Commercial Cases

If you get your medical insurance through your employer (and who doesn’t, these days) then unless you work for the government your right to these benefits is also governed by ERISA. And the insurance companies and HMOs don’t like to pay for expensive treatments, surgeries, and drugs, even when your doctor says you need them. So they have internal “guidelines” that are written to give them cover to deny needed treatment as not “medically necessary.”

I don’t just represent individuals. My practice also includes representing cities or commercial entities in commercial cases. I have taken a number of these sorts of cases to trial.

● Exxon Mobile v. PTS
● City of Long Beach v. ISOP

LSREF2 Clover Property 4, LLC, et al. v. Festival Retail Fund 1 357 North Beverly Drive, LP., et al.

I am representing (the case is still going on) Clover, a limited liability company. A
limited liability company called Festival Fund 357 had borrowed 25 million to purchase a commercial building, and another limited liability company called Festival Fund (confused yet?) had guaranteed the loan.

Clover was trying to collect on the loan guaranty from Festival Fund, and both of the Festival companies countersued against Wells Fargo (which I also represented), claiming that its alleged fraud and interference with the Festival entities business operations had prevented them from selling the building at a profit.

The judge held a bench trial (i.e. no jury) on Clover’s claim on the guaranty, and ruled that nothing was owed on the guaranty. Then, later, there was a jury trial on the Festival entities’ claims against Wells Fargo. The judge threw out some of the Festival entities’ claims and the jury ruled for Wells Fargo on the remainder. The judgment is here.
The judge has also ruled that Wells Fargo is entitled to collect its attorney fees from Festival 357 (and maybe Festival Fund as well).

1. Rexford/Pico LLC, et al. v. Ocean Park Hotels-MMHI, LLC, et al.

This was (is, as it is still going on) a lawsuit between a hotel developer and an investor in one of his hotels. The investor claimed that the developer lied to get him to invest in the hotel, and also that the developer diverted funds from the hotel company into his other business interests.

I didn’t represent either the developer or the investor. Rather, I represented a company called CEF Equities, LLC, which was one of the partners in the hotel company. It was a passive investor, however, and really didn’t have anything to do with the case. I suspect that plaintiffs only kept it in the case because it was a deep pocket.

Anyway, the jury ruled in defendants’ favor on all counts. A copy of the judgment is here.