Significant Cases
|
Case Name |
Position |
Description of Issues |
Result |
| Kruse v. Bank of America | Co-counsel on appeal |
Action for damages for repudiation of oral promise to lend |
$48.8 million jury verdict, reversed on appeal |
| Conlan v. Wells Fargo Bank | Co-counsel | Action for damages for fraud and bad faith | Jury verdict of $60 million; settled on appeal for $10 million |
| LaMacchia v. PCA | Counsel | Damage claimed by cattle rancher against lender for breach of financing agreement | Settled prior to trial; loan balance reduced from $2.7 million to $500,000 |
| Andreotti v. Bank of America | Co-counsel | Damage claimed by farmers against lenders for breach of loan agreements | Settled with $9 million credit towards $30 million debt |
| Jones v. Wells Fargo Bank | Co-counsel | Damage action by borrower against lender for breach of loan agreement and fraud | Settled in United States District Court, San Diego for $8 million |
| Sun Village v. The Bowery Bank | Counsel | Action by real property owner to enjoin foreclosure | Injunction issued: settled from the United States District Court, Phoenix, for $14 million |
| ABT, Inc. adv. Clay | Counsel | Defense of wrongful termination claim by manager and shareholder against majority shareholder | All wrongful termination claims dismissed in Superior Court, Colusa County; upheld by Third District Court of Appeal |
| Johnson Farms v. Comet Rice | Counsel | Action by rice farmers against mill for conversion of rice | Matter removed to the federal district court and then remanded on the court's motion to Colusa County: settled prior to trial |
| Western Agri-Management v. United States | Counsel | Damage claim and defense by Colorado farmer against United States Department of Agriculture | Settled in the United States District Court, Washington, D.C., after successful defense of summary judgment |
| Solomon v. Security Pacific Bank | Counsel | Representation of bankruptcy trustee in damage claim against lender for breach of loan agreement | Settled prior to trial in the United States Bankruptcy Court |
| North Valley Growers v. Comet Rice | Counsel | Conversion claim by rice growers against mill | Successfully arbitrated |
| Cleary v. Cleary | Counsel | Dissolution action | Successful verdict after trial to the court |
| Hassler adv. Norcal | Counsel | Defense of fraud, rescission and RICO claims arising out of sale of $25 million business based on allegedly false financial statements | Settled for $2 million after 35 videotape depositions, production, analysis and review of 150,000 pages of documents, and successful defense of motion for summary judgment |
| Hassler v. KPMG Peat Marwick | Counsel | Claim for malpractice against auditors | Settled for $1.0 million on eve of trial after 32 depositions, multiple motions for dismissal and for summary judgment |
| Novack adv. Levin Enterprises | Counsel | Defense of $13 million CERCLA cleanup claim brought by purchaser of business against former shareholders | Settled for $1 ,million, after ten depositions, multiple motions for summary judgment and production of 50,000 p ages of documents |
| Novack v. Weintraub | Counsel | Malpractice claim against attorney who drafted sale agreement | Settled prior to trial, after ten depositions and production of multitudinous documents |
| Davis adv. Bacharach | Counsel | Defense of $3 million breach of lease claim and cross-complaint for damages caused by landlord's violation of environmental laws | Case settled by landlord paying client after obtaining order from superior court requiring landlord to disclose assets due to fraud |
| Kord Enterprises II v. California Commerce Bank | Counsel | Damage claim by property owner for fraud and breach of contract in connection with bank's failure to honor agreement to renew loan | Settled on the eve of trial after 20 depositions, production of thousands of pages of documents, and opposition to multiple summary judgment motions |
| RPB v. Berheim Trust | Counsel | Claim by contractor for breach of contract | Successfully arbitrated |
| Hunter adv. Kalt | Counsel | Defense of action to rescind settlement agreement and dismissal of bankruptcy adversary action on basis of fraudulent inducement | Successfully tried in the bankruptcy court and before bankruptcy appellate panel; case reversed by the Ninth Circuit on the basis that superior court, not bankruptcy court, had jurisdiction of contract dispute |
| Eastimpex v. SNH | Counsel | Commercial dispute between Asian food broker and manufacturer | Settled after successful defense of motions for summary judgment in United States District Court, San Francisco |
| Valley Rolling v. Wells Fargo Bank | Counsel | Prosecution of damage claim in Fresno and in United States Bankruptcy Court, Fresno | Obtanined release of all writs of attachment and restore clients to ownership of their homes and terminate foreclosure; matter settled in the United States Bankruptcy Court |
| Pacific Gateway v. Marriott | Co-counsel | Action by property owner to evict hotel management company | Successfully overturned trial court dismissal in the Court of Appeal, Fourth District |
| DMG adv. One Wilshire | Counsel | Represent tenant in defense of rental claim by landlord on the basis of fraud and nondisclosure of asbestos | Successfully tried after six-week trial |
| Bennett & Compton Development, Inc. v. Stockton Service Corporation | Counsel | Claim by partner against lender for fraud in development contract | Successfully settled after multiple depositions and review of tens of thousands of bank documents demonstrating failure to comply with FIRREA |
| Flavor Dry v. Kal Lines | Co-counsel | Action against bankruptcy trustee for restitution of deposit | Successful appeal in the Ninth Circuit |
| S&P Partners v. HomeFed Savings & Loan (RTC) | Counsel | Adversary action in United States Bankruptcy Court against lender for breach of contract and fraud | Settled after production of 100,000 pages of documents, one deposition and successful defense of motion to dismiss in bankruptcy court for $40 million |
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