Case Results

Dangerous condition, nuisance and inverse condemnation claims. On Valentine’s Day 2019, an unmaintained corrugated metal pipe that was supposed to drain Highway 101 above homes in Sausalito gushed thousands of gallons of rainwater into the hillside, causing a massive landslide that destroyed three houses and severely damaged Plaintiff’s foundation. Mr. Rouda achieved a $1,000,000 court-supervised settlement. Two weeks later, on the eve of trial, Caltrans reneged, to prevent Mr. Rouda from being prepared for trial. Despite a judge and seasoned litigators saying his odds were slim, Mr. Rouda was undaunted. He prepared for trial and filed motions for sanctions and to enforce the settlement. Marin Superior Court Judges James Chou and Kelly Simmons granted all of Mr. Rouda’s motions, enforcing the settlement, plus sanctioned Caltrans and their lead counsel Sammy Obaid $143,721.81for their bad faith conduct.

Largest medical malpractice settlement ever paid in California by Kaiser Permanente. “Wrongful birth” case, where genetic counselor and ObGyn negligently failed to counsel an Ashkenazi Jewish couple before or during pregnancy about the availability of screening tests for them being carriers of Canavan disease (prevalent in that group). Couple had twin babies Yael and Yoel, both of whom were born with Canavan disease—the lack of an enzyme in the brain that causes the loss of brain tissue and behaviorial and physical disabilities, and death by the age of 10. Couple would have aborted the pregnancy had they known they were carriers.

Negligent school playground supervision of children. Elderly volunteer worker serving lunch at private school was knocked down by unsupervised children racing in an area that was supposed to be clear and monitored so that volunteers could walk to and from their duties. Previous incidents of children’s unauthorized running there had occurred. Mr. Brandt’s head hit the pavement, and she suffered a stroke and partial paralysis.

15 year old girl against neighboring private property owners and engineering consultants to City of Sebastopol for negligence when she suffered traumatic brain injury from dangerous condition of public crosswalk hidden by untrimmed oak trees and lack of warning signs.

Discrimination and wrongful eviction suit by disabled tenants against landlord attempting to harass them to move by, among other actions, generating false complaint to City that tenants’ prescribed emotional support dog “Nemo” was “vicious and dangerous”, subjecting Nemo to destruction.

Bicyclist commuting on Market Street at Octavia Street suffered head and face injuries when struck by vehicle illegally turning onto Highway 101.

Settlement of war veteran’s medical malpractice claims against V.A. for failure to timely diagnose foot injury.

Settlement for restaurant patron suffering grade three tear of shoulder and ankle injury when slipped and fell on unmaintained, muddy and poorly lit entrance walkway.

Sued and settled with 1000 defendants across U.S. on behalf of Lyon’s Partnership (owner of characters “Barney” “BJ” and “Baby Bop”) for unlicensed use of costumes and character likenesses.

Public Records Act: Reversal of Sonoma County trial court award of $45,000.00 sanctions against family seeking city disclosure of City emails about dangerous condition of public property stored on private computers of city officials because such emails ruled to be public records.

Anti-SLAPP statute: Appeal reconciling numerous prior case decisions to clarify the second prong of the anti-SLAPP statute.