Experience & Practice Areas
Mediation Experience (1992-Present)
As a mediator and settlement conference judge, I have mediated cases in the following practice types of claims and disputes:
Personal injury
Insurance coverage
Commercial contracts
Franchise Related Disputes
Uniform commercial code
Sales and security interests
Lien priorities
Corporate and partnership dissolution
Construction defects
The homeowners' association matters
Breaches of residential and commercial leases, commercial and residential loan agreements, and real estate contracts
Real property condition, including undisclosed defects such as termites and mold
Securities fraud, churning, and unsuitability allegations
Breach of contract for sale of a business and related fraud counterclaims
Employment issues, including claims invoking the Americans with Disabilities Act
Environmental issues
Special education issues
Professional malpractice, including medical, real estate agent/broker, securities registered representative/broker, and architect/engineer
Arbitration Experience (1990-Present)
As an arbitrator (for private parties, for the U.S. District Court, and for the Maricopa County Superior Court), I have arbitrated many personal injury and commercial disputes. They include:
Breaches of contracts for the sale of business and related counterclaims for fraud
Lien priority disputes
Claims under Articles 2 and 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code
Franchise Related Disputes
Breaches of commercial contracts
Personal injury claims
Insurance coverage disputes
Real estate partnership disputes
Breaches of real estate purchase contracts
Disputes among partners, shareholders/members of partnerships, corporations, and limited liability companies, respectively
Securities claims by customers alleging unsuitability and churning, as well as negligent supervision
Wrongful termination of employment
Intellectual property and Lanham Act claims
Ownership of internet websites
Interference with contract
Breaches of commercial leases and commercial loan agreements
Judicial Experience (1987-2005)
I served as a Judge Pro Tempore on the Maricopa County Superior Court, Civil Division. From January to November 1999, I served in a full-time, paid capacity. I have presided over more than 75 trials (both bench trials and jury trials) involving claims of:
ERISA-related professional liability
Securities fraud
Wrongful repossession
Wrongful disposition of consigned property
Real property disputes
Insurance coverage
Civil rights violations
Personal injuries in a number of contexts; and professional liability claims
Approximately 20 of the civil judgments I entered were appealed, and all of them were affirmed.
Litigation Experience (1980-1997)
As a general civil litigation attorney, I conducted numerous bench and jury trials in both state and federal trial courts, and many appellate cases in the Arizona Supreme Court, Court of Appeals and United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
My litigation experience includes :
Evaluating and litigating commercial loan transactions
Foreclosure of security interests on real and personal property; commercial and residential leases and purchase agreements
Collection and enforcement of judgments
Corporate and partnership disputes
Violations of securities laws
Construction-related matters
Insurance coverage claims
Commercial torts
Product liability; and personal injury litigation (for both plaintiffs and defendants)
Professional liability cases, including, among others, bank directors, health care providers, lawyers, accountants, architects, and engineers
Landmark Appellate Cases
At the appellate level, I have been lead counsel in several reported cases establishing new law, including defining the ethical obligations of corporate counsel to investors; providing tort remedies to tenants for a landlord’s violation of statutory standards; elimination of a partnership accounting as a condition precedent to partnership lawsuits; defining the scope of bank directors’ fiduciary duties. Bottom of Form