Breach of contract
Written, oral and implied contracts; supply and distribution agreements; service contracts; non-payment and non-performance; and enforcement of fee-shifting and arbitration provisions.
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- Civil Litigation
Civil litigation, from the first demand to the final appeal.
Contract, business, property and landlord-tenant disputes in San Bernardino, Riverside and Los Angeles counties, handled by an attorney who will tell you when a case is not worth bringing.
Is this dispute worth litigating?
Before anything else, a civil dispute is an economic decision. It deserves to be treated as one.
The honest calculation is not complicated: what can realistically be recovered, multiplied by the chance of actually recovering it, less what it costs to get there, less the risk that a judgment turns out to be uncollectable because the defendant has nothing. Run that properly and a fair number of strong-looking claims stop making sense. Some unpromising ones turn out to be worth pursuing hard, because the other side has more exposure than you do.
You will get that arithmetic in the first meeting, before a retainer, including in the cases where the right answer is to walk away or take the offer on the table. A lawyer who only tells you what you want to hear is expensive in a way that does not show up on the invoice.
Where a case is worth bringing, it gets built properly from the beginning. The demand letter you send in month one is read very differently depending on whether it was written by someone prepared to try the case.
Civil disputes handled across the Inland Empire
Plaintiff and defense, individual and business.
Business & commercial disputes
Partnership and member disputes, breach of fiduciary duty, unfair competition under Business & Professions Code § 17200, interference with contract or prospective advantage, and trade secret claims.
Real property
Purchase and sale disputes, boundary and easement questions, quiet title, non-disclosure claims against sellers, construction defect, and disputes with contractors.
Landlord & tenant
Commercial and residential unlawful detainer, lease interpretation, habitability defense, security deposit disputes, and eviction defense.
Fraud & misrepresentation
Intentional and negligent misrepresentation, concealment, and claims arising from business sales, investments and real property transactions.
Collections & enforcement
Pre-suit demand, suit on account, and the part most people forget: post-judgment enforcement through debtor examinations, wage garnishment, bank levies and liens.
What a California civil case actually involves
Litigation is long. Knowing where the money and the time go makes it a great deal easier to make good decisions along the way.
Pre-litigation demand
A properly drafted demand (setting out the facts, the legal basis, the damages and the consequence of refusal) resolves a meaningful share of disputes without a filing fee. It also establishes the record if the matter does proceed, and can trigger contractual notice provisions and fee entitlements.
Pleadings
Complaint and answer, plus any demurrer or motion to strike where the opposing pleading is legally defective. Cross-complaints are common and should be anticipated: filing suit frequently invites a counter-claim, and that risk belongs in the initial assessment.
Discovery
The long middle, and the expensive part. Document production, form and special interrogatories, requests for admission, depositions and subpoenas to third parties. Cases are won and lost here far more often than at trial. A single admission or a well-taken deposition frequently determines the settlement value.
Law and motion
Motions to compel where discovery is being obstructed, motions for summary judgment or summary adjudication that can dispose of the case or narrow it substantially, and motions in limine shaping what a jury will be permitted to hear.
Mediation and settlement conference
California courts generally require a mandatory settlement conference and often order mediation. These are not formalities. A large majority of civil matters resolve at or shortly after them, and preparation for mediation deserves the same seriousness as preparation for trial.
Trial
Bench or jury. In San Bernardino and Riverside counties a contested civil matter commonly reaches trial twelve to twenty-four months after filing. Preparation is the whole game: exhibits, witness order, motions in limine, and a theory of the case a juror can hold in their head.
Judgment, enforcement and appeal
A judgment is a piece of paper until it is enforced: debtor examinations, wage garnishment, bank levies, real property liens. Where the law was misapplied, appellate review follows; this firm has written appellate and amicus briefs and argued post-judgment motions.
Years spent advising the institution on the other side
Most civil litigators have only ever sat in one chair. Mr. Gale’s public entity practice (advising nearly all of the major school districts in California on personnel, public contracts, public works construction and administrative matters) means years spent inside the decision-making of the sort of organization that appears opposite an individual plaintiff.
You learn how the decision to fight or settle actually gets made, where the institution’s own documentation is thinnest, what its counsel is privately concerned about, and which arguments carry weight with the person who has to authorize a payment. That is not something you can read your way to.
It also means genuine familiarity with the Government Claims Act six-month deadline, administrative exhaustion requirements, and the immunities that quietly dispose of claims against public agencies before anyone reaches the merits.
About Lee W. GaleCourts and cities where I appear
Civil litigation matters across three counties, from the Rancho Cucamonga courthouse on Haven Avenue to the desert courts and the federal bench in Riverside.
- Rancho Cucamonga
- Ontario
- Fontana
- Upland
- Chino
- Chino Hills
- Rialto
- Colton
- San Bernardino
- Redlands
- Victorville
- Hesperia
- Apple Valley
- Barstow
- Riverside
- Corona
- Moreno Valley
- Temecula
- Murrieta
- Jurupa Valley
- Eastvale
- Norco
- Pomona
- Claremont
- West Covina
- See all cities & courts →
Civil litigation questions worth asking early
It depends on the claim. Written contracts generally carry a four-year limitation period; oral contracts two years; personal injury two years; fraud three years from discovery; and claims against public entities require a government claim to be presented within six months under the Government Claims Act, a deadline that catches a great many people out. Limitation periods can be shortened by contract and extended by tolling in narrow circumstances. Because losing the deadline ends the claim regardless of its merit, the date should be confirmed at the very first meeting.
That is a maths question before it is a legal one, and it deserves an honest answer at the outset. The calculation is: the realistic recovery, multiplied by the probability of winning, minus the cost of getting there, minus the probability that a judgment proves uncollectable. Litigation in California is slow and it is expensive. Some strong claims are not economically worth pursuing; some weak-looking ones settle quickly because the other side has more to lose than you do. You will get that assessment in the first meeting, including when the answer is “do not sue.”
Pre-suit demand and negotiation; complaint and answer; a demurrer or motion to strike if the pleading is defective; discovery, which is the longest and most expensive phase and covers document production, interrogatories, requests for admission and depositions; motions for summary judgment; mandatory settlement conference and mediation; then trial. In San Bernardino and Riverside counties a contested civil matter commonly runs twelve to twenty-four months to trial, sometimes longer. Most cases resolve before they reach a jury.
Frequently, yes. California courts generally require the parties to attend a mandatory settlement conference, and many will order mediation. Separately, a great many commercial contracts, employment agreements and consumer agreements contain binding arbitration clauses that remove the dispute from court altogether. Whether such a clause is enforceable (and whether you actually want it enforced) is worth analyzing early, because the answer shapes the entire strategy.
Only if a statute or a contract says so. California follows the American Rule: each side bears its own fees by default. The common exceptions are contractual fee-shifting clauses (which are reciprocal under Civil Code § 1717 regardless of how they are drafted) and specific statutes covering areas such as certain employment, consumer and landlord-tenant claims. Whether your contract contains such a clause materially changes the leverage on both sides, so it is one of the first things reviewed.
Limitation periods are strict and some are far shorter than people expect: six months for claims against a public entity. This page is general information, not legal advice about your matter. If you think a deadline may be approaching, call rather than read.
Bring the contract and the correspondence. You will get a real assessment.
Including, where it applies, the assessment that the claim is not worth bringing. $150 for thirty minutes, $225 for the hour. Meetings at the Rancho Cucamonga office, by phone or by video.
9333 Fairway View Pl #101, Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91730 ยท Monday - Friday, 9:00 am - 5:30 pm