Lisa Cappelluti is the Managing Partner of our San Francisco office and was recently selected to the Northern California Super Lawyers list.  She has spoken at many industry and community events over the years.  This year her topic at West Coast will be “Apartments to Condos: Peeling The Onion of Legal & Insurance Issues for This New Breed of Cases".  Her panel will be presenting at 8:30 a.m. on Friday May 19,  in the Grand Ballroom. Click here for Lisa's recent blog about her topic.

Holly Davies is the Managing Partner of our Arizona office and also extends  her practice to New Mexico and Colorado. For the past few years she has spearheaded the Women in Construction Conference which extends networking and speaking opportunities for women in the legal and construction industry.  This year she will be speaking at West Coast on the topic:  “Litigating in the Western States – from the Judge’s Perspective”.  Her panel will be presenting at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday May 18^th.

J.D. Turner is a partner in our San Diego office and also practices in Arizona and Nevada.  She is a consistent speaker at in-house, legal, and construction industry seminars.  Her West Coast panel topic this year is: “We Can Resolve Construction Defect Claims Early!”   The Panel will present in the Grand Ballroom at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 18th.


For more information about West Coast Casualty's - Construction Defect Seminar, please click here.

Newsroom Spotlight


Zachariah R. Tomlin, SD Associate, discusses 
Eliott Homes, Inc. v. Superior Court: The Right to Repair Does Not Depend on the Theory Pled by the Plaintiff 
 

In the years following the Court of Appeal’s holding in Liberty Mutual Ins. Co. v Brookfield Crystal Cove, LLC (2013) 219 Cal.App.4th 98 (hereinafter “Liberty Mutual”), the exclusivity of the rights and standards set forth in the “Right to Repair Act” (Civil Code § 895 et seq., hereinafter the “Act”) has been uncertain.  Indeed, the ultimate validity of the holding of Liberty Mutual – declaring that plaintiffs in residential construction defect actions can bypass the strictures of the Act by pleading common law causes of action for construction defects resulting in actual damage – is presently before the California Supreme Court in McMillin Albany, LLC v Superior Court (2015) 239 Cal.App.4th 1132 [Review Granted and Opinion Superseded by the Supreme Court of California, McMillin Albany v. S.C. (Van Tassell) S229762; California Rules of Court, Rules 8.1105 and 8.1115.].
 
On December 2, 2016 the California Third Appellate District added to the landscape of post Liberty Mutual cases with its opinion in the case of Elliot Homes v Superior Court (2016) 6 Cal.App.5th 333 [Review Granted by the Supreme Court of California, Elliott Homes v. S.C. (Hicks) S239804; California Rules of Court, Rules 8.1105 and 8.1115.] (hereinafter “Elliot Homes”).  The opinion in Elliot Homes secures California residential builders’ right to compel the pre-litigation dispute resolution and repair procedures under the Act set forth in Cal. Civil Code 910 et seq., regardless of whether a statutory claim for construction deficiencies under the Act is pleaded.

The Plaintiffs in Elliot Homes sought to avoid the pre-litigation dispute resolution procedures of the Right to Repair Act by pleading only common law claims for construction defects against the residential developer of 17 single family homes.  In response Elliot Homes, Inc. filed a motion to stay the action pursuant to Civil Code § 930(b) to compel the Plaintiffs to comply with the Act’s pre-litigation dispute resolution procedures.  The trial court denied the motion to stay, citing Liberty Mutual for the proposition that the Act’s pre-litigation dispute resolution procedures do not apply to purely common law claims.

Drinks are on us!
See you on the lawn at West Coast!



Spring Cocktail Recipe
2 oz. Raspberry Vodka 
1½ oz. sweet iced tea
½ oz. fresh lemon juice

Pour ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice.
Shake well and strain into a highball glass.
Garnish with floating raspberries.