Professional Negligence Litigation

We have frequently been called upon to represent our clients in professional negligence and errors and omissions litigation. We have represented a great number of local, regional and national accounting firms, law firms, real estate brokers and other professionals in such litigation. We understand the unique considerations that need to be analyzed to determine whether such actions should proceed to trial, including juror attitudes toward professionals and the professional and personal impact of such costs on our clients.

The following are examples of professional liability litigation handled by the Firm:

• The Firm has represented over twenty San Diego based, regional and national law firms in professional liability matters.  The Firm has tried a number of these cases successfully to verdict.
• We represented a regional accounting firm that had been the primary auditor of an organization that was later proven to have operated a Ponzi scheme on investors, resulting in many of the organization's principals being convicted of crimes. We secured insurance coverage to defend the class action claims against our client and achieved a favorable settlement at little expense to our client which continues to operate a successful firm.
• The Firm has represented a number of regional and national real estate brokerage firms, both commercial and residential, including in excess of 100 claims of professional negligence.
• The Firm tried a case on behalf of a residential brokerage firm whose client allegedly failed to disclose a subsidence potential in the hillside behind a Rancho Santa Fe, California residence. The Firm prevailed at trial by demonstrating the plaintiff had merely suffered, if at all, alleged stigma damages and his hillside remediation expenses were not recoverable.
• The Firm tried a case on behalf of a residential brokerage firm that listed a newly constructed residential development in Del Mar, California. Its agent allegedly misrepresented as lot lines the grading stakes on the lots and a purchaser sued for misrepresentation because his lot was substantially smaller. We prevailed at trial for the client by proving the buyer did not "reasonably rely" on the agent's alleged misrepresentation because his wife realized during the showing that the represented lot lines did not comport with the lot lines of a project rendering brochure handed out at one of the showings. We ultimately collected our attorneys' fees from the purchaser.
• The Firm obtained summary judgment in favor of a residential real estate brokerage firm based on allegations that the listing agent failed to discover and disclose evidence of mold in a Del Mar, California residence that caused significant personal injury to two of the occupants and rendered the residence uninhabitable. We proved the agent indisputably discharged her duties by reliance on professional home inspectors and the absence of inquiry notice to her that the inspectors had been negligent.