The Novel Coronavirus Pandemic: A Quintessential Force Majeure Event

“People plan, and Fate laughs.”  As the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated lockdowns and shutdowns continue, businesses should review their key contracts for a routine clause that suddenly looms large—the force majeure clause. As some lawyers say, it never hurts to actually read the contract. What does a Force Majeure Clause Do?   A force…

Business Interruption and “Physical Damage” In a Time of Pandemic

By Mark Slater and Junyong Huang-Stowers We hope everyone reading this is healthy, safe and following the guidelines for prudent behavior during this difficult time. Hollywood raised it years ago in The Andromeda Strain, Outbreak, and more recently in Contagion.  There have been significant viral infections in past years, like SARS and H1N1.  The Naval…

Slater Law Group & Lieberman Moves into New Irvine Office

Slater Law Group & Lieberman LLP recently completed a move into an incredible new office space at 100 Spectrum Center in Irvine. The move represents another big step forward for SHL as one of Orange County’s premier law firms. 100 Spectrum Center is ideally situated where the 5 and 405 freeways meet, in the heart…

Mark Slater to Present at Silicon Valley RIMS Chapter

Slater Law Group & Lieberman partner Mark Slater will speak before the Silicon Valley RIMS Chapter on June 22, 2017.  Mr. Slater will join a panel discussing developments in business interruption insurance litigation, including the evolving definition of “physical damage.”  He will also share his perspective on evaluating first and third-party claims. Mark was lead…

SHL Successfully Defends Order Dismissing Nonresident Defendants for Lack of Personal Jurisdiction

In Strasner v. Touchstone Wireless Repair and Logistics, LP, 5 Cal. App. 5th 215 (2016), plaintiff argued for general personal jurisdiction over four non-resident subsidiary companies based on their parent company’s presence in the forum.  The Court of Appeal upheld the trial court’s order quashing service of summons on the out-of-state defendants, ruling plaintiff, “ha[d]…

California Business and Professions Code Section 25000.2: Proposed Improvements to the Brand Transfer Law

Click here for a printable version of this article. Everything changes. In 2007, the California Beer and Beverage Distributors (CBBD) sponsored Senate Bill 574, which the California Legislature finally codified as section 25000.2 of the California Business and Professions Code, known as the Brand Transfer law.2 This law contemplates that, when a successor beer manufacturer…