Firm News
VLA&S Welcomes Attorney Victoria Townsend
VLA&S is pleased to announce the recent hiring of attorney Victoria Townsend. Vicky’s practice focuses on personal injury, products liability, construction defect, homeowners association liability, and landlord-tenant disputes. She has also served as a designated...
VLA&S Obtains Dismissal of Attorney General Action Against Optometrist Client Following 3-Day Hearing
VLA&S attorney Jennifer Thomas defends Optometrist client against claims brought by the California Attorney General alleging that based on the symptoms with which patient presented, our client’s failure to dilate and examine the patient’s eye to rule-out retinal...
Personnel Investigations Conducted by Outside Counsel are Privileged and Protected by Work Product Doctrine
VLA&S’s experienced attorney investigators regularly conduct complex personnel investigations for corporate clients. Historically, one of the benefits of having outside legal counsel conduct a pre-litigation workplace investigation was that the attorney-client...
Your Employee’s Crime May Be Your Fault
If you are an employer, you probably purchase general liability insurance. You probably know that this type of insurance covers you if you or your employee accidentally hurt another person. You may also know that this insurance does not cover you for intentionally...
Liberty Surplus Ins. Corp. v. Ledesma & Meyer Constr. Co., Inc.
Liberty Surplus Ins. Corp. v. Ledesma & Meyer Constr. Co., Inc. 18 C.D.O.S. 5462 (Supreme Court of California, June 6, 2018) Disclaimer: This paper is an analysis of a recent case at a specific point in time. It is not intended as legal advice. It may not be...
VLA&S Attorneys Prevail on MSJ Arguing Claims Barred by Prior Arbitration
VLA&S attorneys file a Motion for Summary Judgment on the basis that Plaintiff’s $813,000 damage claim against our client (the only Defendant in the case) was barred under principles of claim preclusion. The MSJ argued that a prior arbitration between the...
Houses of Straw: How Business Owners Can Lose (and Bolster) the Limited Liability Protection of Their Business Entity
The scary thing about the story of the three little pigs is that despite the fact that they all took different measures to protect themselves, they all had the same amount to lose: 100% of their personal assets. Business owners face the same dilemma: no matter whether...
VLA&S Attorneys Extract Client From Complex Litigation with Motion to Compel Arbitration
VLA&S attorneys Jennifer Thomas and Lisa Omoto recently prevailed on a Motion to Compel Arbitration in a complex case involving the renovation and sale of residential property. Our client, a home inspector, was one of fifteen defendants named in the Complaint....
VLA&S Corporate & Commercial: How To Effectively Jockey A Major Business Deal
How To Effectively Jockey A Major Business Deal Every deal has a jockey. The deal jockey is responsible for driving the business deal forward from inception to closing. In particular, the jockey is responsible for the following: Vetting technical issues...
California Supreme Court Disrupts the Disruptors
On the eve of International Workers’ Day (worldwide on the first day of May), a unanimous California Supreme Court issued a potentially far reaching opinion threatening the very underpinnings of the so-called “gig economy” brought on by Silicon Valley companies like...