Proceeds benefiting the VLSP, Inc. 
$2,000 in prize money!! Chip Timing, Awesome raffle prizes & more!!
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Saturday, May 19, 2012 @ 8:30 AM
Ventura County Goverment Center
800 South Victoria Avenue, Ventura
 
  

By Bill Paterson

“A Separation”, Iran’s Oscar entry for best foreign language film, is one of the most acclaimed films of the year. It is a brilliantly executed and morally complex tale chronicling what happens when otherwise decent people
are led astray by ingrained cultural norms and a stubborn refusal to consider any point of view but their own.

As the film opens, a couple are sitting side by side speaking to an unseen man in what passes for divorce court in present day Iran. Simin (Lelia Hatami) has obtained a visa to leave Iran, a country in which she sees no future for herself or her family. Her husband Nader (Peyman Moadi) refuses to either leave or to consent to a divorce, insisting he cannot abandon his father who has Alzheimer’s. They each have valid claims on the other. Life will
be better for the family outside the reign of the Mullahs, but how does one leave a terminally ill parent, and what effect will either of their choices have on their 12-year-old-daughter, Termeh (Sarina Farhadi)?

As the emotional temperature ratchets up, Simin and Nader set the stage for virtually every human interaction in the film. Compromise is spurned and shrill argument is the default discussion mode. The upshot is that Simin is refused a divorce and moves in with her parents, leaving Nader with his gravely incapacitated father and Termah.

Continue reading – March 2012 CITATIONS

Bill Paterson is Of Counsel at Ferguson Case Orr Paterson LLP in Ventura. He is an avid filmgoer.

Dear Editor:

BEWARE OF EMAIL SCAMS

Please be aware that there has been a recent surge of email scams directed at attorneys. I have received at least ten in the last two months and many more in the past year. Luckily, I was able to avoid these scams. As an example, I received one of these emails last week, and a follow-up today that were very convincing. They purported to be from Mazco Medical Healthcare for a case against Lincare Holdings. Both turn out to be real companies, but the case is fictitious. I found a fraud alert from a Canadian fraud blog. You can find the alert here: http://avoidaclaim.com/?p=3025  In my case, they tailored the email to indicate that the target company was based in Moorpark. These are not simple bot emails spamming attorneys found on the Internet. They are spending some time crafting details that could be convincing to local attorneys.

Please be careful as these scams can create great liability issues for attorneys and have already done so.  Do you know if the State Bar or any other organization maintains any database regarding these scams to help attorneys ferret them out? If not, do you think it would be advisable and manageable for the Ventura County Bar Association to begin keeping such a database and posting them on the VCBA website? If so, I would be interested in helping organize and lead such an effort. These emails and phone calls are becoming a big problem in our community and could lead to serious problems for VCBA members.

Joshua A. Burt has a solo practice in Ventura. He advises clients about intellectual property and employment and handles civil litigation, including personal injury.

VCBA understands the demands of a modern-day law practice. We are pleased to offer our busy members online continuing legal education. As a VCBA member, you can enjoy streaming video programs and earn participatory units from the comfort of your home or office. We invite you to explore our wide variety of courses.

Current online CLE programs:

Ethical Considerations in Estate Planning
1.0 Ethics | 1 Hour and 27 Minutes
Participants will explore:
• Performing competent legal services
• Identifying the client
• Avoiding conflicts of interest
• Distinguishing between privileged and non-privileged communications
• Establishing reasonable attorney’s fees

Securities Litigation and Enforcement: What To Expect In 2012
1.0 General | 1 Hour and 25 Minutes
Participants will explore:
• Dodd Frank litigation and enforcement
• SEC priorities and actions
• Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
• Where are all the securities class actions?

Avoiding Addiction and Substance Abuse Through Meditation
2.0 General | 1 Hour and 54 Minutes
Topics
There is no doubt that lawyers experience a great deal of stress in their daily lives. The combination of unrelieved stress and unconscious craving often contribute to substance abuse and addictive behaviors. The practice of meditation can help make us aware of our habitual patterns, while alleviating our stress and cravings.
During the workshop, we will spend some time in silent meditation and some in guided meditation. We will also examine the roots of addictive behaviors, and talk about a four-step model that can be used to interrupt the usual cycle of addictive behavior.

Alcohol Abuse and Alcohol Monitoring
1.0 General | 1 Hour
Participants will explore:
• Discussion of alcohol abuse and addictions
• Discussion of testing methods for both
• Using technology and treatments to effect behavioral change
• Family courts can have evidence re: if either issue is present or clients can have proof of abstention

Expand Your Practice: Learn How to Handle a Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Case
3.0 General | 196 Minutes
Participants will explore:
This is a how-to-do-it program. By the end of the seminar you will have a basic understanding of Chapter 11 practice, from client intake to entry of the final decree closing the case. You will possess the tools you will need to handle a Chapter 11 case.
It is intended for:
• All lawyers whose clients are adversely affected by the Great Recession
• Any business, real estate, or commercial lawyer whose clients are encountering insolvency, their own or others
• Chapter 7 and 13 lawyers whose clients can’t meet Chapter 13 eligibility requirements and for whom Chapter 11 may be their only alternative

Other CLE’s include…
 Take A Tax Holiday: Understanding Tax-Free Acquisitions of Private Corporations
 Recent Developments in Business Bankruptcy
 Recent Developments in Elder Law Litigation
 California Tackles Climate Change: The Context and Prospects for Cap and Trade Regulation of Greenhouse Gases in California Under Assembly Bill 32
 Effective Advocacy at Mediation: How to Maximize Your Client’s Chances for Settlement
 How To/Can You Make A Living Representing Clients In Foreclosures
 View the complete catalog

By Joshua S. Hopstone

When did you last give a thought to the Maxims of Jurisprudence? Civ. Code, §§3509 – 3548. Codified in 1872, those quaint proverbial sayings exemplify some of our most fundamental legal canons. “The greater contains the less.” §3536. “Time does not confirm a void act.” §3539. “No one should suffer by the act of another.” §3520. You can read them all in two minutes, and I suggest you do; they may bring you a smile.

What is puzzling, though, is why the Legislature found it necessary to formally codify them. Sir James Mackintosh said “Maxims are the condensed Good Sense of Nations.” (This phrase became the motto of Herbert Broom’s Legal Maxims (1839)). Condensed, certainly. And by their own terms, they are “intended not to qualify any of the foregoing provisions of this [Civil Code], but to aid in their just application.” §3509. But if they are so universal, why did they need to be permanently branded in the Civil Code? Do the Maxims today satisfy their stated purpose of aiding us in the just application of the law? What is their role in modern jurisprudence?

Maxims “are phrases, solemn and imposing in form, which seldom or never render any real assistance in the solution of a legal puzzle; but on the contrary actually retard that solution. They are mere truisms; or mere identical propositions; or moral precepts; or principles of legislation; but not working rules of law.” Jeremiah Smith, The Use of Maxims in Jurisprudence, 9 Harv. L. Rev. 13, 14 (1895). In other words, while the Maxims
undoubtedly provide us a unique glimpse into the historical foundation of our common sense of equity, justice, and individual freedom – the very fabric of our society – conceptually, they are not “law” because they are not enforceable.

Consider section 3514: “One must so use his own rights as not to infringe upon the rights of another.” Sounds great, right? (Besides the fact that if such was the reality many of us litigators would be out of a job…).  It seems, though, more a statement of universal morality than a concrete law – something that should “go without saying” instead of requiring a code section to be applicable.

Smith wrote that this maxim, “‘Sic utere tuo ut alienum non laedas,’ is mere verbiage. A party may damage the property of another where the law permits; and he may not where the law prohibits; so that the maxim can never be applied till the law is ascertained; and, when it is, the maxim is superfluous.” “This affords no aid…in determining whether the act complained of is actionable, that is, unlawful. It amounts to no more than a truism: An unlawful act is unlawful.” Smith, supra, 9 Harv. L. Rev. at 14-16.

Continue reading – March 2012 CITATIONS

Joshua S. Hopstone is an associate at Ferguson Case Orr Paterson LLP in Ventura whose practice spans family law, business litigation, and appeals.

Members of the Bench and Bar will gather on March 27th for VCTLA’s annual Judges’ Night. VCTLA invites all to join its members as it honors retired Judge Charles W. Campbell for his service as trial judge in People v. McInerney, at the dinner event held at the Courtyard by Marriott in Oxnard. The evening will also include the presentation of a portrait of retired Judge Ken W. Riley. The portrait will be placed in Courtroom 22.

• Please mail reservations with check payable to VCTLA to P.O. Box 5292, Ventura, CA 93003
• Questions? Contact Gregory Johnson, VCTLA Treasurer at (805)988.3661

By Kate Neiswender

The first time you meet author Mary Neiswender she’s in jail, face-to-face with Charlie Manson:

“I remember the first time I saw him smile: ‘So you’re Mary.’ I smiled back: ‘So you’re Charlie.’”

So begins “Assassins… Serial Killers… Corrupt Cops,” the memoir of the woman who spent 40 years covering the LA waterfront, politics and “cops and courts” for the Long Beach Press-Telegram, then part of the Knight- Ridder chain of newspapers. In the 1970s and 1980s, Mary Neiswender was perhaps the number-one name in investigative journalism in California, winning every award that could be garnered. She was given commendations from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and the City of Los Angeles, the State Legislature, the Criminal Courts Bar Association, Sigma Delta Chi (the journalism fraternity), plus investigative reporting and writing awards from the Associated Press, United Press International, the Los Angeles Press Club and many more. Twice, she was nominated for the Pultizer Prize.

Kate Neiswender has a land use and litigation practice in Ventura. She grew up answering the phone for her mother when Charlie Manson and other serial killers called the house from jail, which happened often.

Continue Reading - April CITATIONS 

Ventura County’s newest judge, Matthew Guasco, has had an exceptionally diverse legal career. Besides trying cases and handling numerous appellate cases that have resulted in published decisions, Judge Guasco has taught in law schools throughout the world, and at Pepperdine University. He hosted a legal show on cable television for two years. He is a past president of the Ventura County Bar Association. Many of
us in the county, however, knew him best as one of Ventura County’s go-to mediators.

For this reason, in addition to CITATIONS’ traditional judicial profile, we asked Oxnard trial attorney/mediator David Karen, principal of the DK Law Group and 11th Hour Mediation, to ask Judge Guasco to reflect on how his past experiences as a mediator, appellate attorney and ADR educator may come into play in his new profession.

Continue reading – March 2012  CITATIONS

David M. Karen is principal of DK Law Group and 11th Hour Mediation, in Oxnard.

More Thoughts on Coffee

Dear Editor,
Paul Coffee [see Feb. 2012 cover story] is still a very active member of the American Board of Trial Advocates and attends most every meeting. Despite the fact that he’s an appellate justice, he is still a very down-toearth guy and is always willing to share some of his war stories about his various trials, some of which he won, some of which he did not. Members of the Ventura County Trial Lawyers Association also appreciate his attendance at their meetings. I have a lot of respect for Justice Coffee even though he was a brown shoe in the Navy and I was a black shoe.

Alan R. Templeman, Lowthrop, Richards,
McMillan, Miller & Templeman

Presidents in Passing

At the joint meeting of the outgoing and incoming board members for the Ventura County Bar Association in December, Joe Strohman and I were discussing the fact that we were both past-Presidents of Barristers. He said he had recently looked at the plaque of the past-Presidents. He asked me if I knew where “Jill Ostern” was. I told him, “Yes. She’s standing right in front of you.” We both had a good laugh.

Jill L. Friedman, Myers, Widders, Gibson,
Jones & Schneider, Ventura