California Civil Litigation Legal Questions

There is no requirement that a plaintiff testify at trial, in a class action or any other suit.  It is often  the only way to present sufficient evidence, however, and advisable from a tactical standpoint.  Also, although any member of the class, named or not, may be deposed, it is quite likely that all named representatives will be deposed.... Read More

Either you or your brother can force the sale of the house through a partition lawsuit. In the event that either one of you did file that partition suit, you could likely seek to have your brother's portion of the proceeds offset the shared household bills that you have paid over the years. You can also come to an agreement to sell the house and have your brother reimburse you through the proceeds from the sale. In that event you should definitely have an attorney assist you in preparing an agreement to make sure that you are protected in the process. Thanks,Jon... Read More

You have the right to change attorneys at any time (although the attorney has the right, at least in NY, to keep the file until you pay all fees owed) and, if you are dissatisfied with your attorney, the sooner the better.  It will take time for any new attorney to get up to speed, and the longer the case has gone on, the longer it will take to get up to speed, and you will be paying for that time.... Read More

The hotel may be responsible for damages caused by its employee's negligence (assuming that the employee's actions were not reasonable) while acting within the scope of his/her employment, but you should check your contract (reflected on the check in paperwork) to see if there is any limitation of liability.  If so, such a provision may not be enforceable, but the hotel will surely rely on it and try to avoid responsibility.... Read More

I'm neither admitted to practice law in California, nor do I practice criminal law.  Nevertheless, for what it's worth, the officer's advice doesn't sound right to me.  I would have expected the officer to advise you to sue the offenders in a civil case.  However, to answer your question, while I doubt that any "citizen's arrest" will go very far, if it ever reaches court you will have to appear, probably (if the case goes all the way to trial) several times as you will be the primary witness in the case.... Read More

If the dealership knew about the damage and lied about it or failed to disclose it, you may have a good case, but this will be very difficult to prove.  I know from experience in another case that carfax reports (NMVTIS is probably the same) can be somewhat out of date, and don't catch damage or other events in a vehicle's history until some time after the fact.  The dealership may not have been aware of the problems, or at least can plausibly claim that it wasn't.... Read More

I know of no statute which would require your former employer to represent you, but they usually do for several reasons.  1 - it may be required by your employment agreement and/or separation agreement; 2 - if they have insurance coverage, it almost certainly covers you as well, so it costs them nothing; 3 - they want you on their side in the lawsuit; and 4 - they won't look good to their current employees if they leave you hanging out to dry.... Read More

Dear developer, If you failed to timely file your response within 30 days of being personally served, the plaintiff may request a default. Once the default is entered, you have a short time period to have the default vacated (no more than six months) under what is called a 473 motion. The courts usually grant these motions liberally. If you do not have the default vacated, the plaintiff will seek a default judgment. If you need help, feel free to contact me, Mitch abdallah (916) 446-1974... Read More

Fortunately you have a signed written agreement, which will be strong evidence that your friend borrowed the money and agreed to pay you back. At this point, your friend is in default on under the contract; and since she is non responsive to your requests for payment, your best course of action is to send her a demand letter giving her a reasonable time to respond with full payment.  If she fails to respond, then you should promptly file a breach of contract action against her. Since you have a written agreement, you have four years from the breach to file your lawsuit, but i would not hesitate; nothing good comes from procrastination. Mitch Abdallah (916) 446-1974... Read More

Dear litigant, You should consult with your attorney immediately to determine whether he/she intends on preparing and attending trial.  If you are uncomfortable with the response, you have a right to discharge your attorney and have him/her file a substitution of attorney with the court. After the substitution of attorney is filed, you are free to represent yourself or you may represent yourself. Mitch Abdallah... Read More

A temporary restraining order is a public document, and therefore can be disseminated to the public.  Statements made in the course of a litigation, such as in an affidavit in support of an application for a TRO, are (in the jurisdictions in which I practice, but I"m not 100% sure about California) privileged, that is they can't be the basis of a defamation action, unless they are COMPLETELY irrelevant to the litigation.  What you can do (although I'm not recommending that you escalate this dispute) is to post your own rebuttal to the claims your neighbor has made.... Read More

Your son can certainly sue the teacher, and appears (without knowing the circumstances) to have a meritorious case.  He can also sue the school, but may not win.  It depends on whether the teacher was acting within the scope of his/her employment when he/she kicked your son or, if not, whether the school's negligence caused, or was one of the causes, for the incident, such as by not providing adequate security or by hiring a teacher with known violent tendencies.... Read More

If your ex-wife has quit claimed the property to you, she no longer has any interest. Thus is unable to receive a favorable outcome in court. Also, since the ownership of the property was resolved during your divorce, that should also help you in defending against these false accusations. I strongly encourage you to consult an attorney as to defending yourself in a civil lawsuit. There are a number of tools we can use to make the lawsuit end quickly, or even possibly to have some award be rule din your favor. I hope I have answered your question. If you would like to discuss your case in more detail, feel free to contact me at your earliest convenience. ... Read More

In Federal Court you generally do not have the right to appeal from interlocutory orders, that is orders which do not finally determine cases (not necessarily the entire case, but at least as to one defendant), until the end of the case.  An order vacating a default is an interlocutory order.  You can seek reconsideration of the order, meaning you ask the same judge to reconsider his/her decision, but you have to be able to point to some law or fact the judge overlooked, some intervening change in the law, and/or some new evidence you have which was not available at the time of the decision. I know you didn't ask, but in my experience, it is not worth the effort.  Courts are loath to default grant defaults, and extremely unlikely to reverse themselves once they have vacated a default. ... Read More

First off, you may be overestimating the amount of the costs.  Court costs generally don't include legal fees, but rather things like filing fees, so the amount probably won't be so large. If you can't afford to pay even this amount, however, your options would be the same as with any other debt (e.g. ignore the debt hoping the creditor won't pursue it, work out a payment plan or debt reduction with the creditor, file a bankruptcy seeking to have the debt discharged, etc.), except that if the Court  has ordered you to pay, and you do not, you could be held in contempt of court if the court determines that you really do have the ability to pay and are willfully disobeying the order.... Read More