Around The Firm

The Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory has conferred an “AV” rating, its highest, on Michelle A. Corsi. An AV rating denotes both “very high to preeminent” legal ability and the highest ethical standards. Martindale-Hubbell also as conferred a BV rating on Donna M. Young, Alan M. Singer, and William R. Kiendl. A BV rating denotes high to very high legal ability, and again the highest ethical standards. Congratulations to all of these Lee Smart lawyers.

Michael A. Patterson and William L. Cameron successfully defended a community water association in Perino v. Sierra Vista Water Assn., a federal court action brought by one of the community’s residents. Plaintiff alleged that the association had violated the Fair Housing Act by refusing to let him apply for grants in the association’s name. The court granted Mike and Bill’s summary judgment motion.

Tammy L. Williams and Pamela J. DeVet won the appeal of Padilla v. Merchandising Inventives, Inc. In that retailer-liability case, a display hanging from ceiling hooks at a craft store fell and hit plaintiff. She sued the store owner just before the running of the three-year statutory limitation period. The store owner answered after the statute of limitations had run and alleged as an affirmative defense the fault of the seller and the manufacturer of the hooks. Plaintiff later added the hook manufacturer and seller as defendants. On behalf of the manufacturer, Tammy and Pam moved for summary judgment, arguing that the statute of limitations had run. Plaintiff argued that she did not fully appreciate that the hooks could be defective and did not sue the additional defendants until her attorney learned during discovery that they could have played a role in the accident. The trial court disagreed and granted summary judgment, and the Court of Appeals affirmed.

Steven G. Wraith and Melisa K. Thompson won summary judgment of dismissal of Soos Creek Water & Sewer Dist. v. Jet Set Northwest, Inc. v. Shope Enterprises, Inc., a $900,000 claim involving failure of concrete repairs. The court agreed with Steve and Melisa that their client, the product seller, was not liable to the product manufacturer for indemnity and dismissed the third-party complaint.

Jeffrey P. Downer won summary judgment of dismissal of Parkins v. Yagi v. Sumpter, a real-estate malpractice case. Plaintiff property sellers sued the buyers for default on a promissory note. The buyers blamed their default on the sellers’ and the real estate agent’s alleged misrepresentation of the property as being suitable for short platting. Only after losing that argument in arbitration and requesting a trial de novo did the buyers bring a third-party claim against Jeff’s client, the real estate agent. The court agreed with Jeff that by that time, the statute of limitations had run and dismissed the action.

Matthew D. Taylor won summary judgment in Ricci v. Stanford, a counseling-malpractice claim. In opposition to Matt’s summary judgment motion, plaintiff offered a declaration that was inadmissible, which Matt moved to strike. The court granted the motion to strike, leaving plaintiff without proof of the claim, and then granted Matt’s summary judgment motion. ... Alan Singer won dismissal of Dehner v. Sburlino, a rear-end auto-accident case, based on plaintiff’s violations of his discovery obligations. At the outset of the case, Alan propounded discovery, to which plaintiff failed to respond. The judge granted Alan’s motion to compel. Plaintiff violated that order. Alan moved to dismiss, but the court instead continued the trial date. The clerk dismissed the case because no one had appeared for the first trial date. Plaintiff’s counsel then chose to file the same action and obtain a different judge who did not know of the past orders. Alan waited a year as plaintiff’s counsel did nothing, and then renewed his motion to dismiss. The second judge granted dismissal and awarded additional terms to Alan.

The Lee Smart Quarterly is a publication of the law offices of Lee, Smart, Cook, Martin & Patterson, P.S., Inc. for clients and others. It is intended as general information only and is not to be construed as legal advice. You should consult an attorney if you have any specific legal questions.

Editor: Jeffrey P. Downer	Eml: jpd@leesmart.com
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