Recent Case Results

In a trial recently concluded,we succeeded in quieting title in our client's favor.The defendant had recorded a forged Deed of Trust and was seeking to foreclose on a note for $650,000.In the middle of trial,a settlement was reached wherein the defendant cancelled the Deed of Trust and withdrew the Lis Pendens,thereby quieting title in our client's favor.As a result,our client was able to keep her home and avoid foreclosure.
The firm recently concluded a three-week jury trial in which it obtained a damage award for its clients in excess of $2.3 million. The suit arose as a result of a purchase of a large restaurant by our clients, a husband and wife who had invested their entire life savings in the restaurant. The defendants, including a real estate brokerage firm, a real estate broker and real estate agents, made material misrepresentations to our clients regarding the restaurant in a successful bid to induce our clients to purchase the restaurant and obtain a large commission for themselves. The jury found the brokerage defendants liable to our clients on the basis of several legal theories, including negligence and fraud.
The firm successfully obtained a dismissal for a client it defended in a trademark infringement suit. The plaintiff in the case alleged that the firm's client had been using the plaintiff's trademark name without paying plaintiff any compensation. The firm filed a motion for summary judgment on behalf of its client, basing its motion on the unenforceability of the contract pursuant to which the defendant corporation was claimed to have agreed to pay. As a result of the motion for summary judgment, the plaintiff dismissed its suit against our client.
The firm obtained a $300,000 settlement for its client in a suit against an escrow company in a commercial real estate transaction. The client had agreed to purchase a shopping mall and placed a $300,000 down payment in an escrow account held by the defendant escrow company. When the seller did not meet the sale contingencies, our client asked for return of its deposit, but the escrow company had already released the entire deposit to the seller on the basis of a document on which our client's signature was forged. After we commenced suit on behalf of our client alleging negligence on the part of the escrow company, the escrow company agreed to settle the case by repaying the entire $300,000 deposit to our client.
The firm obtained another favorable settlement for a client in a commercial lease case. The client was operating a coin laundry business for which it leased space in a small shopping center. Our client's landlord, the owner of the shopping center, sued our client claiming that it was entitled to increase our client's annual rent by nearly 25% as a result of a re-measurement of the size of the area occupied by our client's coin laundry. We brought a counter-suit on behalf of our client, alleging among other things that the landlord failed to properly maintain the shopping center thereby harming our client's business. The settlement we obtained for our client resulted not only in the landlord agreeing that our client's rent would not increase by even a penny, but also in a continuing contractual commitment by the landlord to correct the problems in maintenance of the shopping center.