Attorney Douglas Anthony Dube's Legal Cases

Real estate

NEW CINGULAR WIRELESS PCS, LLC v. Gustafson, et al.

Nov 26, 2008

OUTCOME: settled at mediation

My clients owned vacant land in Los Angeles County. An owner of adjacent land (Park) leased part of his property to Cingular for the construction of a cellular communications tower. Park misrepresent ... ed to Cingular that he had an easement over my clients' property and the property of another adjoining owner (Avetyan). Avetyan blocked access to Park and Cingular. Park then illegally graded an entire new dirt access road across my clients' property and both Park and Cingular started using it. When my clients learned of the illegal grading they sent a cease and desist letter to Park and Cingular. The City of Los Angeles filed a criminal action against Park for Code violations related to the illegal grading. Cingular filed a lawsuit against my clients alleging that it had the right to use an easement over their property (as well as the Avetyans' property). The case soon became quite complex. On behalf of my clients I sued for trespass and creation of a nuisance (because the illegal road increased the hazard of floods and mudslides). After conducting discovery we named a contractor as another cross-defendant for assisting in the illegal grading. Park sued my clients and the Avetyans for improperly blocking access, claiming he had a valid easement. Cingular sued Park for indemnity and breach of the lease. Cingular filed a motion for preliminary injunction to prevent my clients from blocking its access to the cell tower. While ruling in Cingular's favor because of a finding that Cingular would be severely harmed if the injunction was not granted, the court also commented that it was unlikely that Cingular (or Park) would be able to prove the existence of an easement. That provided the impetus for a settlement with Cingular on terms favorable to my clients. The litigation as amongst all other parties continued. The contractor filed a motion for summary judgment which we defeated, and in the course of that motion the court commented that the contractor's testimony was "difficult to accept" as credible. Soon afterward, at a mediation, the entire case was settled on terms favorable to my clients.

Securities and investment fraud

Bradley Trust et al. v. Zenith Capital LLC, et al.

Nov 26, 2008

OUTCOME: settlement very favorable to clients

Clients, a registered investment adviser and its managing members, had placed numerous investor clients in a hedge fund. After five years of solid investment returns, the SEC shut down the hedge fund ... as an illegal Ponzi scheme. Numerous investor clients who lost money at the end sued our RIA clients in state and federal courts (over a dozen cases all told), with the total claims in excess of $40M. The plaintiffs sued our RIA clients for negligence and fraud. We defended each case vigorously, preparing them for trial. As is often the case if you're prepared and willing to go to trial, the other side blinks, and all of the cases brought by former investor clients have now been settled. All of the settlements were on terms extremely favorable to our clients. In the last settlement (2 days before jury selection), in which the plaintiffs lost approximately $8M in the Ponzi scheme, the settlement amount was for less than the plaintiffs had paid to their expert witness in the 6 months leading up to the trial! One of the client reviews found on my profile page here on AVVO is from one of the managing members of the RIA. Please check out his recommendation.

Lawsuits and disputes

Morales-Vizcarra v. Dawson

Mar 26, 2008

OUTCOME: settled during trial

This case had mixed issues of probate, breach of contract, and fraud. The plaintiff, a resident of Mexico and my clients' uncle, attempted to take from my clients the property they were entitled to af ... ter their mother (the uncle's sister) died. Although under both Mexican and California law he was not entitled to any property, he coerced my clients into signing a "settlement agreement" to give him much of the property from their mother's estate. They did not honor the coerced agreement as to the property located in California. He then filed a civil action in San Diego claiming they had breached and had committed fraud in the execution of the "settlement agreement." Dissatisfied with the attorney they originally retained, Dawson and Escobar retained me to complete the litigation and go to trial. I successfully got 10 of the 12 causes of action dismissed at the commencement of trial. After the plaintiff put on his case-in-chief I got the 11th cause of action dismissed. Before going through the expense of putting on a case-in-chief for my clients, I negotiated a settlement very much in their favor.

Probate

In the Matter of: THE KETSDEVER TRUST Dated August 23, 1990

Aug 10, 2007

OUTCOME: Judgment for petitioner (my client)

My client, the Petitioner, was a beneficiary of a trust. Respondent was also a beneficiary. Respondent failed to recognize Petitioner's rights, spent all of the trust assets, and in bad faith took an ... d concealed trust assets. The Court found for Petitioner and the resulting judgment included a rare double-damages penalty for bad faith under Probate Code section 859.

Douglas Anthony Dube's Legal Cases (4)

NEW CINGULAR WIRELESS PCS, LLC v. Gustafson, et al.

Bradley Trust et al. v. Zenith Capital LLC, et al.

Morales-Vizcarra v. Dawson

In the Matter of: THE KETSDEVER TRUST Dated August 23, 1990