New CA Settlement Case

 
 
I offer Lawyer Master Mentoring™ to help less experienced civil lawyers throughout the U.S. quickly learn essential law practice skills, think strategically in preparing and presenting their cases, avoid mistakes, and implement excellent systems to win more, make more money and create their dream law practices.  
 
Law school doesn't teach you how to practice law in the real world. Newer lawyers need someone with real life experience to mentor them. But unlike when I started practicing in 1980, today very few new lawyers get mentoring to help them learn how to practice law right.  
 
I can help. I've been a California civil trial lawyer since 1980, a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates since 1995, and I've been listed in The Best Lawyers in America every year since 2012. I've represented both plaintiffs and defendants in business, insurance bad faith and coverage, personal injury, real property and wrongful death cases, I've recovered over $50 million for plaintiff clients, and obtained numerous defense verdicts and good settlements for defense clients. I've tried over 100 jury, court and administrative trials and arbitrations. For many years, I've provided mentoring to many less experienced lawyers in California.
 
Working with me, you can quickly develop the skills, strategies, and systems necessary to build you dream law practice. How will it feel to be an incredibly successful and highly respected lawyer in your practice areas? Today is the day to start creating your future. 
 
Click the link to learn more about Lawyer Master Mentoring™, or email me at [email protected] or call me at (619) 990-4312.



Great lawyers and judges keep current with the new published civil case law in their practice areas. It's easy if you find an excellent case summary subscription service. You'll save time and easily keep up with the new cases in your practice areas to win more and make more money. I offer just such a case summary service with California Case Summaries™, where I provide short summaries (one-paragraph), organized by legal topic, of every new published civil case in California in monthly, quarterly and annual publications.   
 
To get my free summaries of the 22 new civil cases published by the California Supreme Court in 2021, click here.

Below is a discussion of a new CA civil case published last month.

Settlement

When a case settles, an issue that can arise later is whether the settlement of the case bars a later-filed case under the doctrine of claim preclusion. Last month, the California Supreme Court published a new case addressing the issue of whether claim preclusion applied to the settlement of a wage and hour case against a hospital employer of plaintiff after plaintiff had settled an earlier case alleging similar claims against a staffing company. A video discussing the case is above and my summary of the case is below.

New Settlement Decision  

Grande v. Eisenhower Medical Center (2022) __ Cal.5th __ , 2022 WL 2349762: The California Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Appeal's decision that had affirmed the trial court's ruling, following a bench trial, concluding that the language in a settlement and release agreement whereby plaintiff had settled an earlier class action wage and hour action against a staffing company (FlexCare LLC) did not bar the claims the plaintiff had against defendant hospital (Eisenhower Medical Center) in this class action wage and hour case. Staffing company FlexCare LLC arranged for a nurse, plaintiff Lynn Grande, to work at defendant hospital. The staffing company agreed to indemnify defendant hospital for certain obligations relating to the staffing arrangement. Plaintiff nurse sued the staffing company for violating the Labor Code and the Unfair Competition Law. That case settled and the trial court entered judgment upon the settlement. The hospital was not a named party in that action. Plaintiff nurse then sued defendant hospital, based on the same alleged violations. The trial court rejected defendant's argument that because of the first judgment, claim preclusion foreclosed plaintiff's second suit. The California Supreme Court agreed. Claim preclusion can be asserted only by a party in the first action or someone in privity with a party in the first action. In this case, a nonparty (defendant hospital) argued that it was in privity with a party (the staffing agency) to benefit from the claim-preclusive effect of a judgment that undoubtedly binds an opposing party (plaintiff nurse). Privity requires the sharing of an identity or community of interest, with adequate representation of that interest in the first suit, and circumstances such that the nonparty should reasonably have expected to be bound by the first suit. (DKN Holdings LLC v. Faerber (2015) 61 Cal.4th 813, 826.) There was no such privity in this case because of the hospital and staffing agency's different legal interests. Moreover, preclusion could not be based on a claimed indemnification or agency relationship between the hospital and the staffing company. The California Supreme Court disapproved of Castillo v. Glenair, Inc. (2018) 23 Cal.App.5th 262, 278–281 to the extent it was inconsistent with this decision. (June 30, 2022.) 

 

Civil Litigation Services

I still take a few select civil cases where I represent plaintiffs or defendants in business, insurance bad faith, personal injury, real property and wrongful death actions. Using my experience as a California civil trial lawyer since 1980, and a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates since 1995, my goal is to get each client the best possible result. My clients get the benefit of big firm experience with small firm attention and reasonable rates. To discuss a potential case, email me at [email protected], or call me at (619) 990-4312.


Mediation, Arbitration and Referee Services

I also help attorneys and their clients by serving as a mediator, arbitrator and referee at ADR Services, Inc., handling cases in the areas of business, commercial, employment, insurance bad faith, insurance coverage, landlord-tenant (commercial and residential), legal malpractice, medical malpractice, personal injury, real property and wrongful death. To schedule an ADR matter with me, contact my case manager at ADR services, Haward Cho,  [email protected], (213) 683-1600.  



Until my next blog post, stay safe and healthy.


Best regards,
Monty A. McIntyre, Esq.
Lawyer Master Mentoring™
Civil Trial Attorney  
Mediator, Arbitrator & Referee
California Case Summaries™
CA Civil Trial Attorney Since 1980
ABOTA Member Since 1995
Past President San Diego County Bar Assn., SD ABOTA Chapter
Phone: (619) 990-4312. Email: [email protected] 

To Discuss a Potential Case With Monty:
Email Monty at [email protected]
or call Monty at (619) 990-4312. 

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