… COVID-19 Musings Click above for .PDF Click above for .PDF           Musings From The Peanut Gallery COVID-19 WC FAQ Veatch Carlson, LLP is a Martindale-Hubbell AV rated firm with 64 years of litigation and trial experience. The firm is comprised of creative and experienced attorneys. We assertively advocate for […]

Burgueno v. Regents of the Univ. of Cal. Sixth Appellate District Adrian was a full-time student at UCSC, living in an off-campus apartment. He commuted to the university on his bicycle, traveling on the Great Meadow Bikeway, a paved bike path that runs through part of the UCSC campus. Constructed in 1973, the purpose of […]

To compile a list of Top Ranked Law Firms in California, Martindale-Hubbell®—the authoritative source for information about U.S. lawyers since 1868—researched their comprehensive database of lawyers and firms and identified law firms headquartered in the state with 10 or more attorneys, in which at least one out of five of their lawyers achieved the AV® […]

Rosas v. BASF Corporation Second Appellate District Filed May 21, 2015 Delayed Discovery Rule in Toxic Tort Cases Plaintiff and appellant Ismael Rosas appealed from judgments entered after the trial court granted summary judgment in favor of defendants and respondents BASF Corporation and other company’s that manufactured certain chemicals to which plaintiff alleges he was exposed. The […]

  Cline v. Homuth Court: California Court of Appeal, Third Appellate District Opinion Date: March 30, 2015 Areas of Law: Contracts, Insurance Law, Injury Law Plaintiff Ronald Lee Cline was severely injured when his motorcycle collided with a turning car driven by a teenager with a provisional license. He settled with the driver and the […]

  Primary Assumption of Risk – “Inherent Occupational Hazards” Fazio v. Fairbanks Ranch Country Club (2015) 233 Cal.App.4th 1053 Fazio, a professional musician, filed a lawsuit against Fairbanks claiming negligence after he fell from a stage on Fairbanks’s property before a performance. Fairbanks argued in its motion for summary judgment, among other things, that as […]

To enforce settlements the agreements must be signed by the parties. What about settlements consummated via email and the evolving issue of electronic signatures?
The trial court granted a motion to enforce a settlement between plaintiffs and defendants. The trial court found that defendant Fair’s printed name at the end of his email where he had agreed to settlement terms set forth in an email from plaintiffs’ counsel was an “electronic signature” within the meaning of California’s Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (Civ. Code, 1633.1) and what it referred to as the “common law of contract” or “contract case law.”

A concise primer on the “sophisticated user” defense first articulated in Johnson v. American Standard, Inc. (2008) 43 Cal.4th 56:
“Our Supreme Court first endorsed the doctrine of “sophisticated user” in 2008, holding in essence that users of products that could be seen as potentially dangerous cannot hold the producers of those products liable if those users were clearly knowledgeable about the product being used and its potential danger.

This is an asbestos related case where much of the discussion focused on aspects of the law unique to asbestos cases. Union Carbide Corporation appeals from a judgment entered in favor of Plaintiffs Bobbie Izell and Helen Izell on claims for personal injuries and loss of consortium stemming from Mr. Izell’s alleged exposure to Union Carbide asbestos and subsequent diagnosis with mesothelioma. After a four-week trial the jury returned special verdicts finding Union Carbide 65 percent comparatively at fault for Plaintiffs’ injuries and awarding Plaintiffs $30 million in compensatory damages plus $18 million in punitive damages against Union Carbide.

In Lobo v. Tamco (2010) 182 Cal.App.4th 297 (Lobo I), the court reversed a summary judgment in favor of the defendant, Tamco, and remanded the matter for further proceedings in the trial court. Trial was held solely on the issue of Tamco’s vicarious liability for the negligence of its employee, Luis Del Rosario. The jury found in favor of Tamco.