Floyd J. Siegal, Esq.

Constr. Defect/Real Property

• Plaintiffs sued multiple parties involved in the remodel and sale of a family residence for fraudulently concealing known water intrusion and mold problems, resulting in serious health-related issues for all four members of the family, including two minor children. The claim raised significant statute of limitation and insurance coverage issues. The parties — who had been ordered to mediation by the trial court — came to mediation reluctantly and with very low expectations, assuming it would take multiple sessions for there to be even a glimmer of hope that they might reach a settlement. Despite their pessimism, a global resolution was reached after one session.

Hostile Environment

• Claims of sexual harassment against apartment manager

Wage and Hour

• Wage and hour claim against private business entity

Wrongful Termination

• Wrongful termination lawsuit on behalf of multiple plaintiffs against national restaurant chain, alleging racial discrimination and sexual harassment
• Wrongful termination lawsuit against law firm alleging age discrimination
• Wrongful termination claim brought by 16 year employee for failure to accommodate following medical leave. Dispute resolved pre-litigation.
• Successfully resolved a wrongful termination claim based upon gender & pregnancy discrimination.

Bad Faith

• Bad faith claim arising from denial of coverage for property damage

Coverage

• Bad faith claim arising from refusal to pay policy limits in automobile v. pedestrian accident
• Claims against insurance broker for failure to procure proper insurance

Medical Malpractice

• Wrongful death/medical malpractice claim against hospital and attending physician
• Successfully resolved a wrongful death / product liability action involving an allegedly defective resuscitator.

Professional Malpractice Legal

• Legal malpractice claim arising from failure to file suit within the applicable statute of limitations

Breach Of Contract

• Using Zoom over the course of 11 hours, Floyd resolved a real estate non-disclosure case involving 5 parties (buyers, sellers, both real estate agents and a roofing contractor) with 14 total participants and 6 separate breakout-rooms.

Buy/Sell

• Claims against real estate broker/agent for failure to disclose known soil defects

Home Owners Association

• Claims of mold infestation against HOA
• Successfully resolved a dispute between HOA and homeowners who had moved the fence installed by the original developer.
• Successfully resolved a dispute between the owners of a condominium unit and their HOA concerning damage allegedly caused by a fire that originated in the common area.
• Successfully resolved a dispute between HOA and the owners of a condominium unit whose tenants were allegedly violating the CC&R’s.
• Successfully resolved a dispute between the owner of a condominium unit and the HOA personal injuries arising from exposure to mold.

Property Damage

• Successfully resolved a substantial property damage claim which arose from cleanup efforts following a fire. The claim, which was asserted against multiple defendants, was resolved in a virtual mediation attended by many participants.

Real Property

• Claims between insurance companies for unauthorized issuance of insurance policy
• Action by family members against other family members for accounting and partition of three parcels of real property.

Warranty of Habitability

• Claims by multiple tenants that apartment building was uninhabitable
• Successfully resolved claims asserted by tenant against landlord arising from bed bug infestation.
• Multiple plaintiffs sued their landlord for habitability-related claims, demanding a substantial sum for their attorney fees, which were excluded from coverage under the landlord's liability insurance policy. The landlord, represented by separate counsel, contended the insurance carrier was estopped from asserting the coverage exclusion because it had acted in bad faith. After one session, the parties reached a global resolution of plaintiffs' damage claims, agreeing to leave the amount of prevailing-party attorney fees to the discretion of the trial court, with determination of the coverage-related issues to be addressed in a subsequent mediation or another forum.
• After the parties had reached an impasse in a contested habitability matter, leaving a gap of more than $200,000, this case settled in post-mediation communications.

Business Torts

• Claims against mortuary for removal of remains

Catastrophic Injury

• Claim against nightclub for inadequate security, resulting in serious personal injuries to patron
• Successfully resolved claims brought by plaintiffs against the owner of real property and the Homeowner's Association after plaintiffs were shot and injured by a tenant. Plaintiffs alleged that the owner and the HOA had notice that the tenant posed a serious danger to the safety of other tenants.

Discrimination

• Claims against lender for racial discrimination against borrower
• Defendant was sued for violations of FEHA, Unruh Act and retaliatory eviction for failing to accommodate the asthmatic condition of minor plaintiff.

Elder Abuse

• Successfully resolved an elder abuse/wrongful death claim against an assisted living facility, where decedent developed a urinary tract infection that led to sepsis and her eventual death.

Food Safety

• Claims of food poisoning against restaurant chain.

General Negligence

• Claim against business entity for negligence resulting in amputated toe
• Claims against multiple carriers arising from boating accident

Personal Injury

• Construction-site accident resulting in traumatic brain injury
• Successfully resolved a seven-figure premises liability claim where plaintiff, a guest at a wedding, fell on uneven gravel and fractured her hip.

PI Auto

• Admitted liability automobile case, with shoulder surgery and subsequent shoulder surgery due to physician error, complicated by evidentiary issues concerning the admissibility of plaintiff's prior felony conviction for voluntary manslaughter.
• Settled auto vs. pedestrian claim against a ride-share company involving complicated economic injury claims based upon inability of artist to continue working on project, as well as an issue regarding independent contractor vs. employee status.
• Following a second mediation, defendant agreed to settle claims of serious injury asserted by a husband and wife — each of whom had undergone surgery following a truck v. automobile accident.
• Although the parties made only nominal progress during the mediation of a bad faith action, the parties later agreed to a Mediator's Proposed bracket which closed the gap. Thereafter, the parties privately and confidentially revealed their next respective demands and offers, without disclosure of those numbers to one another, resulting in further reduction of the gap. At that point, the parties agreed to consider a Mediator's Proposal, which both sides accepted.
• Successfully resolved a claim involving the distribution of multi-million in insurance proceeds tendered following a multi-vehicle trucking accident that resulted in one fatality, multiple bodily injury claims, and a significant property damage claim.

PI Sexual Assault

• Claims against health spa for inappropriate conduct of employee

PI Sexual Molestation

• Claims arising from sexual molestation of young girl by fellow students

Premises Liability

• Garden variety slip & fall case, accompanied by personal apology by defendant's VP and offer of gift card to encourage plaintiff to return as customer.
• Garden variety trip and fall in furniture store, with a twist -- plaintiff was twelve years old at time of incident and suffered a fractured hip.
• Premises liability claim involving five defendants, each with indemnity claims (either express or equitable) against one another.
• Resolved claims asserted by plaintiff and her minor son against landlord for injuries that included months-long coma resulting from carbon monoxide poisoning.

Product Liability

• Claims of product liability against healthcare company
• Product liability case alleging defective hand cart / failure to warn, which resulted in refrigerator falling on plaintiff and causing serious injuries. Resolved at last-minute Saturday mediation five days before trial was scheduled to commence.
• Plaintiff sustained injuries when a water heater exploded. According to plaintiff, he called the manufacturer's service center for instructions because the water heater was not working, but the operator failed to instruct him to turn off the gas before telling him to inspect the water heater to see whether a particular part was working.

Wrongful Death

• Wrongful death claim against commercial property owner arising from trip and fall in parking lot
• Wrongful death claim arising from negligence of assisted living facility.
• Successfully resolved a contested wrongful death action where plaintiffs had consistently refused to reduce their mid-7 figure policy-limits demand.