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 The firm’s extensive
litigation services include general and complex business litigation, class
actions, probate and trust litigation, real estate litigation, elder law
litigation and personal injury litigation, as well as civil appeals and writs.
Our attorneys represent both plaintiffs and defendants in litigation matters,
and our clients range from individuals to small businesses to major corporations. We
strive to resolve conflicts through alternative dispute resolution such as
mediation, arbitration and neutral evaluation in an effort to reach our
clients’ goals in the most expeditious and cost-effective manner. However, we
are not deterred by any matter that must proceed to trial.
Personal Injury
Litigation
We handle a broad range of
injury cases resulting from a variety of accidents and causes. These cases
include wrongful death matters and actions involving bodily injury of a serious
nature. We litigate cases resulting from motor vehicle accident deaths,
residential accidents (including explosions), pedestrian and consumer incidents,
bicycle/motorcycle accidents and landslides.
Business Litigation
Established in the Millbrae
area for over 40 years, our firm has cultivated relationships with many small, medium, and large-sized businesses within San Mateo County. Many of these
relationships have involved a multitude of business litigation services,
including disputes over intellectual property, partnership interests and
business dissolution. We also litigate matters for consumers,
shareholders, and businesses of all sizes in the areas of unfair competition, securities violations and
antitrust.
Real Estate Litigation
Our firm litigates cases on
behalf of homeowners who have incurred property damage resulting from land
movement and land slides, as well as damage resulting from construction
defects. We also prosecute and defend cases involving misrepresentation issues
associated with the sale of real estate. Our work in this area also includes
the representation of real estate brokers and agents. In addition, we handle
commercial landlord/tenant matters.
Probate and Trust
Litigation
Along with the provision of
estate planning legal services, we have extensive experience litigating a broad
range of disputes involving trusts and wills, including challenges to mental capacity, undue influence,
forged documents, and improper
trustee/executor conduct, as well as contested conservatorships. Such services have included early resolution through
mediation and, in other cases, full litigation through trial.
Elder Law Litigation
As our population ages,
there are those who take advantage of opportunities to financially and physically abuse the
elderly. Our firm is committed to limiting and halting such conduct. We have
represented a number of senior citizens and have been successful in obtaining
favorable resolutions on their behalf, including termination of the abusive
conduct and money damages paid to victims of the abuse. Defendants in our lawsuits
have included financial institutions, nursing homes and individual care
providers who have abused the elderly.
Complex Litigation
Following are summaries of some of the more significant
cases in which our firm has played a leading role:
• Medicare Class Action
Our firm is serving as lead counsel in a class action brought by seven California counties and three California physicians on behalf of thousands of physicians and other suppliers of medical services who have been underpaid by Medicare for over ten years in an amount estimated at over $3.2 billion.
• San Bruno Fire
Cases
Our firm represents over seventy
victims of the San Bruno explosion and fire of September 9, 2010. We are
assisting clients in obtaining immediate relief in this disaster, including
compensation from their insurance companies and help with their relocation
needs. We have also brought suit against PG&E and will be pursuing
that entity for all damages related to this preventable incident.
• Wells Fargo COFI Loan Class Action
Our firm is serving as lead counsel in a class action against Wells Fargo Bank relating to rate increases of 66% on thousands of adjustable rate mortgages whose rates were linked to the Federal Home Loan Bank's 11th District Cost of Funds Index ("COFI") that occurred when Wells Fargo acquired Wachovia Bank.
• Oracle Cases
Our firm served
as Plaintiffs’ Co-Lead and Liaison Counsel for seven derivative plaintiffs in
what is perhaps the largest insider trading case in United States history
involving trades totaling $940,000,000.00. The litigation proceeded in both
California and Delaware courts and lasted almost five years. Our firm
negotiated the court-approved settlement in which defendant Larry Ellison,
Oracle's CEO, agreed
to pay $100,000,000.00 to charity in the name of Oracle.
• Black
v. Financial Freedom Senior Funding Corp., et al.
Our firm served
as Plaintiffs’ Co-Lead Counsel in an elder abuse and unlawful business practices
class action arising out of the sale of reverse mortgages to California
seniors. In Black v. Financial Freedom Senior Funding Corp. (2001) 92
Cal.App.4th 917, rev. den., our firm successfully argued that the
plaintiffs’ causes of action were not preempted by federal banking laws. Our
firm later negotiated the court-approved settlement in which the defendants agreed to
rewrite the onerous terms of the plaintiffs’ mortgages.
• Millbrae Mudslide Litigation
We represented a group of elderly homeowners whose homes
were severely damaged or destroyed in a massive mudslide in Millbrae. The
lawsuit was prosecuted against a multitude of defendants, including three public
entities. The result included an $7 million repair of the hillside and a
monetary recovery to our clients valued at over $6 million.
• CORA Trust Litigation
Our firm represented the nonprofit entity CORA (Community Overcoming Relationship Abuse), the only domestic violence prevention
agency in San Mateo County. In their trust, the trustors had included CORA as a major beneficiary of their large estate. The trust was
challenged and the objectors sought to declare the trust void in an effort to
disinherit CORA. Through our representation, CORA prevailed in the
litigation and was awarded over $2 million.
• In re
Technical Equities Litigation
Our firm
represented two vice presidents of the Technical Equities Corporation. This
defense effort spanned some five years and involved more than 400
coordinated investor cases in state and federal court, including the defense of
a class action. In the California state cases, our firm acted in the capacity of
Defendants' Liaison Counsel, coordinating the defense with more than twenty
firms.
• In re
Louisiana-Pacific Corp. Inner-Seal Oriented Strand Board (OSB) Trade Practices
Litigation
Our firm served
as Plaintiffs’ Co-Lead Counsel for a nation-wide class consisting of tens of
thousands of owners of both residential and commercial buildings in the United
States in a class action against Louisiana-Pacific Corporation for fraudulent
practices in the manufacture of its building wall sheathing products. Numerous
actions were filed across the United States which were transferred to the
Northern District of California. Our firm successfully negotiated a national
class settlement, and obtained the court approval of the class settlement under
which class members received the full cost of repair and replacement of damaged
sheathing products at the expense of Louisiana-Pacific Corporation for a
twenty-year period. Louisiana-Pacific also agreed to pay $1.5 to the
University of California Forest Products Laboratory.
• Sanitary Paper Cases I and II
Our firm served
as Plaintiffs’ Co-Lead Counsel for the County of San Mateo and a class of public
entities in the State of California in a state-wide class action against ten
major manufacturers of sanitary paper products for price-fixing. The
action consisted of a number of coordinated state actions and was assigned to
the San Francisco Superior Court. Our firm successfully obtained a
court-approved settlement in favor of the class of public entities.
• Methionine Cases and Methionine Cases II
Our firm served
as Plaintiffs’ Co-Lead Counsel representing a class of California indirect
purchasers of methionine in a state-wide class action for price-fixing against
eight major national and international manufacturers of methionine, a food
additive primarily used in animal feed. That action was assigned to the
Stanislaus County Superior Court, and resulted in a court-approved settlement in
favor of the class members. The settlement included the payment of $2 million in claims to the injured class and almost $1.5 million to the Animal Science Department of California Polytechnic
University, San Luis Obispo, for the study of animal nutrition.
• Crane
v. Spieker Properties, Inc., et al.
Our Firm served
as Co-Defense Counsel a case in which the plaintiff challenged the acquisition
of Spieker by Equity Office Properties, a $7.2 billion transaction. The
plaintiff, who was represented by one of the nation’s top plaintiffs’ securities
firms, dismissed his lawsuit in response to defense motions.
• Ansell
v. Patriot American Hospitality, Inc.
Our Firms served
as Co-Plaintiffs’ Counsel in an investor fraud class action concerning the sale
of Bay Meadows Racetrack in San Mateo, California. The case resulted in a
court-approved settlement in which the defendants agreed to pay over
$11 million to members of the class.
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