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FIRM ANNOUNCEMENTS

August 05, 2011 - A McMillan Law Firm client successfully completed a 19 day jury trial, and received a verdict significantly below his statutory offer to compromise!

July 22, 2011 - Superior Court Judge dismisses three of six counts against client Kathleen Sterling as they violate her rights to Free Speech.

April 04, 2011 - Client Kathleen Sterling defeats efforts to keep her from her post at Tri City Healthcare District

May 11, 2011 - The Firm congratulates client Richard Cervantes on his seven-figure jury verdict, which included punitive damages.

December 06, 2007 - Firm client Jesper Steensgaard obtains a verdict, with instructions for a punitive damage determination against Ron Courtois here.

November 01, 2007 - San Diego North County Jury finds liability and awards damages against Verizon Directories Sales-West Inc. See verdict!

July 02, 2007 - The McMillan Law Firm welcomes Adam Case

July 01, 2007 - Farewell and congratulations to Bryan Rho on his departure from the Firm and move in-house

More

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"A mathematician is a blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat which isn't there."
      — Charles Robert

 

LEGAL NEWS

With No Deal, Madoff to Plead Guilty to 11 Counts
Unless he changes his mind, Bernard L. Madoff will plead guilty Thursday to 11 counts in the largest Ponzi scheme in history. Assistant U.S. Attorney Marc Litt told New York federal Judge Denny Chin Tuesday that Madoff, 70, faces as much as 150 years behind bars. Should the judge accept the plea, he will then confront the controversial issue of whether to order Madoff imprisoned immediately. Sentencing in the case, the judge said, is months away.
Justice Souter Describes 'Annual Intellectual Lobotomy' During Court Term
Robert Bork once said serving on the Supreme Court would be "an intellectual feast." By contrast, Justice David Souter said at an event Monday night that he undergoes a "sort of annual intellectual lobotomy" when the Supreme Court term begins in October, a condition that he said lasts until the end of the term. The offhand remark opens an interesting window into his thinking about his job -- and why conventional wisdom has it that he is considering leaving the Court soon to repair to his New Hampshire home.
SonicBlue Case Costs Pillsbury $10 Million
Pillsbury has reached a $10 million settlement in a malpractice dispute with bankrupt client SonicBlue, a court filing Tuesday shows. The firm will pay $7.6 million and forgo $2.4 million in outstanding fees to SonicBlue's estate, according to the filing, which awaits approval by a bankruptcy judge at a hearing slated for March 31. SonicBlue's estate had sued Pillsbury for malpractice and breach of fiduciary duty, demanding the firm return $4.2 million in fees and pay $11 million in damages.
Get Control Over Your Bill Collection -- Now
Even in the best of times, it's not a good idea to wait until the fourth quarter to begin addressing bill collection issues. Consultant Jake Krocheski notes that in these more challenging times, it is vital to be proactive, to have a good management system in place at the beginning of the year, and to follow through vigilantly all year long. Krocheski suggests that law firms take several steps, both internally and with clients, to get a handle on the bill collection process before things get out of control.
Litigation Activity Accelerating in China
Litigation activity in China is growing at a rapid pace, according to a report issued Tuesday by the nation's top judge. Chinese courts handled 10.7 million cases of various types in 2008, up 11 percent from the year before. Cases that saw an increase ranged from fraud, which grew 13 percent, to labor disputes, which jumped a whopping 94 percent.

LATEST McMILLAN LAW BLOG ENTRIES

California unfair competition law
California's unfair competition law (UCL) is codified at California Business and Professions Code section 17200 et seq. The UCL prohibits any unlawful, unfair or fraudulent business act or practice and unfair, deceptive, untrue or misleading advertising.
Park Ranger is denied personal injury claim under the Labor Code for injury that occurred off duty.
Workers' compensation exclusivity rule of Labor Code Sec. 3602 bars civil action by park ranger against state for injuries he sustained as a result of slipping and falling due to allegedly dangerous condition in residence provided by state as an employment benefit; under "bunkhouse rule," where an employee whose housing is provided by the employer is injured as a result of defective condition of such housing, the injury "arises out of" the employment even if it occurs on employee's day off.
Objection to Franchise Tax Board's claim for unpaid taxes is overruled.
Tax Liability Interest Accrues from Tax Due Date, and is entitled to priority status where the interest accrued 240 days pre-petition.
New decision on costs and effects of rejection of CCP 998 offer
Peterson v. John Crane discusses the different capacities that a plaintiff or defendant may participate as a party in a lawsuit.
Giovanni B. v. Superior Court (City of Chula Vista Police Department)
Decision affirming trial court refusal to allow discovery into police officers that had arrested a minor for suspicion of violating curfew laws.
Supreme court in Perez-Torres v. State of California rules against immunity for holding innocent prisoners.
The California Supreme Court ruled that there exists no immunity for torts committed by a state actor where he or she holds person arrested under a mistake in identity and does not release upon discovery of the mistake in identity.
Class certification decision overruled in part and affirmed in part as to truck driver's claim for unpaid overtime and meal breaks.
Writ proceeding in the Court of Appeals addressing a denial of a class certification claim where it was undisputed that truck drivers often worked more than eight hours per day. Court found as to legal issues involved where facts were undisputed, it was an abuse of discretion by the trial court to deny class certification.
Court overturns summary judgment in favor of lender in WRI Opportunity Loans II LLC v. Cooper
Court of appeals reversed a trial court's ruling granting summary judgment after the trial court found that a guaranty was enforceable. The court of appeals found that the subject loan did not meet the statutory requirements for a shared appreciation loan, and trial court erred in concluding the loan was exempt from the usury law on that basis where the terms guaranteed lender a usurious rate of interest. Rule against the enforcement of unlawful transactions precludes guarantor from waiving usury defense.
Arias v. Superior Court (Angelo Dairy)
The Court of Appeal issued an alternative writ after the trial court struck the plaintiff's claims in part. In overruling the trial court's action, the court of appeal ruled that Section 17200 of the Business and Professions code requires that a representative claim be brought as a class action because the UCL requires compliance with the class action provisions of Code of Civil Procedure section 382.1 (Bus. & Prof. Code, section 17203.) But, section 2699 of the Labor Code, otherwise known as PAGA, expressly allows a person to prosecute a representative claim without requiring that it be brought as a class action.
Murphy v. Burch - No easement by necessity for the owner of a landlocked parcel.
The court of appeals reversed the trial court's ruling in finding that the Plaintiff did not establish claim of "easement by necessity" against the defendant owner of neighboring property despite the plaintiff's lack of access to a public road, where plaintiff's predecessor in interest obtained the property by patent grant from the federal government. The patent grant from the federal government did not include any grant of an easement over the access road from that property to the nearest public road. The only access road ran across the neighboring property owned by defendants' predecessor in interest. At no time in the past had there been any express grant of an easement from the plaintiff?s property over the defendants' property to that state highway, nor had there been an acquisition of an easement by prescription in favor of the plaintiff's property, so that plaintiff's property became "landlocked" without any express or prescriptive easement across defendants' neighboring property to the state highway.
Amazing settlement offers.
After the jury holds Verizon Directory Sales West Inc. and its successor Idearc Directory Sales West Inc. liable for wrongfully failing to tender wages, and conversion of its former sales representative's wages, its attorneys suggest that Sean Ryan abandon his efforts. Verizon - Idearc walk away despite winning letter
Court of Appeals reverses trial court grant of order striking complaint in Freeman v. Schack
Fourth District Court of Appeal reverses a ruling granting an order to strike a complaint against an attorney for malpractice. The Court found that the anti-SLAPP statute was not triggered where the plaintiff?s cause of action was primarily based on the defendant?s undertaking to represent a party with interests adverse to the plaintiffs in violation of the duty of loyalty owed to plaintiffs through prior litigation.
Parlour Enterprises, Inc. v. The Kirin Group, Inc. - Farrell's franchisor obtains a reduction of damages on appeal.
Court of appeal reduces award of damages following an appeal on a jury verdict in favor of a franchisee and against a franchisor.