The Ponist Law Group represented a school serving special needs students against lessor attempting to terminate school’s lease. After a bench trial, the judge rejected lessor’s efforts to terminate the lease early and, instead, awarded the school an extension of its lease.
This case was featured on San Diego 7 NBC. View the feature below.
After a three-year investigation, the California Attorney General’s Office filed a sweeping civil enforcement action against a nonprofit organization, its directors, and affiliated companies that supported the charity’s operations. The complaint alleged serious claims, including breach of fiduciary duty, self-dealing, diversion of charitable assets, and misrepresentation. The Attorney General sought more than $20 million in restitution, fines, and penalties, along with over $2 million in purportedly “mandatory” attorney’s fees.
Following five years of hard-fought litigation and a three-month trial, the Ponist Law Group secured a defense verdict on every substantive claim. The only issue on which the Attorney General prevailed involved record-keeping deficiencies.
The outcome was decisive. Instead of the more than $20 million sought, the court awarded just $14,000 in fines and penalties. Instead of over $2 million in attorney’s fees, the court awarded $35,800.
The Ponist Law Group’s (PLG) clients had purchased a new, high-end home for $3.1 million several years back. The home was supposed to be their dream home but, instead, it turned out to be a nightmare. Shortly after the close of escrow, our clients discovered significant construction defects. PLG filed suit on behalf of our clients against the developer-sellers as well as the real agent and brokerage company and, after a series of victories in Court—including an award of summary adjudication as well as issue and evidentiary sanctions—we were able to obtain a settlement on behalf of our clients for rescission and $8.85 million.
The Ponist Law Group (“PLG”) represented clients wrongly accused of failing to pay back a purchase money loan and of fraud in connection therewith. Attacking the merits of the action, PLG moved for dismissal (judgment on the pleadings). Based on the strength of PLG’s moving papers, the other side dismissed the action and agreed to a full release of all claims against our clients. The great result—i.e., a complete dismissal of the action early in the proceedings—saved our clients significant time, expense and aggravation of protracted litigation.