• Housing Law

    California Limits Collection of Security Deposits in Residential Leases to One Month of Rent Under Assembly Bill 12 (AB 12)

    October 16, 2023

                Governor Gavin Newsom has now signed AB 12, changing laws related to residential tenancy and security deposits. The amendments to California law concerning security deposits will become effective next year. No longer will landlords have authority to obtain two months of rent as a security deposit or three months [...]

  • Truckee River

    Ethan Birnberg Named 2023 Best Attorney in Truckee and Lake Tahoe

    October 13, 2023

                Porter Simon, a Truckee and Lake Tahoe-based law firm, is proud to announce that partner Ethan J. Birnberg has been named the “2023 Best Attorney” in the Truckee and North Lake Tahoe. Over 100,000 votes were cast during an approximate three-week period, according to Tahoe Daily Tribune and Sierra [...]

  • Does a Golfer Assume the Risk of Tripping on a Tree Root Near a Tee Box?

    September 29, 2023

                I am not a golfer. I prefer to walk in nature without the angst of having to hit a little white ball while doing so. Thus, I loved this quote from the First Appellate District Court of Appeal: “Golf is a sport whose object is for players to use [...]

  • Costco Gas Station Fist Fight Illustrates Good Samaritan Law

    September 1, 2023

              We’ve written about the Good Samaritan law before primarily because I want to encourage people to help others whenever possible without fear of being successfully sued. COSTCO GAS STATION FIST FIGHT             My only minor beef with getting gas at Costco is the price is so cheap there is often [...]

  • Gavel, Scales, Law Books

    My Alumni, Hastings College of the Law, Changes Name

    August 18, 2023

                When I attended Hastings College of the Law in the early 1970s, it was one of the top tier law schools in the country. And still is. I knew vaguely that the name came from Serranus Hastings who was the first Chief Justice of California. We’ve learned more about [...]

  • Leslie Van Houten – Charles Manson Cult Leader Follower – Released on Parole

    August 4, 2023

                All of us remember cult leader Charles Manson and some of us remember one of his cult followers Leslie Van Houten, who participated in the killing of Leno LaBianca and his wife Rosemary in Los Angeles. That was a day after other members of the Manson Family brutally murdered [...]

  • View of Donner Lake from the mountain in the winter

    Beware of the Snow Damage Insurance Exclusion

    July 21, 2023

                The dog days of summer are here. The mercury malevolently rises, and heat records ignominiously fall world round. But here in Truckee-Tahoe, snow is still on the mind (and on the ground).             The past winter wreaked havoc. So much so that federal and [...]

  • Gavel, Scales, Law Books

    U.S. Supreme Court Rules Against Racial Gerrymandering – Shocking

    July 7, 2023

                In recent years, the highly partisan, conservative Supreme Court has essentially gutted the Voting Rights Act by continuing to allow, if not endorse, racial gerrymandering of congressional districts. A “RED MAP” UPHELD             A bit of recent history.             North Carolina’s Republican Party drew partisan congressional districts in such [...]

  • Rental Lease Agreement

    Selling a Rental Property During the Lease: Can a Tenant Preclude the Landlord’s Real Estate Agent from Showing the House?

    June 27, 2023

                Landlords sometimes need to sell their investment property while leasing to a tenant. When this occurs, the landlord wants to enter the premises; but the tenant is understandably frustrated and concerned about this proposed invasion of privacy. A landlord is not required to wait to sell his or her [...]