Recent Articles

            Picturesque Santa Monica on the coast of Southern California serves 90,000 residents and houses as many as 500,000 visitors on weekends and holidays. As the Federal Court of Appeals wrote: “Similar to other popular tourist destinations, Santa Monica is struggling to manage the disruptions brought about by the rise of short-term rentals facilitated by [...]

            A common occurrence in our area, given the frequent lack of survey monuments, is a neighbor’s inadvertent building over your property line, whether it be a driveway, a fence, a deck or even a portion of a house.  Must the encroachment over the boundary line be removed or may it legally remain in place?  [...]

            The California Legislature passed a phased lead ammunition ban signed into law by Governor Jerry in 2013. The ban was adopted following the adverse effect of lead ammunition on the endangered California Condor and other birds who sometimes feed on the entrails of animals shot by hunters. NEW LAW PHASED IN             The 2013 [...]

            I have written in earlier columns about the importance of honoring a request made by a disabled person for a guide dog, signal dog or service dog. Apparently, a certain homeowner association did not get the message.             A new Nevada case, Sanzaro v. Ardiente Homeowners Association, underscores the point. ANGEL: NOT A MERE [...]

            Underage drinking at fraternity parties and events, a historical reality on college campuses throughout the country is unacceptable and can be legally disastrous – especially when it results in serious injury or death. Today’s column discusses a case resulting from an incident at the Sigma Alpha Epsilon (“SAE”) fraternity chapter at the University of [...]

As most of you faithful Law Review readers know, more or less every April -- National Donate Life Month -- we do an organ and tissue donor column. This message bears repeating.             Well over 100,000 people in the United States are in need of an immediate organ transplant. On average, 20 people die every [...]

A landlord that successfully litigates an unlawful detainer action against a tenant should think twice before evicting the tenant from the premises.  A tenant that loses a judgment on possession of the premises has the right to appeal the judgment.  If the tenant is evicted, and then the judgment is reversed on appeal, the improperly [...]

            As every real estate agent knows, agents have a duty to disclose all material matters affecting the value or desirability of the property that they know of or should know of. So, when I read the case of Ryan v. Real Estate of the Pacific, Inc. (Pacific Sotheby’s International Realty) I was shocked at [...]

            “This case involves the most extreme partisan gerrymander to rig congressional elections that has ever been presented to this court since the one-person/one-vote cases.”             The lawyer challenging North Carolina’s fraudulent and partisan redistricting of Congressional elections to favor Republicans opened his argument with that line. A true statement. “RIGGING ELECTIONS”             Retired Supreme [...]