Civil Litigation & Trials

Experience matters. In litigation, you want an attorney who has repeatedly been there; who has been through all phases of litigation including all pleadings, discovery, pretrial, mediation and, if necessary, trial. Our litigators are just that, litigators. They have the experience, confidence and instincts needed to take your matter all the way through to trial if necessary. Our experience is real and solid, earned from hundreds of trials and arbitrations, before judges and juries, in both state and federal courts.

Successful defense of Harbor District in complex contract case alleging breach of commercial leases

Olde Port Inn, Inc., et al. v. Port San Luis Harbor District, San Luis Obispo County Superior Court

Martin Moroski and David Cumberland represented public entity defendant, Port San Luis Harbor District (“District”), in six week jury trial of case involving claims of multiple breaches of three commercial leases in San Luis Obispo County Superior Court in 2006. The plaintiffs, two business lessees and their principals, asked the jury to award $3.5 million in damages. The jury returned defense verdicts on 17 of 18 special verdicts submitted for decision. The District obtained a recovery on its cross-complaint, which completely offset the lone plaintiff verdict ($50,000) returned by the jury.

Successful defense of family farming operation in ‘bet the business’ contract and fraud case

Gary L. Clodfelter v. Roden Farms, et al., San Luis Obispo County Superior Court

Martin Moroski represented defendants, a family farming operation and members of the family, in three-week court trial of case involving claims of contract breach, fraud and trade secret misappropriation in San Luis Obispo County Superior Court in 2004. The plaintiff sought damages in the range of $10 million to $15 million. The Court entered a defense judgment on plaintiff’s complaint and awarded defendants restitution damages on their cross-complaint against plaintiff.

Successful defense of Proposition 65 case

Victoria Stuart v. San Luis Paints, et al., San Luis Obispo County Superior Court

David Cumberland represented One Shot LLC, a subsidiary of International Paint, and International Paint, which was sued by the Plaintiff, Victoria Stuart, for violating Proposition 65, a statute which was enacted in 1986 to promote clean drinking water and to keep toxic substances that cause cancer and birth defects out of consumer products. Plaintiff claimed One Shot Paints failed to place proper warning labels on hundreds of thousands of commercial sign painting cans. The case was tried in 2001 in San Luis Obispo County Superior Court. The Court rendered a defense judgment to One Shot LLC and International Paint. Prior to trial, a demand was made for $100,000,000.00, reduced to $10,000,000.00 immediately before trial.

Successful defense of area’s leading wine compliance consultant

Beer & Wine Services, Inc. v. Dumas, Compli, et al., San Luis Obispo County Superior Court

Martin Moroski defended the leading wine and alcohol compliance business on the Central Coast in a case filed by a competitor from Napa county alleging unfair competition, misappropriation of trade secrets and breach of contract in San Luis Obispo County Superior Court. After the fourth day of a jury trial, the trial court granted Mr. Moroski’s clients’ motion for non-suit on all claims. The trial court’s judgment of non-suit was affirmed by the court of appeal.

Successful defense of Golden State Warriors contractual rights

Oakland-Alameda County Authority v. Golden State Warriors, JAMS Arbitration

Steven Adamski represented the Golden State Warriors, the San Francisco Bay Area’s NBA basketball team, in a number of litigation and non-litigation matters relating to the financing, management and operation of the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Arena. Mr. Adamski obtained a defense arbitration award in the binding arbitration of the Oakland-Alameda County Authority’s $40 million damages claim against the Warriors. The Authority claimed in its suit that the Warriors were responsible for the failure of a plan to finance the remodel of the Arena, in part, through the sale of personal seat licenses and the collection of luxury suite deposits. After a lengthy arbitration, the arbitrator found that the Warriors were not responsible for and the Authority was not entitled to any damages. In addition, the award was affirmed by the San Francisco County Superior Court. Mr. Adamski also obtained awards in favor of the team that resulted in tens of millions of dollars in damages and additional revenue for the team.

Partner dissolution case involving ‘old’ Golden State Warriors

CCE, Inc. v. BILP Partners, LP, San Francisco County Superior Court

Martin Moroski and Steven Adamski teamed up with the late (and legendary) William A. Brockett and represented the limited partner in the partnership that then owned and operated the NBA franchise Golden State Warriors in a lawsuit against the general partner alleging breach of fiduciary duty. The lawsuit sought a decree dissolving the partnership and ordering the public sale of the basketball franchise. Through and as a result of the lawsuit, the client purchased the managing general partner’s interest in the franchise at a private auction, thereby becoming the sole owner of the NBA franchise.

Representation of successful plaintiff in record-setting domain name theft case

Kremen v. Cohen, et al., U.S. District Court, Northern District of California

Steven Adamski and Martin Moroski associated with the San Francisco law firm Kerr & Wagstaffe, LLP, to represent Gary Kremen in his lawsuit to recover the stolen Internet domain name ‘sex.com’ and recover damages resulting from its theft. The plaintiff registered the domain name in 1994. Subsequently, the domain name was stolen by the defendant through the use of a forged signature submitted to Network Solutions, Inc. After court trial in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, the Court affirmed its earlier preliminary injunction ordering the domain name returned to plaintiff. In addition, the Court awarded plaintiff compensatory and punitive damages totaling $65 million, reported to be the largest damages award ever in a case involving theft of a domain name at the time.

Successful defense of professional sports franchise in dispute with SportsChannel

SportsChannel Bay Area v. Golden State Warriors, Alameda County Superior Court

Steven Adamski and co-counsel successfully resisted an application for preliminary injunction sought by SportsChannel against the Golden State Warriors. SportsChannel claimed in its lawsuit that the contract between the Warriors and a local Bay Area over-the-air station to broadcast certain Warriors games violated a “right of first refusal” provision in SportsChannel’s expired contract with the Warriors. After defeating SportsChannel’s request for a preliminary injunction, Mr. Adamski successfully negotiated a resolution of the case by which the Warriors entered into new contracts with both SportsChannel and the over-the-air broadcaster, resulting in a significant revenue increase for the Warriors.