Attorney David Clark Jones's Legal Cases

Elder law

Brothers v. Brother

Feb 06, 2017

OUTCOME: No capacity, the trust was invalidated, reinstating the prior three-way split trust

Two sons of an elderly deceased lady lived in the Sacramento area. She lived in the bay area near her youngest son. For nearly 15 years, her estate plan was to split her estate equally with her three s ... ons. Six months before she died, her youngest son took her to an attorney who drafted a trust amendment and video taped the execution of the trust leaving the fully paid for bay area house to the youngest son. Our expert determined that the lady did not have capacity to execute the trust amendment and that she was susceptible to undue influence by the youngest son. The two older brothers sued their younger brother.

Litigation

Commercial Real Estate Guaranties Litigation

Oct 27, 2015

OUTCOME: 97% discount on money owed

A real estate developer through his company took out two loans to develop land in the central valley. The developer and another of his companies personally guaranteed the loans (our clients). The real ... estate market took a severe downturn during his work on the property and he was unable to make payments on the loans. He defaulted on nearly $4.5 million in loans. The loan company foreclosed on the property and then sued him and his company as the guarantors on the loan for the remainder of the loan. The case went up on appeal, our clients won, and we were prepping the case for trial on the issue of whether the guaranties our clients executed were what the law calls "sham guaranties". At the mandatory settlement conference before trial, the amount of money our clients owed (with interest) was approximately $6.5 million dollars. We were able to negotiate a settlement with the loan company that would allow our clients to pay $200,000 to settle the entire $6.5 million dollar dispute. That amount is a mere 3% of the total owed--a tremendous outcome.

Criminal defense

People v. Shoplifter

Sep 25, 2015

OUTCOME: 30-day home dentention plea bargain

A lady came to me with a notice to appear for misdemeanor shoplifting. She had a prior felony burglary conviction and three prior theft arrests. Even with her priors, we were able to convince the DA to ... give her a maximum of 30 days in custody and to let her serve the time in home detention.

Criminal defense

Felony Sex Crime Case

Sep 11, 2015

OUTCOME: Plea Bargain - 2 years with 50% credit instead of 20+ years in prison

My client was charged with 18 felony counts of statutory rape of two girls under 16, oral copulation with two girls under 16, and sodomy of a girl under 16. He was facing over 20 years in prison if con ... victed on all counts. Despite a confession from my client (before I was retained), I was able to get him two years in prison with 50% credit.

Probate

Sister vs. Ex-wife Probate Dispute

Aug 28, 2015

OUTCOME: ~$150,000 paid to my client

A gentleman died 20+ years after he divorced his wife. In those 20 years, he never changed his life insurance beneficiary nor took his ex-wife off his checking accounts. His sister sued our client (the ... ex-wife) claiming she should not receive the money from the bank accounts or the life insurance because her brother must have forgotten to remove ex-wife from the accounts. We fought hard against the sister because the law was on our side and because it appeared that the husband still loved his ex-wife and may very well have intended to provide for her after his death. On the eve of trial, we were able to help the sister and ex-wife negotiate a win-win for each of them wherein they each took some of the money the husband left. That resulted in a windfall of approximately $150,000 to our client.

Litigation

Employment Law Dispute

Jun 01, 2015

OUTCOME: Win for our client

An employee of a corporation had not been paid for her work. We attempted to get the corporation to pay her for the work she did. It refused. We sued in Sacramento Superior Court, went to trial, and go ... t a jury verdict in our favor the entire amount requested.

Criminal defense

Eight count complaint, five felonies (including a strike) and three misdemeanors

Jan 14, 2011

OUTCOME: No strike and no jail time plea bargain

My client was charged with five felonies (including a strike) and three misdemeanors all stemming from his contracting without a license. The charges included burglary, theft from an elder, grand theft ... , contracting without a license, etc. My client was facing a strike conviction, many years in prison, $80,000 in restitution, and tens of thousands in fines. I was able to get a plea bargain for one felony and two misdemeanors with the other charges dropped. The agreement was for probation, prevented the strike, had no jail time presuming my client did not violate probation, no restitution, prevented the alleged victim from suing him, some community service, and only $5,000 in fines. Considering the enormity of the penalties facing my client at the start of the case and the relatively strong case the prosecution had, this outcome was spectacular.

Criminal defense

DUI Drugs

Mar 03, 2006

OUTCOME: Not guilty on all counts

My client was charged with driving under the influence of drugs. We took the case to jury trial and got a not guilty verdict on all counts.

Criminal defense

Child Endangerment, Resisting Arrest, Battery on Peace Officer

Nov 07, 2005

OUTCOME: Not Guilty on all charges

My client was charged with child endangerment, battery, battery on a peace officer, and resisting arrest. We took the case to jury trial and got a "not guilty" verdict on all counts.

David Clark Jones's Legal Cases (9)

Brothers v. Brother

Commercial Real Estate Guaranties Litigation

People v. Shoplifter

Felony Sex Crime Case

Sister vs. Ex-wife Probate Dispute

Employment Law Dispute

Eight count complaint, five felonies (including a strike) and three misdemeanors

DUI Drugs

Child Endangerment, Resisting Arrest, Battery on Peace Officer