Alyssa Dillard
ADLI Successfully Limits Liability in Substantial HOA Lawsuit
ADLI Founder Dr. Dariush Adli and associate Alyssa Dillard, went to trial defending a large homeowners association, who was sued by a member following water damage to their condominium. The resident and homeowner was seeking monetary damages to repair the condo’s interior, to fund further work on common areas and for diminution of property value….
Rosen: A Case Study on a School’s Duty to Protect, Daily Journal (January 7, 2019)
Alyssa Dillard’s article “Rose: A case study on a school’s duty to protect its students,” published in the Daily Journal, discusses the recent California Supreme Court case involving a violent act on the UCLA campus, which resulted in a new standard regarding a university’s duty to protect its students from a foreseeable threat of violence…
Anti-SLAPP: When State and Federal Rules Collide
The degree to which California’s anti-SLAPP provisions conflict with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure is an issue that has been hotly disputed since California Code of Civil Procedure § 425.16 was enacted in 1992. Recently, the Ninth Circuit held that when California’s anti-SLAPP statute is utilized in federal court, the court will review the…
When Court Powers Supersede the Will of the Parties
On May 18, 2018, the Ninth Circuit affirmed a district court’s grant of summary judgment on an issue raised sua sponte by the court, despite the fact that the parties had negotiated and agreed that the defendant would not seek summary judgment on the issue. On December 22, 2011, the plaintiff in the case on…
Subsidized Free Speech
A group of California grape growers/shippers brought an action in the County of Fresno against the California Table Grape Commission, contending that the Commission’s collection of assessments under the Ketchum Act (Food & Agr. Code § 65500 et seq.) to subsidize promotional speech on behalf of all California table grapes violates the growers’ right to…
Bird Law and the Fourth Amendment
Fictional character Charlie Kelly once said “bird law in this country – it’s not governed by reason.” In an opinion filed May 1, 2018, the Ninth Circuit disagrees, holding that the Fourth Amendment may protect an individual from having his apparently healthy birds seized by the city without a warrant. In Martino Recchia v City…
Are Independent Contractors Employees?
Whether a worker is categorized as an “employee” or an “independent contractor” has far-reaching implications. Among other things, a business must comply with numerous state and federal statues and regulations governing wages, hours, and working conditions when it comes to employees, but do not face such requirements for independent contractors. This often results in an…
Retention of Clients After Law Firm Breakup
When a couple breaks up, they face the daunting task of dividing up their mutual assets. When a law firm breaks up, the division of tangible assets is relatively more straightforward, but who gets the profits from matters still pending? The Supreme Court of California weighed in on that question in a March 3, 2018…
Are Colleges Obligated to Protect Their Students from Harm?
Does a college or university owe a special duty of care to protect its students from each other? It’s possible that they do, according to a recent opinion coming from the Supreme Court of California in Regents of the University of California v. Superior Court of Los Angeles County (Katherine Rosen). In its opinion, the…
Too Late For an Anti-SLAPP?
Alyssa Dillard’s article, “Too late for an anti-SLAPP?” published in the January 2019 issue of Plaintiff’s Magazine discusses the limiting language of the popular statute, including a review of recent case law limiting the usage of the anti-SLAPP provision when utilized in amended complaints. To read the article, click here.