Serving clients in civil litigation since 2003.
On September 11, 2015, the New York Times, published an article regarding an agreement among ten major automakers to make automatic braking systems standard in all vehicles. While there was no timetable set for implementation of the systems, once they become standard...
In Hartford Casualty Insurance Company v. J.R. Marketing, L.L.C., (August 10, 2015) 2015 WL 4716917, the California Supreme Court was faced with the question that when an insurer provides an independent counsel to its insured under a reservation of rights,...
John Sciacca recently obtained a defense award in a binding arbitration. The arbitration arose out of a case involving premises liability. This was a third party matter that was originally set for trial. Pursuant to the plaintiff’s request, the parties...
On August 13, 2015, the California Supreme Court issued its ruling in matter of Cordova v. City of Los Angeles. At issue for the court was whether California Government Code § 835 required a plaintiff, in a tort claim against a public entity, to show that an alleged...
What trial attorney has not thought after a verdict, “man I wish we could reconvene the jury on this one issue to get it right.” On July 24, 2015, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals concluded such a move is possible. In Dietz v. Bouldin, the 9th Circuit held it was not...
By Katherine Marklink The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has held that under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) a fiduciary can enforce an equitable lien against specifically identified funds that remain in the beneficiary’s possession; but that...
By John Sciacca Recently in Carr v. Rosien (2015) 2015 DJDAR 8147, the Fourth District Court of Appeal in California ruled that an adverse possessor’s lis pendens was void because the adverse possessor failed to mail it to the address shown in the assessor’s role,...
Claimant was involved in an automobile accident with an underinsured motorist in 2003 and subsequently settled with the third party for the policy limits in late-2006. The claimant expressed a desire, through counsel, to pursue an underinsured motorist claim pursuant...
On May 1, 2015, Jim Miller completed a 10 day jury trial in San Joaquin County Superior Court where the plaintiff sought over $7,000,000.00 in damages for lost wages, medical expenses and pain and suffering allegedly arising from an incident that occurred at...
John Sciacca filed a Motion for Summary Judgment in this matter in regards to a collision that occurred while plaintiff and defendant were skiing at Alpine Meadows Ski Resort on April 3, 2011. The Placer County Superior Court granted John Sciacca’s Motion for Summary...
