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De Castro, West Partner Mark Share Moderates Bench Officer Roundtable on Injunctions, Receiverships, Attachments: Breakfast with the Experts 2008

Mark Share, a partner in the litigation and real estate practice groups with De Castro, West, Chodorow, Glickfeld & Nass, recently led the charge for the Los Angeles County Bar Association's Remedies Section as moderator of a one-hour roundtable discussion. Mr. Share secured the participation of all four of the bench officers who handle provisional remedies matters in the Central District.

Despite the early hour, the meeting was a sell-out, with standing–room only crowds and lively discussion. Judge Yaffe generously provided his large Courtroom as the venue for the event.

"This program offered everything a practitioner could ever want to know about how to be successful in this practice area," Mr. Share says. "This information is like gold."

The panel included Judge David P. Yaffe, Judge James C. Chalfant, Commissioner Bruce E. Mitchell, and Commissioner Victor H. Greenberg. Judge Yaffe and Commissioners Mitchell and Greenberg offered considerable experience to the audience, as they have been overseeing these matters for some years. Judge Chalfant, who is somewhat new to the calendar, offered insights into his expectations and demands of the practitioners coming before him in the future. Judge Chalfant is taking over for a veteran jurist who has recently retired.

"The audience questions showed a decidedly practical bent," Mr. Share, a Past Chair of the Remedies Section of the Bar, says. "These practitioners understand how complex and significant this practice is."

Mark L. Share is an AV-rated (highest available rating) litigator and real estate attorney. He guides clients through sophisticated business transactions and counsels commercial and residential property owners, business entities, and executives. He can be reached at mshare@dwclaw.com.

Bringing the Past into the Present

De Castro, West Senior Trial Lawyer Judianne Jaffe Wins Lengthy Probate Fight

After months of protracted legal wrangling coming from her opponents, De Castro, West partner Judianne Jaffe won a complete victory in probate court. The case involved an intestate (no will) estate of some considerable value.

The deceased, Cindy Cameron, was 85 years old when she passed away in 2006. She had been an actress and real estate investor.

"We prevailed on summary judgment in the estate matter, where Cameron's cousin sought to be the executor and an intestate heir based on being Cameron's ‘equitably adopted' sister," Ms. Jaffe says. "We established that equitable adoption was not recognized in the state of Kansas where the so-called adoption in 1935 would have taken place."

De Castro, West represented Miss Cameron's niece and two grand-nieces against Miss Cameron's first cousin. The cousin claimed she was Miss Cameron's rightful heir. She demanded priority of appointment as executor, asserting she was Miss Cameron's "equitably adopted" sister. The cousin based this claim on the fact that Miss Cameron's widowed father married the cousin's mother (his brother's widow) in 1935. She claimed Miss Cameron's father was too poor during the Depression to legally adopt her.

"Even under California law, which recognizes equitable adoption, there must be a legal barrier that prevents formal adoption, for an equitable adoption claim to prevail," Ms. Jaffe, who focuses her practice on complex business litigation, says. "The court ruled as a matter of law that lack of money to pay for a legal adoption is not a ‘legal barrier' under the California statute."

The cousin also claimed she was the trustee and beneficiary of a "land trust" into which Miss Cameron had placed her commercial property in 1998. However, Ms. Jaffe established that the cousin had signed a Quitclaim Deed, intending to return the property to Miss Cameron, at Miss Cameron's request, in 2003.

Superior Court Judge John L. Segal ruled on the summary judgment motion regarding the alleged equitable adoption, and presided over the bench trial on the land trust issue.

"We prevailed at trial on the ‘trust' issue," Ms. Jaffe, who tried the matter with the assistance of associates Yona Conzevoy and Sharon Nolfi, says. "The cousin claimed that she owned the real property in trust for herself as successor beneficiary, despite having signed and delivered a quitclaim deed to Miss Cameron three years before Miss Cameron's death."

The court ruled after a four-day bench trial that the quitclaim deed was intended to return all right, title and interest in the real property to Miss Cameron in her own name. The Court decided that, as a result, the real property was part of the intestate estate. In this circumstance, the land was appropriately inherited by Ms. Jaffe's clients, Miss Cameron's niece and grand-nieces.

Judianne Jaffe focuses her practice on complex business litigation and trials in the California courts, U.S. District Courts and U.S. Tax Court. She represents clients in regulatory disputes, arbitrations and judicial references. Ms. Jaffe represents North American and Pacific Rim companies from a wide variety of industries. She earned her Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Southern California Law School, Order of the Coif. In addition to the State Bar of California, Ms. Jaffe is admitted to practice before the U.S. Tax Court and the U.S. District Court for all California districts. She can be reached at (310) 478-2541 or via e-mail at jjaffe@dwclaw.com.

De Castro, West Adds Two Attorneys

De Castro, West, Chodorow, Glickfeld & Nass, Inc. expands its Westside presence with the addition of two attorneys: Associate Yona Conzevoy focuses his practice on litigation and trust and estate matters; Associate Scott M. Tansey specializes in the estate planning and taxation areas.

Mr. Conzevoy comes to the firm from Greenberg Traurig. He earned his Juris Doctorate degree in 2004 from the Columbia University School of Law, where he was the senior student editor of the American Review of International Arbitration from 2002 through 2004. Mr. Conzevoy clerked for United States District Judge Terry J. Hatter, Jr., in 2002. Mr. Conzevoy is admitted to practice law in both California and Texas, where he clerked for Texas Supreme Court Justice David M. Medina. Mr. Conzevoy is a member of the Litigation section of the Los Angeles County Bar Association and the Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution sections of the Beverly Hills Bar Association.


Mr. Tansey graduated cum laude, with honors, in 1995 with an LLM degree in taxation from the New York University School of Law. While at the New York University School of Law, he wrote extensively for the law review. In 1994, he earned his Juris Doctorate degree from the Southwestern University School of Law. Mr. Tansey worked at Greenberg Traurig and later developed expertise running his own estate planning practice.

Partners Jerry L. Kay and Mark L. Share Reverse Real Estate Deal Disaster

Attorneys Representing Buyer Alana Stewart Recover More Than $375,000

In a binding arbitration proceeding with numerous experts before a retired Superior Court Judge, De Castro, West, Chodorow, Glickfeld & Nass, Inc. won a significant victory for real estate investor Alana Stewart on her claims against the seller of a residential property. The damages amount includes substantial relocation funds for Ms. Stewart.

Trial attorneys Jerry L. Kay and Mark L. Share defeated the opposing party's petition to vacate the award, which they lodged as part of the award confirmation proceedings. The Firm won attorneys' fees at the arbitration.

"All that our client wanted to do was buy the residential property in a habitable condition," trial counsel and long-time De Castro partner Jerry L. Kay says. "And the law protects buyers from sellers who try to conceal important issues regarding real estate."

During escrow, Ms. Stewart became concerned about mold and drainage issues. So she had the seller sign a statement as part of the escrow process that assured her that the conditions that created the mold would be remedied.

"We argued successfully during the arbitration that once the seller signed off on that aspect of the escrow process, it became part of the sales agreement on the property," parner Mark L. Share says. "But the seller knew when he signed the agreement that the conditions had not been remedied."

De Castro counsel convinced the arbitrator that by including that language in the escrow documents, Ms. Stewart put the seller on notice that she would not close escrow unless the seller remedied the conditions. However, when Ms. Stewart took possession of her home, she discovered that the causes of water intrusion had not been corrected and mold was returning.

"When the client investigated, she discovered that a number of defects had not been repaired, including a crack in the foundation and black mold. Ms. Stewart became extremely concerned at that point, and understandably so - our client reasonably relied on the seller's word that the repairs had been accomplished, when in reality, they hadn't," Mr. Kay says. "We convinced the arbitrator this was a breach of the parties' contract."

The award has now been paid in full.

"I'm pleased with this result," Mr. Share, who works extensively in the real estate area, says. "Ms. Stewart's rights have finally been satisfactorily vindicated under the law."

"Statute Of Limitations: How Long Can This Go On?"

Michael C. Cohen was a featured speaker on October 23, 2006 at the UCLA 2006 Tax Controversy Institute. Mr. Cohen spoke regarding recent rulings and cases interpreting the 6-year federal statute of limitations that is applicable, at the individual and partnership levels, when 25% of gross income has been omitted from a return.

Mark L. Share Speaks at L.A. County Bar Real Property Program

LOS ANGELES, May 16, 2006 - Mark L. Share, a real property lawyer in Los Angeles' De Castro, West, Chodorow, Glickfeld & Nass, Inc., today co-presented a lunch program on "Non-Policy Theories of Liability - Escrow, Sub-Escrow, Closing Protection Letters and More." The event was sponsored by the Title Insurance Sub-Committee of the Los Angeles County Bar Association's Real Property Section.

The program covered the various theories of escrow or title company liability not based on the title policy or escrow instructions. As part of his speech, Mr. Share provided "in the trenches" illustrations, including examples of bad faith, breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing, breach of fiduciary duties, negligence, negligent breach of contract, escrow and sub-escrow liability, and closing protection letters.

Terry S. Kaplan of Billet Kaplan & Dawley shared the podium.

De Castro, West, Chodorow, Glickfeld & Nass provides planning and advocacy to clients in complex business transactions and litigation. The firm helps individuals, private entities and public corporations navigate the legal intricacies of both the boardroom and the courtroom through strategic counseling, innovative planning and aggressive representation. De Castro, West is a full-service law firm, handling almost every type of legal matter for nearly every kind of enterprise. For more information about De Castro, West, Chodorow, Glickfeld and Nass, call (310) 478-2541 or e-mail tray@dwclaw.com.