Do you own a house with someone and don’t want to register as domestic partners, but you still want an exclusion from a change in ownership for property tax purposes when you die? Now you can. Here’s how it works. (more…)
Filed under: Estate Planning, Legal Topics, Real Property, Tax Law | Tagged: change in home ownership, coowner, cotenant, domestic partners, property tax, property tax reassessment, same-sex couples | 1 Comment »
In 2012, the California Legislature enacted more than 875 bills! Among them were many interesting changes to California’s landlord-tenant law. (more…)
Filed under: Landlord/Tenant Law, Legal Topics, Real Property | Tagged: 2012 legislative season, California statutory law, landlord, landlord-tenant law, tenant | 1 Comment »
California’s dog-bite statute, CC §3342, imposes strict liability on dog owners with some interesting twists. (more…)
Filed under: Legal Topics, Real Property, Tort Law | Tagged: animal law, dog-bite statute, dogs, tort liability | Leave a Comment »
Disputes between neighbors over a fallen tree or a fence line can be extremely emotional. And when these disputes turn into litigation, this heated emotion can make it very expensive for your client. Here are 5 tips to make sure that at least your attorney fees get paid in the end. (more…)
Filed under: Civil Litigation, Legal Topics, Real Property, Tort Law, Young Lawyers | Tagged: advance fee agreements, attorney fee, attorney fee agreement, flat fee, hourly fee, neighbor disputes, neighbors | 4 Comments »
If nothing else, recent natural disasters have shown us the importance of carefully reading insurance policies before we buy them. But many people won’t do that, so that leaves it to attorneys to figure out coverage after disaster strikes. Attorneys faced with this task need an organized approach to determining whether coverage exists. (more…)
Filed under: Business, Legal Topics, Real Property, Tort Law, Young Lawyers | Tagged: insurance companies, insurance coverage, insurance policy, liability insurance | 1 Comment »
The much heralded California Homeowner Bill of Rights went into effect on January 1, 2013. It expands urgency legislation, enacted four years ago, that amended the trustee sale foreclosure processes to reduce foreclosures and increase workouts, loan modifications, and short sales. See Stats 2012, chs 86–87 (AB 278 and SB 900). It’s well intended, but is it actually going to reduce the foreclosure rate in the long run? (more…)
Filed under: Legal Topics, New Legal Developments, Real Property | Tagged: foreclosure, Homeowner Bill of Rights, loan modification, trustee sale | 2 Comments »
The Los Angeles Times calls it “The Green Rush,” referring to the newly-lucrative cultivation of premium marijuana to serve the “discriminating consumers who frequent medical cannabis dispensaries.” California laws permitting medical marijuana have spawned an industry that has moved from remote, clandestine locations to our city centers. But what’s become a boom for growers and sellers is causing a headache for many city regulators. (more…)
Filed under: Business, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, Legal Topics, New Legal Developments, Real Property | Tagged: Compassionate Use Act, land use regulation, medical marijuana, medical marijuana dispensaries, Medical Marijuana Program Act | Leave a Comment »
Tenant organizations take many forms and reflect diverse goals. An attorney’s role varies with the nature and objectives of the tenant organization. Before you advise a tenant organization, you need to understand its particular needs and how to meet them. (more…)
Filed under: Landlord/Tenant Law, Legal Topics, Real Property | Tagged: landlord, landlord-tenant law, tenant, tenant organization | Leave a Comment »
The following is a guest blog post by Myanna Dellinger, a law professor at Western State College of Law.
The Ninth Circuit has repeated what the Supreme Court has already said about plaintiffs suing polluters for climate change: look to the Clean Air Act and the EPA for possible relief, not the federal courts. Courts simply won’t hear claims that the polluters have created a common law nuisance when federal law covers the area. (more…)
Filed under: Business, Environmental Law, Legal Topics, New Legal Developments, Real Property | Tagged: CEQA, climate change, greenhouse gases, land use, nuisance | Leave a Comment »
Some of the victims of the horrific mass shooting at a movie theater in Colorado last summer are suing the theater’s operators for having had no security guards on duty the night of the shootings and no plans for keeping people from sneaking in or out of the theater. This made me wonder, would the theater owner be liable under California law? (more…)
Filed under: Landlord/Tenant Law, Legal Topics, Real Property, Tort Law | Tagged: Auroro shooting, breach of duty, criminal act by third party, duty to provide security, landowner liability, premises liability, theater shooting | Leave a Comment »
