Civil Litigation Attorneys.

We represent real estate general contractors and developers enforcing their rights under building contracts, and general and subcontractors and suppliers in mechanics lien foreclosure actions. Our experience includes litigation with municipalities over developers' duties and rights under subdivision improvement agreements.

We also defend construction defect and construction product defect claims, from routine to catastrophic — involving large housing projects, city infrastructure such as sewer systems and ports, public buildings such as convention centers, and major installations such as theaters and casinos.

Our litigators handle the full range of disputes over the ownership and operation of a business: breach of business purchase and sale agreements; dissolution of corporations, partnerships, and LLCs; corporate opportunity usurpation; trade secret claims; shareholder and partnership disputes; and franchisor-franchisee and licensor-licensee disputes. We have represented owners on all sides of owner disputes and dissolution actions across legal, medical, general business, and real estate partnerships.

We also defend employers in employment litigation, including claims of wrongful termination, termination in violation of public policy, sexual harassment, age, gender, and race discrimination, and failure to accommodate disabilities. And we represent clients prosecuting and defending claims under California's Unfair Competition Law (Business & Professions Code Section 17200), the false advertising statute (Section 17500), and the Consumer Legal Remedies Act (Civil Code Section 1750 and following).

We prosecute and defend real estate disputes, including foreclosure, guarantor liability, receiverships, and writs of attachment, and we have substantial experience with "sham guaranty" defenses — which can call into question a guaranty where a lender seeks to hold the true obligor liable for more than would be obtainable directly against the borrower.

We routinely represent clients in litigation over the purchase and sale of commercial and residential real property; disputes with brokers and agents; non-disclosure of property defects; title defects and easement disputes; judicial foreclosure; quiet title and partition actions; and commercial landlord-tenant disputes, including unlawful detainers. We also represent real estate brokers and their agents in commission disputes and liability claims.

Any defendant in a lawsuit should determine early whether insurance coverage is available to fund the defense or a potential loss. We have obtained coverage for many clients in difficult cases — for example, securing coverage for a property owner whose predecessor in interest had deliberately released toxic chemicals over a long period, based on an ambiguity in the policy's "sudden and accidental" exception. We regularly litigate coverage issues to obtain defense or indemnity coverage after a carrier's inappropriate denial.

Drawing on our work for many contractor and developer clients, we litigate performance and payment bond claims and defend developers under surety indemnity agreements.

Our litigators handle federal and California tax litigation, including matters before the U.S. Tax Court and California's tax appeal bodies. Recent work includes litigation with the IRS in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court over a client's right to a substantial tax refund for worthless real assets under Internal Revenue Code Section 165.

We prosecute and defend trust and probate disputes, including trustee and executor liability; elder abuse; lack of capacity; conservatorship of the estate and of the person; trust and will contests; contests over the appointment of a trustee, executor, or administrator; representation of beneficiaries and of conservators and conservatees; undue influence and fraud; breach of fiduciary duty; trust accounting disputes; and claims of action taken under duress or mistake.