our office is proud to have upheld the rights of more than 2,000 Northridge earthquake victims by winning. After the decision by the court of appeal in this case, the insurance company settled this matter for the largest sum of money in its class.

Kotlar v. Hartford Ins. Co.
(2000) 83 Cal.App.4th 1116
This case was the first of its kind in the history of California. This case extended the rights of named additional insured's in a commercial insurance policy. After the decision by the Court of Appeal in this case, the insurance company settled this matter for a vary significant sum of money.

Estate of Brenner
(1999) 76 Cal.App.4th 1298
This probate case was the first of its kind not only in the history of California but according to the Court of Appeal and possibly the entire United States. This decision changed the way holographic wills are interpreted by permitting xerox copies instead of original documents to be accepted by a trial court.

Zavala by and through Ruiz v. U.S. of America
(1989; 9th Cir) 876 F.2d 780
This federal case helped clarify the law regarding the rights of an abandoned minor.

Maxine Lowder v. City of Pasadena
At the time this case was tried in the Los Angeles County Superior Court in the late 1990s. The jury verdict was the largest of its kind for mild to traumatic brain injury. Ms. Lowder's case, was rejected by three other lawyers in Los Angeles before being accepted by our office. Despite the fact that six witnesses testified against her version of the way the slip and fall accident happened, we convinced the jury of the truth and demonstrated how PET Scan technology can be used in trial to demonstrate a mild to moderate brain injury. 

James Clark v. Alpha Orthopedics
This products liability case resulted in a one million dollar product defect verdict for the plaintiff. Mr. Clark was seriously injured when the artificial limb made by Alpha Orthopedics failed and was shown to be defectively designed.

James Dunne v. The City of Los Angeles et al.
James Dunne, a Vietnam veteran, was found face down and unconscious by the City of Los Angeles paramedics and transferred to Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank. The paramedics allegedly told the hospital personnel that he was drunk but the truth was that he had suffered a significant spinal cord injury which eventually left him paralyzed. Despite the fact that there was no proof of how the accident occurred or which of the different defendants failed to appreciate the significance of the spinal cord injury this case ultimately settled for a significant sum far and excess of a million dollars.

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