Article Summaries

Legal Issues

Legislature Hearing - Reforms required in construction defect litigation. (November, 1999)

A U.S. district court jury in San Francisco on April 20 awarded Granite Management Co. $726,000 in a bad faith insurance case against Aetna Casualty and Surety Co.

Litigants' confidentiality rights during a court-ordered mediation  session are trumped when their attorneys act in bad faith. (the Second District Court of Appeal)

The California Supreme Court agreed to decide whether litigants in court-ordered mediations are entitled to confidentiality even if their attorneys act in bad faith.

Court Decisions

• Expert Fees are Recoverable - JEFFREY N. STEARMAN et al.,  v. CENTEX HOMES.
  In the Court of Appeal of the State of California; Fourth Appellate District
• Condominium associations may bring construction defect lawsuits against developers without fear of having to disclose privileged information to individual homeowners. - LESLIE R. SMITH et al.,  v. LAGUNA SUR VILLAS COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION.
  In the Court of Appeal of the State of California; Fourth Appellate District
• In Daubert, 509 U.S. 579 (1993), the Supremes Set New Standards for the Admissibility of Scientific Evidence under the Federal Rules of Evidence, saying:
  [T]he Rules - especially Rule 702 - make the trial judge ensure that an expert's testimony both rests on a reliable foundation and is relevant to the task at hand. Pertinent evidence based on scientifically valid principles will satisfy those demands.
•  Plaintiff's Expert Disqualified Under Daubert - DARLA J. BOURELLE and RHONDA WENDLING, v. CROWN EQUIPMENT CORPORATION
  at 7th Circuit Court, case No. 99-3981 - Argued May 30--Decided July 17, 2000
• Where Plaintiff's Expert, in Deposition, Limits Areas of Defendant's Negligence, Trial Testimony on Other Areas of Negligence is Precluded, Even Though Expert Witness Declaration Included Those Areas
  California Court of Appeal - 2nd Appellate District