D’Amico Dry Limited v. Primera Maritime Limited

(California Court of Appeal) – Reversing a decision that a property owner’s umbrella insurer was not liable for breach of contract and breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing when they refused to cover the suit to remove a neighbor’s fence that partially blocked the only road leading to their land because although the fence did not sit upon the landowner’s property itself the invasion of a right of private occupancy is ambiguous and can include non physical invasions of rights in real property. Read more →

(Supreme Court of California) – Affirming the Court of Appeals determination that the exception for statutory payment deadlines in the construction industry for the withhold of monies from subcontractors where a dispute exists is narrowly read to allow withholding only when the good faith dispute is directly relevant to the specific payment and cannot be employed where any dispute arises between the parties in a suit relating to the construction of Transformers: The Ride for Universal Studios. Read more →

(United States Second Circuit) - Reversing the dismissal of a contract action pertaining to the defendant's unpaid bonds, certifying the question to the New York Court of Appeals whether claims for interest on principal continue to accrue after a claim for the principal itself is time barred, and deferring resolution prior to their determination. See more at kcbusinesslawgroup.com Read more →

(California Court of Appeal) – Reversing a jury award of millions in damages in a breach of contract suit between a school district employee who formed a Limited Liability Company that eliminated her position as an employee making more than a hundred thousand a year and established her as the sole owner of a company the district paid 1.3 million a year and later persuaded the district to award a $16 million no-bid contract that was later invalidated because the trial court misinterpreted a section of the law relating to competitive building statutes as not applying to independent contractors. Read more →

(California Court of Appeal) – Partially affirming and partially reversing the denial of anti-SLAPP motions in a suit whose complaints were partially, but not entirely based upon protected activity in a multiparty suit relating to a long term lease of unimproved real property, a lessee, a sublessee, and various transfers of the property. Read more →