Kowal Law Group Logo

Diverse Perspectives

| article | | podcast | | Videos |
April 24, 2020
LITIGATION-FUNDING INDUSTRY CONTINUES TO GROW

With the recent publicity of Hulk Hogan's lawsuit against Gawker Media, and specifically the funding of the lawsuit by third-party Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel, much attention has been drawn to the practice of "litigation funding." The term refers to the practice in which an outside party funds all or part of a plaintiff's litigation...

Read More
April 24, 2020
OF GOOD FENCES, BAD NEIGHBORS, AND RECOVERING LEGAL COSTS

"It is often said that good fences make good neighbors. One might wonder whether there actually is such a correlation between good fences and good neighbors and, if so, whether causality runs in the opposite direction (i.e., maybe good neighbors build good fences). But it cannot be denied that a good fence accurately demarcating the...

Read More
April 24, 2020
PATIO FURNITURE DOES NOT ESTABLISH AN EQUITABLE EASEMENT

In a recent property-dispute opinion, the Second District in Shoen v. Zacarias came to the perfectly sensible decision that equity is not aroused by a trespasser's inconvenience in relocating $275 in lawn furniture. As is so often interesting (and frustrating) about the law is that reasonable minds can disagree. In fact, the trial court had ruled otherwise,...

Read More
April 24, 2020
POKEMON MAKER SEEKS DISMISSAL OF NUISANCE & DISGORGEMENT SUIT

Pokemon Go-maker Niantec moved to dismiss the class action that alleges the wildly popular app causes droves of users to trespass on private property in order to find, buy, and play with in-game prizes. Niantec points the finger at its users, insisting the game maker is not responsible for what users do since it displays disclaimers telling...

Read More
April 17, 2020
SLAPP NEWS: CALIFORNIA SUPREME COURT REITERATES, AGAIN, THAT WRONGDOING IS NOT “SPEECH” JUST BECAUSE SOMEONE TALKED ABOUT IT

The high court recently published Park v. Trustees of the Cal. State Univ., reversing a split appellate-panel decision. The Court held plaintiff's retaliation claim could go forward and did not implicate protected conduct just because the trustees' decision involved protected communications. Skimming the decision, I was eager to find a discussion of the Court of Appeal's...

Read More
April 17, 2020
YOU MAY BE ABLE TO LIMIT “CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES" IN YOUR CONTRACTS

Despite best efforts to reduce expectations to a written contract, one can rarely estimate with much accuracy the creative ways a complaining party will claim he has been damaged by an alleged breach. The textbook case from the 19th century in Hadley v. Baxendale arose when a smith delivered a crankshaft too late, and the miller sued...

Read More
November 28, 2018
A DEFENSE LAWYER'S COMPLAINT: SOME JUDGES DON'T GET IT ABOUT JUDICIAL ADMISSIONS

Aman is handing out leaflets in the train station, an old Soviet joke has it, when he is stopped by an officer. Examining the leaflets, the officer discovers they are just blank pieces of paper. "What is the meaning of this?" the officer asks. "What is there to write?" the man replies. "It's so obvious!"...

Read More
October 15, 2017
DIRTY WORK: DISGORGING THE PROFITS OF TRESPASSING PIPELINES

There are two kinds of developers: the pessimist, who sees a glass as half-empty, and the optimist, who sees the glass as four-fifths empty. Of California’s 163,000 square miles, just about 31,000 are developed. There’s a lot of opportunity to be had in California dirt. Literally, when it comes to a particular sort: just under...

Read More
January 1, 1970
Tim Tells a Norm MacDonald Joke

Related Posts: YOU MAY BE ABLE TO LIMIT “CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES" IN YOUR CONTRACTS SLAPP NEWS: CALIFORNIA SUPREME COURT REITERATES, AGAIN, THAT WRONGDOING IS NOT “SPEECH” JUST BECAUSE SOMEONE TALKED ABOUT IT POKEMON MAKER SEEKS DISMISSAL OF NUISANCE & DISGORGEMENT SUIT

Read More
January 1, 1970
Auto Draft

Related Posts: YOU MAY BE ABLE TO LIMIT “CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES" IN YOUR CONTRACTS SLAPP NEWS: CALIFORNIA SUPREME COURT REITERATES, AGAIN, THAT WRONGDOING IS NOT “SPEECH” JUST BECAUSE SOMEONE TALKED ABOUT IT POKEMON MAKER SEEKS DISMISSAL OF NUISANCE & DISGORGEMENT SUIT

Read More
January 1, 1970
Will Future Appellate Courts Watch Videos of Trials?

Related Posts: YOU MAY BE ABLE TO LIMIT “CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES" IN YOUR CONTRACTS SLAPP NEWS: CALIFORNIA SUPREME COURT REITERATES, AGAIN, THAT WRONGDOING IS NOT “SPEECH” JUST BECAUSE SOMEONE TALKED ABOUT IT POKEMON MAKER SEEKS DISMISSAL OF NUISANCE & DISGORGEMENT SUIT

Read More
January 1, 1970
Measure Twice, Redact Once

If you have ever held a redacted document up to the light to see the redacted text, you know other attorneys are doing the same. In a redacted PDF, you might be able to copy and paste the obscured text. I've also seen redactions made with black boxes that could simply be moved aside. Here's...

Read More
January 1, 1970
Measure Twice, Redact Once

If you have ever held a redacted document up to the light to see the redacted text, you know other attorneys are doing the same. In a redacted PDF, you might be able to copy and paste the obscured text. I've also seen redactions made with black boxes that could simply be moved aside. Here's...

Read More
January 1, 1970
New Discovery Cutoff Extensions, and Other Civil Procedure Updates

Governor Newsom recently signed SB 1146, which among other provides new Code Civ. Proc., § 599, which extends "any deadlines that have not already passed as of March 19, 2020" upon continuance or postponement of trial. That includes discovery, expert discovery, and summary judgment motions. It also provides at Code Civ. Proc., § 2035.310 that...

Read More
1 26 27 28
Copyright © 2025 Kowal Law Group
menuchevron-down linkedin facebook pinterest youtube rss twitter instagram facebook-blank rss-blank linkedin-blank pinterest youtube twitter instagram