Attorney Scott L Tillett's Legal Cases

Appeals

Mazik v. GEICO General Insurance Company (2019) 35 Cal.App.5th 455

May 17, 2019

OUTCOME: Affirmed $1 million punitive damage award

After plaintiff was injured in a serious car accident, GEICO unreasonably delayed paying him the policy limits on an underinsured motorist policy. Plaintiff’s action for insurance bad faith resulted in ... a significant compensatory damages award and a seven-figure punitive damages award. In a published opinion, the Court of Appeal affirmed the judgment in full. The appellate court held that the evidence was sufficient to show that GEICO’s managing agent had ratified conduct warranting punitive damages and that GEICO had acted with “oppression, fraud, or malice” in disregarding information showing that plaintiff had a permanent, painful injury. Given the reprehensibility of GEICO’s conduct, the appellate court held that the seven-figure punitive damages award was not constitutionally excessive.

Appeals

Nolasco v. Scantibodies Laboratory, Inc. (Feb. 26, 2019, No. D071923)

Feb 26, 2019

OUTCOME: Affirmed $2.5 million jury verdict for plaintiffs

Plaintiffs were retaliated against after they disclosed information about the serious safety concerns relating to defendant’s plasma program to the United States Food and Drug Administration. Plaintiff ... s won a seven‑figure judgment consisting of compensatory and punitive damages. The Court of Appeal affirmed the judgment in full, holding that the trial court had properly instructed the jury that whistleblower protection is not limited to the first employee to disclose, that the trial court had properly handled deliberations involving abstaining and alternate jurors, and that plaintiffs had adequately established their retaliation claims.

Appeals

J.W. v. Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc. (2018) 29 Cal.App.5th 1142

Dec 10, 2018

OUTCOME: Affirmance of $4 million Judgment

This child-molestation action resulted in a seven-figure default judgment after defendant refused to produce documents concerning known molesters in the defendant’s church. In a published opinion, the ... Court of Appeal affirmed the judgment, holding that plaintiff had adequately alleged proximate cause based on a pedophile church elder having molested her and that terminating sanctions were appropriate given defendant’s discovery abuses.

Appeals

B.B. v. County of Los Angeles (2018) 25 Cal.App.5th 115, review granted Oct. 10, 2018

Aug 09, 2018

OUTCOME: Partial affirmance of $8 million jury verdict (Review granted by Cal. Supreme Court)

In this wrongful death civil rights action, the Court of Appeal affirmed the entire $8 million judgment, rejecting defendants’ arguments regarding causation, misconduct by trial counsel, and excessive ... damages. The appellate court also reversed and remanded the grant of summary adjudication to defendants on plaintiffs’ Bane Act claim. On the only issue we lost (concerning apportionment of noneconomic damages caused in part by an intentional tortfeasor), we were able to convince the California Supreme Court to grant review.

Appeals

Padron v. Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc. (2017) 16 Cal.App.5th 1246

Nov 09, 2017

OUTCOME: Affrirmed

In this published opinion, the Court of Appeal succinctly stated that the key issue was whether a superior court can impose “a hefty daily monetary sanction” on a party who steadfastly refuses to compl ... y with a discovery order. It emphatically answered yes. In so ruling, the Court rejected the entire array of defense arguments ranging from the alleged interference with Watchtower’s First Amendment rights (including “religious polity and administration”), its claim that it lacked possession or control of the documents, and its alleged concerns for the constitutional privacy rights of third parties. This opinion, which so severely criticized Watchtower’s “cavalier” attitude towards valid court orders and its downright “defiance,” has created a heavy collateral estoppel burden that will plague Watchtower—a litigious party in cases involving sexual abuse—hereafter.

Appeals

Lopez v. Watchtower Bible & Tract Soc'y of New York, Inc. (2016) 246 Cal.App.4th 566

Apr 14, 2016

OUTCOME: Affirmed in part

In this published opinion, the Fourth Appellate District agreed with the trial court’s determination that the plaintiff, a victim of childhood molestation, was entitled to discovery of documents regard ... ing the perpetrators of child sex abuse, to show that the religious organization had institutional knowledge of widespread, unreported acts of child molestation, including previous acts by Lopez’s assailant, rendering the organization potentially liable for Lopez’s claims. The court rejected the organization’s objections to the discovery-based upon its claims of clergy-penitent privilege and First Amendment religious freedom.

Scott L Tillett's Legal Cases (6)

Mazik v. GEICO General Insurance Company (2019) 35 Cal.App.5th 455

Nolasco v. Scantibodies Laboratory, Inc. (Feb. 26, 2019, No. D071923)

J.W. v. Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc. (2018) 29 Cal.App.5th 1142

B.B. v. County of Los Angeles (2018) 25 Cal.App.5th 115, review granted Oct. 10, 2018

Padron v. Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc. (2017) 16 Cal.App.5th 1246

Lopez v. Watchtower Bible & Tract Soc'y of New York, Inc. (2016) 246 Cal.App.4th 566