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Trial Lawyer Experience that can Handle Diverse Litigation Issues

At Hornberger & Brewer, we have been civil litigation attorneys and trial lawyers for decades. We have been involved in myriad lawsuits involving business litigation, personal injury prosecution and insurance defense, construction, environmental law and toxic torts, labor and employment law, and general liability defense. It is a good bet that if you have a business litigation issue, we can handle it with skill and effectiveness. Click on the following link to access the latest news on legal issues practiced by our law firm:

News

Business
[07/02] Asian stocks lackluster as traders eye US job data
[07/02] ECB keeps interest rate at 1 pct
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Personal Injury
[07/02] NH city rallies around refugees to banish bedbugs
[07/02] Parents of Oregon boy settle in surgery lawsuit
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Construction
[07/02] As deficit grows, Calif. prepares to issue IOUs
[07/01] BrassCraft 100% Compliant Plumbing Products Are Now Available for 2010 Legislation
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Environment
[07/01] Protection sought again for giant, spitting worms
[07/01] Scientists lower Alaska volcano threat level
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Insurance
[07/02] Battle of the Sexes Boosts Kwik Fit Insurance Sales
[07/02] Devilfish.com Launches Revolutionary Online Casino Insurance
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Labor
[07/02] Euro zone unemployment hits 10-year high in May
[07/02] June jobless rate seen rising to 9.6 percent
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Real Estate
[07/01] Florida's Climate Is Business-Friendly, Says Florida Association of Realtors(R)
[07/01] Kristi Hirota-Schmidt Honored as One of PBN's 'Forty Under 40'
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Product Liability
[06/29] 47,000 elderly falls in US tied to canes, walkers
[06/25] Investigators eye problems with DC track circuit
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Consumer Products
[07/02] Craftsman(R) Named Favorite Hand Tools in Popular Mechanics Reader's Choice Awards
[07/02] Primo Water Redefines the Water Cooler Category
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Case Summaries

Environmental Law

[06/22] US v. Missouri Industrial Energy Consumers
In a dispute involving enforcement of the Clean Water Act, district court's judgment against defendant is affirmed where: 1) the court did not err in finding defendant did not have standing to intervene in an action to enforce the Clean Water Act against the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District, as defendant did not adequately allege that it would suffer a concrete and particularized injury, nor did it establish that its injury was fairly traceable to the challenged action and would likely to be redressed by a favorable decision; and 2) defendant did not have the right to intervene under either Fed. R. Civ. P. 24(a)(1) or 24(a)(2).

[06/22] Coeur Alaska, Inc. v. Southeast Alaska Conservation Council
In an action against the Army Corps of Engineers challenging the Corps' grant of a permit to a mining company to discharge waste materials, summary judgment for Defendant is affirmed where the Corps, not the EPA, had the authority to permit the discharge, and the Corps' interpretation of Clean Water Act regulations was entitled to deference.
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Professional Malpractice

[07/01] Martorana v. Marlin & Saltzman
Trial court judgment sustaining the demurrers of Class Counsel is affirmed where: 1) plaintiff is collaterally estopped from pursuing a malpractice claim against Class Counsel based on the theory that counsel breached their duty of care to the class by failing to negotiate a different settlement notice procedure than that approved by the trial court in the prior action; and 2) plaintiff's argument that Class Counsel breached their duty of care by failing to contact him specifically once they knew or should have known that he had not submitted a timely claim form fails, as there is no authority imposing such an obligation on counsel in a class action suit. The court's award of sanctions to plaintiff's former employer Allstate under Code of Civil Procedure sec. 128.7 is reversed where Allstate did not satisfy the safe harbor requirements of the statute in seeking monetary sanctions against plaintiff and his counsel.

[06/29] Bakery Machinery & Fabrication, Inc. v. Traditional Baking, Inc.
District court order denying plaintiff's motion to vacate the default judgment against it is affirmed where plaintiff's claim for relief under Fed. R. Civ. P. 60(b)(6) based on the misconduct of its counsel fails as the counsel's actions, even with plaintiff's purported diligence, do not fall within the exceptions to the rule and do not rise to the level of exceptional to warrant such extraordinary relief.
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Insurance Law

[07/02] Clarendon National Ins. Co. v. United Fire & Casualty Co.
In an action brought to determine the priority of coverage between certain insurance policies, district court judgment is affirmed where: 1) defendant's demand for plaintiff to be involved in the defense of anticipated suits by injured parties is enough to create an actual controversy and give plaintiff the right to bring a declaratory judgment action to determine priority of coverage; and 2) the court did not err in determining that defendant's policy provided primary coverage for the accident and that its umbrella policy would also be triggered before the policy issued by plaintiff came into play.

[07/01] Bristol West Ins. Co. v. Wawanesa Mutual Ins. Co.
In a dispute involving the interpretation of an insurance contract, district court judgment is reversed where the plain language of the Out of State Coverage clause in the policy makes specific reference to any accident that occurs out of state, and does not focus on the limits of the out of the state financial responsibility law, and thus the insurance policy necessarily expands the amount of liability coverage in this case since the accident occurred in New Brunswick.
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Labor & Employment Law

[07/02] Hughes v. Pair
Court of Appeals judgment for defendant in a sexual harassment action is affirmed where: 1) plaintiff's factual allegations fail to establish the severe or pervasive conduct necessary to pursue a claim of hostile environment sexual harassment under Civil Code sec. 51.9, as the conduct was not so egregious as to alter the conditions of the underlying professional relationship and could not plausibly be construed by a reasonable trier of fact as a threat to commit a sexual assault on plaintiff; and 2) the court properly granted summary judgment on plaintiff's claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress as plaintiff failed to establish either extreme or outrageous conduct by defendant or that plaintiff suffered severe or extreme emotional distress.

[06/30] Scott v. Phoenix Schools, Inc.
In an employment termination action, trial court judgment is affirmed in part and reversed in part where: 1) there was substantial evidence that defendant violated public policy in dismissing plaintiff; and 2) there was insufficient evidence of malice, fraud or oppression to support the award of punitive damages.
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Injury & Tort Law

[07/02] Hughes v. Pair
Court of Appeals judgment for defendant in a sexual harassment action is affirmed where: 1) plaintiff's factual allegations fail to establish the severe or pervasive conduct necessary to pursue a claim of hostile environment sexual harassment under Civil Code sec. 51.9, as the conduct was not so egregious as to alter the conditions of the underlying professional relationship and could not plausibly be construed by a reasonable trier of fact as a threat to commit a sexual assault on plaintiff; and 2) the court properly granted summary judgment on plaintiff's claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress as plaintiff failed to establish either extreme or outrageous conduct by defendant or that plaintiff suffered severe or extreme emotional distress.

[07/01] Thomas v. Carnival Corp.
In a personal injury action involving a slip and fall aboard Defendant cruise line, the District Court's order granting Defendant's motion to compel arbitration is reversed where, under the parties' agreement, the dispute at issue must have some actual relation to the agreement to arbitrate, irrespective of what ship the claims originated from and when suit was brought.
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Consumer Protection

[06/29] FTC v. Accusearch Inc.
In an action by the FTC to curtail Defendant's sale of confidential information and require it to disgorge profits, summary judgment for Plaintiff is affirmed where a practice may be "unfair" under the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTCA) even if it does not violate some law independent of the FTCA.

[06/19] Satterfield v. Simon & Schuster, Inc.
In an action under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act for sending unsolicited text messages, summary judgment for Defendant is reversed, where a genuine issue of material fact existed concerning whether the equipment used by Defendant had the capacity to store or produce numbers to be called using a random or sequential number generator and to dial such numbers.
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$38 Million verdict - for a Business Fraud "Bust Out" Scheme
$33 million verdict - Wrongful death action against O.J. Simpson
$21 million verdict - Business fraud case
$19 million verdict - Malicious prosecution action against Chinese importers
$17 million verdict - Breach of Contract involving the sale of DVD players
$6.1 Million verdict - for an Eminent Domain case
$5.3 million verdict - Business fraud and breach of contract case
$4.7 Million settlement - for a Liver Transplant case
$3.6 million verdict - Breach of contract and fraud regarding sale of distributorship
$3.193 million Binding Arbitration award – personal injury – head on collision
$2.6 million settlement - Inverse condemnation
$2.5 million settlement - for property damage caused by excavating for a subway tunnel
$2.3 million verdict - Wrongful termination of employee
$2.3 million settlement - Will contest
$2.2 million settlement - Inverse condemnation

444 South Flower Street
Suite 3010
Los Angeles, CA 90071
phone: 213.488-1655
phone: 213.629.8627
fax: 213.488.1255
Email: mbrewer@hgblaw.com

19200 Van Karman Avenue
6th Floor
Irvine, CA 92612
phone: 949.622.5466
Email: mbrewer@hgblaw.com

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