The limitations of the sham guaranty defense By Benjamin Taylor Many commercial loan transactions involve a personal guaranty of repayment, given by either a principal of the borrower or a related entity. Lenders will often require a personal guaranty, sometimes from multiple guarantors, even when the underlying loan is secured by real estate or personal [...]

by PAT BRODERICK Procel figures he was way ahead of the curve when he took Thomas Jefferson School of Law to task for allegedly misrepresenting post-graduation employment statistics. In May 2011, he filed the groundbreaking suit against the San Diego law school, alleging the motive was to lure prospective students to the institution and profit [...]

Students, senators wonder if a JD is worth the cost, seek more accurate data By Don J. DeBenedictis SANTA ANA – Late last summer, Dean Bryant G. Garth asked Southwestern University School of Law’s newest entering class members if they had a friend or relative share a New York Times article exposing the financial risks [...]

Panel rules Family Medical Leave Act’s protections only extend for 12 weeks By Laura Ernde Daily Journal Staff Writer A state appellate court on Tuesday reversed a $356,000 jury verdict in favor of a Los Angeles County employee who came back from medical leave to find she was bring transferred to a new job. The [...]

LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Miller Barondess adds new partner, Erik Syverson, expanding the Century City litigation boutique by adding an internet and technology law practice. Mr. Syverson is a trial lawyer specializing in internet and e-commerce related issues. According to Miller Barondess managing partner Skip Miller, “We are very excited about Erik joining our firm. His [...]

Law school defends job statistics By Sarra Randazzo Attorneys for San Diego’s Thomas Jefferson School of Law put forward a self-deprecating argument in court papers last week to rebut claims the school misrepresented graduates’ chances of finding gainful employment – that applicants should have known the employment number wasn’t as rosy as it looked by [...]

Skip Miller Miller Barondess Miller has a track record as enviable as his sports car collection, which includes a racing Porsche GT3 and a Ferrari 360 Spider. (He sold his Lamborghini because, he says, “It’s not nearly as good a car as the other two. And how many toys can you have?”) This year, he’s [...]

Thursday, June 30, 2011 Projects Point the Way Out of Lehman Bankruptcy Auction of SunCal tracts could be a blueprint for similar properties. By Anna Scott When investment giant Lehman Brothers collapsed in 2008, it dragged down with it at least two dozen unfinished residential developments throughout California. Many of those projects, put together by [...]

Complaint Appears To Be the First To Target Educators Over Misrepresented Data

Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego has been slapped with what appears to be a first-of-its-kind lawsuit alleging the school lured students to campus with inaccurate post-graduation jobs data that misrepresented the chances of securing gainful employment…

Developer Gets $5 Million Verdict By Jason W. Armstrong Mega residential developer SunCal Companies won nearly $5 million in damages against a pair of entities it accused of reneging on an agreement for a $12.5 million land sale because the property value later jumped more than three times that amount during the real estate boom. [...]

  Britney Spears Sued for $10M Over Fragrance Line 12:04 AM 3/31/2011 by Dean Goodman (Reuters) Licensing firm Brand Sense, which helped the pop singer launch her fragrance line, alleges that Spears balked at paying commission.  Britney Spears is being sued for more than $10 million by a licensing firm that helped the pop singer [...]

Dan Miller came close to never trying a case. After law school, Miller joined Latham & Watkins with an eye toward making partner in the firm’s prestigious and lucrative corporate transactional department. That proved an odd fit from the start. In retrospect, it’s obvious Miller would pine for the courtroom: He grew up watching one [...]

    Alameda Point Developer Files New Complaint Based on New Evidence of Destruction of Documents, Demonstrates Breach of Contract and Fraud Seeks $100 million in damages from City of Alameda   Published: Tuesday, 30 Nov 2010 | 2:04 PM ET  OAKLAND, Calif., Nov 30, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) — The developer of the former Alameda Naval Air [...]

Axl Rose Sues Activision Over ‘Guitar Hero’ November 23, 2010 By Antony Bruno Guns N’ Roses singer Axl Rose is suing Activision Blizzard for $20 million over the use of the band’s classic “Welcome to the Jungle,” in the 2007 videogame Guitar Hero III. According to the lawsuit (see the full filing here), Rose wanted [...]

Partner’s Exit From Glaser Weil Gets a $4.6 Million Ending Panel of Arbitrators Awarded Litigator Skip Miller $3.3 Million ln Retirement Benefits, Despite the Fact He Set Up a Competing Law Firm Across the Street. By Gabe Friedman LOS ANGELES – The whole story behind how and why litigator Louis “Skip” Miller left the heavyweight [...]

Judge Orders Lehman, SunCal To Mediation Over CA Real Estate Jacqueline Palank 04 November 2010     A California bankruptcy judge has put the brakes on Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s bid to take control of 20 real-estate projects it backed with developer SunCal Cos. and ordered the two sides into mediation.Judge Erithe A. Smith of [...]

WHO’S WHO IN LAW – SKIP MILLER Special Report By LABJ Staff Reporter Monday, October 11, 2010 SKIP MILLER, 63 Firm: Miller Barondess LLP Law School: UCLA Selected Clients: Los Angeles County, Lions Gate, East West Bank, SunCal Cos., KB Home, Don Felder of the Eagles, Axl Rose of Guns N’ Roses, Steven Tyler. Years [...]

The Daily Journal – Top 100 California’s Leading Attorneys Louis R. “Skip” Miller, 63, Miller Barondess, Los Angeles, Litigation Litigator and Miller Barondess founder and managing partner Miller has handled numerous high-profile cases for Fortune 500 companies, government entities, and a colorful list of entertainers that includes Axl Rose and Sean Connery.  Miller is currently [...]

Each week, Bulletproof Blog features exclusive interviews with thought leaders on issues of critical importance to companies and countries. This week, with current economic conditions forcing corporate law departments to fundamentally change their approaches to legal services outsourcing, we talk to Skip Miller, a Partner in the law firm of Miller Barondess, LLP in Los [...]

LITIGATION Skip Miller Miller Barondess When your one-time partner gets indicted in the Pellicano case, it’s time to consider starting over. Four years after leaving Terry Christensen and the firm he helped found, Miller is in the arms of family — literally: Two of his key colleagues are sons Daniel and James. He’s been busy [...]

LA Coliseum Limits Raves Following Death By JEAN GUERRERO The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission voted unanimously today to adopt new restrictions on raves after concerns were raised following the ecstasy-related death of a 15-year-old girl and the hospitalization of more than 114 others who attended last month’s Electric Daisy Carnival.   The restrictions were proposed [...]

L.A. Law: A Who’s Who of Celebrity Attorneys The results also work out, in the lawyer’s case, with great word-of-mouth advertising and marquee value in the right circles – and that’s success you can deposit at the bank. LOUIS “SKIP” MILLER SPECIALTY: Litigation and Trial FIRM: Miller Barondess, LLP STAR CLIENT: Guns N’ Roses’ Axl [...]

THR, Esq. The intersection of Hollywood and law  AXL ROSE SLAMS IRVING AZOFF IN $5 MILLION COUNTERSUIT   By Eriq Gardner EXCLUSIVE: Axl Rose says his former manager tried to implement a scheme to force him to reunite with the original Guns N’ Roses band members and, as part of the plot, failed to properly promote [...]

SANTA ANA – When Lehman Broth­ers Inc. filed for the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history, many of the real estate projects it backed went under, too. Among them are two dozen planned residential developments in California, themselves now in bankruptcy in federal court in Orange County. But hundreds of small contractors, vendors and cities that [...]

Legal Recourse for Automobile Dealers Facing Termination Recent challenging times in the automobile industry have led to harsh conflicts between manufacturers and dealers, but as manufacturers attempt to tighten their belts in an effort to preserve cash and cut losses, they should be wary not to do so in a manner that violates dealers’ rights. [...]

Wal-Mart Vendor Fails To Nix $24M Offset Over Venture By Samuel Howard Law360, New York (March 29, 2010) — A Wal-Mart Stores Inc. vendor has failed to overturn a trial court’s decision to offset a $12.8 million judgment against Pou Chen Corp. with $24 million in damages still owed to Pou Chen in connection with [...]

Aerosmith’s Civil War in an Elevator The band is hunting for a new lead singer; Steven Tyler’s lawyer demands: cease and desist By Dominic Patten Published: February 02, 2010 @ 12:30 pm He may be in rehab, but you can dream on if you think Steven Tyler is about to give up being the lead [...]

Hyundai sued by former California dealership in U.S. court Shawn Wright  Automotive News | March 24, 2010 – 3:31 pm EST   DETROIT — California dealership Estes Automotive Group has filed a federal lawsuit seeking $30 million from Hyundai Motor America and Hyundai Capital America, claiming the automaker failed to keep its promise of helping [...]

Miller Barondess Doubles the Miller The 17 attorney Los Angeles litigation boutique Miller Barondess named Daniel Miller to it’s four-person partnership, where he joins his father, Louis “Skip” Miller, and two former classmates from UC Berkeley School of Law, Brian Procel and Alexander “Sasha” Frid. Daniel Miller’s brother, Jim, also practices at the firm as [...]

Louis “Skip” Miller, 62 Miller Barondess Los Angeles Litigation, civil appellate law In 2009, Miller represented SunCal Companies, the largest land developer in California, in a multibillion-dollar lawsuit in federal bankruptcy court against Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. over 20 residential projects and thousands of acres. His 16-attorney boutique firm, which includes sons Dan and Jim, [...]

  MultiHousing News Published: May 22, 2009 In Dispute Between Developer and Lender, Arbitrator Finds in Favor of Former By Erika Schnitzer, Associate Editor Long Beach, Calif.—In today’s trying economic conditions, developers nationwide are finding it more and more difficult to sell their recently completed condominiums to interested parties. With the credit markets frozen, even [...]

Doing business outside the United States? Protect your intellectual property by Ann M. Gynn A U.S. company outsources its fashion accessories production to a manufacturer in China. The products are imported and sold in the United States.  After several years of production in China and importation to the United States, the company decides to expand [...]

Jury Sides With Bank That Helped Set Up Secret Company When a brother-sister pair of fish mongers began fighting with a sibling who’d secretly opened a compet­ing shop, they weren’t content to keep the squabbling all in the family. Instead, they decided to sue their bank, which had helped their brother create his upstart while [...]

Deal Gone Sour When a Wal-Mart supplier wouldn’t pay up, a product maker sued. A jury awarded $46 million, rewarding an out-of-work lawyer. Just as Louis R. “Skip” Miller was leaving the Los Angeles law firm now known as Glaser, Weil, Fink, Jacobs & Shapiro, he got a call from an accountant for GBM International [...]

L.A.-Based Miller Barondess Boosts Two Trial Attorneys to Partnership Los Angeles-based Miller Barondess has elevated Sasha Frid and Brian Procel to partnership. Both attorneys represent clients in intellectual property, entertainment and real estate matters. The two trial lawyers are graduates of UC Berkeley School of Law.

Lawyer Limelight: Louis R. “Skip” Miller By John Ryan With a successful new firm staffed in part by his two lawyer sons, life is sweet for Louis R. “Skip” Miller. At 61, the hard-nosed litigator is as happy as he’s ever been.  Miller has always had a rewarding, high-end litigation practice. He has worked on [...]

Parties Can Take Steps to Avoid Procedural Pitfalls in Settlement Deals By Daniel S. Miller You have just resolved a multi-million dollar case and all that is left is to negotiate the terms of the settlement agreement. Your client (and maybe you, if it is a contingency case) will receive millions once the settlement is [...]

AML Compliance Alert Patriot Act, BSA, FinCEN, Terrorism Financing, SARs, Risk Analysis and More Industry Outlook: Alert: Double-Check MSB Licensure Status — Unregulated Entities Can Catch You In The Regulatory Crossfire.             The fluidity of Internet-based payment tools makes it hard to track online funds transactions, which means criminals can launder money more easily — [...]

Through the Mud   From InsideCounsel Magazine I August 2008 Issue   By Melissa Maleske  August 1,2008  David Dunn recalls a classroom scene from his first year of law school. The students were discussing a 1930s case involving a railroad company, and the professor asked them to name the rule of the case.  People came up with [...]

Fish Business Owners’ Claim Against Rival Sibling Flounders LOS ANGELES — Defense attorneys have long complained that the financial institutions they represent have a better chance of being struck by lightning twice than prevailing in a county jury trial, especially during depressed economic times. So a recent defense verdict in favor of Pasadena-based East West [...]

Clipping Coupons From Inside Counsel Magazine July 2008 Issue  By Melissa Maleske  July 1,2008  When Ford Motor Co. offered a coupon to settle claims related its Explorer, commentators in the media latched onto the story as another example of unfair coupon settlements. Class members claimed that reports of rollovers had negatively impacted the retail value [...]

                      Opinion: Bust-out schemes are a fraud designed to make you go bust   A. Sasha Frid  June 06, 2008 (Computerworld) Increasing globalization is proving to be a boon for perpetrators of a type of fraud known as a “bust-out scheme.” This kind of fraud, commonplace in the computer and electronics industry, victimizes legitimate manufacturers and [...]

Jury Awards Tawain Group $46 Million Complicated Deal to Sell Wal-Mart Computers Falters LOS ANGELES – A jury has awarded $46 million to a pair of subsidiaries of a major Taiwan ­based corporation, after finding that their business partners here breached the terms of a deal to supply computers to Wal-Mart. A Los Angeles County Superior [...]

L.A. Litigator Makes Fresh Start in New Firm, Adding His Sons as Associates By Kay- Meinert LOS ANGELES Tough – as – nails litigator Louis R. “Skip” Miller is known for his high-­profile cases and clients, as well as for his own battles. Now, a year after leaving the firm he helped to establish two [...]

Daily Journal – Jury Awards $2 to Spencer Tracy’s Grandson By Rebecca Beyer The grandson of Oscar-winning actor Spencer Tracy was awarded just $2 in compensatory damages by a Los Angeles County Superior Court jury after claiming that his aunt had defrauded his father of nearly $1 million. In dispute was $400,000 either loaned or [...]

Los Angeles Business Journal August 20-26, 2007 SPECIAL REPORT: WHO’S WHO IN L.A. LAW THE BEST OF THE BAR Louis (Skip) Miller Firm: Miller Barondess LLP Clients: KB Home, SunCal Companies and Elton John. Reason I’m a Lawyer: I really enjoy courtroom work, especially trying cases and jury work, and helping clients solve problems. Most [...]

JULY 23, 2007 Teed Off Membership spat lands Connery, Murdock in the rough By DREW COMBS Staff Reporter Sean Connery, the acclaimed actor, has played many roles over his career, including an aging Robin Hood who returns to Sherwood Forest to fight old battles and challenge injustices. Connery, the accomplished amateur golfer, is currently fighting [...]

Miller is now practicing at a smaller firm, but he remains a big-time litigator, representing an eclectic mix of clients such as talent agency International Creative Management and public consortium the Metropolitan Water District.

L.A. Litigator Miller Picks Up Former Lionsgate Exec  By Leslie Simmons  Former Lionsgate executive vp John Dellaverson has joined Los Angeles entertainment litigator Louis “Skip” Miller’s new firm, Miller Barondess, as of counsel.  “We are delighted to have John on board,” Miller said in a statement. “His extensive expertise and relationships bring a new dimension [...]

Christensen Glaser Partners Reunite with an Old Friend              Skip Miller, the former No. 2 at Christensen Glaser Fink Jacobs Weil & Shapiro LLP and one of the most polarizing figures in the Los Angeles legal community, has opened his own firm and snagged two partners from his old firm.              Miller has founded Miller [...]

Lawyer Starts New Firm After Ex-Boss Indicted              Louis “Skip” Miller has started a Century City law firm two months after leaving what is now known as Christensen, Glaser, Fink, Jacobs, Weil & Shapiro in the wake of partner Terry Christensen’s indictment in the Anthony Pellicano federal wiretap scandal.             Mark A. Barondess and Daniel [...]

‘Skip’ Miller’s New Firm Adds Noted D.C. Trial Lawyer By Drew Combs Los Angeles — Prominent litigator Louis R. “Skip” Miller has added top the partnership of his two month-old Century City-based firm. Mark A. Barondess, a Washington, D.C.-based attorney, and Daniel E. Park, previously a senior associate at Christensen, Glaser, Fink, Jacobs, Weil & [...]

Jackson owes $5.3 million Jury returns verdict in favor of concert promoters    BY ELIZABETH RODRIGUEZ              Entertainer Michael Jackson reneged on a contract with Marcel Avram and will have to pay the concert promoter $5.3 million for failing to perform at two millennium concerts, a Superior Court jury in Santa Maria decided Thursday.             Both [...]

Profiles of the 50 Best-Compensated Lawyers in L.A  Louis R ‘Skip’ Miller III Miller Barondess Specialty: Litigation Law School: UCLA, 1972   Career Highlight: Assisted the city of Los Angeles in the Rodney King civil rights action  WHEN it comes to complex, high-profile cases, Skip Miller is regarded as a go-to heavy hitter in Los [...]

Clash of the Titans  A Riverside Police Shooting Pits Johnnie Cochran Against Skip Miller – Finally  They are a crash course in contrasts. One is a bombastic media darling, a flamboyant courtroom orator who’s the star of a TV talk show on American justice; the other a deliberative, masterful legal craftsman, called in by major [...]

A Breed Apart: L.A.’s Trial Attorneys Louis ‘Skip’ Miller CHRISTENSEN, MILLER, FINK, JACOBS, GLASER, WElL & SHAPIRO SPECIALTY: GOVERNMENT AND BUSINESS LITIGATION LAW SCHOOL: UCLA, 1972              WHEN the City and County of Los Angeles run into legal trouble – and that seems to be happening a lot lately – they head straight to Skip [...]

Louis “Skip” Miller Christensen Miller Fink Jacobs Glaser Weil & Shapiro Litigation UCLA Law School, 1972             Known for his charm and fight, Louis “Skip” Miller is without question one of L.A.’s hottest trial lawyers.             “If you are down in the legal trenches, Skip is the one you want down there with you,” said [...]

L.A.’s Hired Gun All Around Defense Louis (Skip) Miller CAREER PATH Christensen White won a beauty contest in 1989 to represent Los Angeles in a five-year-old lawsuit over the city council’s downsizing of a median strip owned by Southern Pacific Railroad. On the eve of a summary judgment hearing, Miller helped negotiate a $3 million [...]

A Tenacious Bulldog Who Hates to Lose By Krysten Crawford              From motorist Rodney King to retired L.A. Police Chief Daryl Gates and his former assistant Robert Vernon, there’s no doubt that the Los Angeles City Council has weathered its fair share of legal toils and political troubles in recent times.             In these times [...]