Halpern May Ybarra Gelberg LLP attorneys Grant Gelberg, Carley Palmer, and Dean Shaffer have won a series of key pretrial victories for defendants in a $156 million+ real estate dispute in Los Angeles Superior Court. Through aggressive motion practice, Halpern May won summary adjudication of three of the four claims brought against its clients, a real estate company and its owners. Additionally, Halpern May won a rare “issue sanction” after filing a pretrial spoliation motion. Finding that plaintiffs’ managers destroyed critical evidence both before and after bringing their lawsuit, the trial judge granted an issue sanction establishing that plaintiffs’ managers misrepresented the intention of the parties’ contracts to defendants. At trial, the jury will be instructed on that issue sanction before deciding plaintiffs’ lone remaining claim for conversion, as well as defendants’ three cross-claims for fraudulent inducement, fraudulent concealment, and promissory fraud.
Back To All News