Complex Litigation & Significant Trials

In  the first case brought by the Law Office of Mark Schallert, Mr. Schallert represented LocusPoint Networks, which sued to complete its purchase of a television station for $6.0 million so that the station could participate in the FCC “incentive auction” that sold spectrum from broadcasters for wireless use.  See LocusPoint Network v. DTV (N.D. Cal. no. 3:14-cv-01278-JSC).  Defendant sought to back out of the deal because the apparent value of the station had risen dramatically.  LocusPoint won its motion for summary adjudication thereby determining its right to own the television station, and the case thereafter settled on favorable terms.

The Law Office served as second chair to the Law Office of Edward Deason in a Los Angeles jury trial. The client had been severely injured in a workplace trip and fall.  The jury awarded damages in excess of $16 million.  Picazzo v. C.W. Driver (Los Angeles Superior Court) Case No. GC050056.  The Law Office also provided second-chair support to Mr. Deason in Garcia v American Golf Association, in which a child who had been struck in the head by a golf ball received $6.0 million in damages.

The Law Office was retained to handle the appeal of a denial of class certification in Cardamon v. Dominion Courtyard Villas (Fresno Sup. Ct. No. 16CECG01918).  The Cardamons sought to represent a class of 4800 tenants, who alleged that the defendant landlords had systematically overcharged security deposits at the end of tenancies.  Mr. Schallert wrote and argued the successful, unpublished appeal. Cardamon v. Dominion Courtyard Villas (Dec. 11, 2020, F076760). The Firm remained on the case as lead counsel and brought the case to a successful conclusion with participating class members receiving an average of $800 per tenant in addition to an award of attorneys’ fees and the landlords’ release of all claims against tenants for amounts still owing.

Turman v. Turning Point of Central California, Inc. (2010) 191 Cal.App.4th 53.  Mr. Schallert was retained to represent the Plaintiff after a Monterey County jury found in favor of her employer, which ran a half-way house.  Ms. Turman had sued her employer for permitting a hostile work environment.  At trial, the jury found that the harassment occurred but accepted Turning Point’s argument that “‘harassment by prisoners is inherently part of the job.’” Id. at 59.  The appellate court found there was no substantial evidence that Turning Point took corrective action and reversed the verdict.  On remand, Plaintiff successfully argued in the trial court that the appellate decision had resolved liability in Plaintiff's favor, and the case settled favorably without the need for a trial.

As a principal in Doyle & Schallert,  Mr. Schallert was lead counsel in several wage-and-hour class actions.  The largest of them, Sosa et. al. v. Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream, Inc. (Alameda Superior Court, Case No. RG08424366), was a class action for the workers at Dreyer’s ice cream manufacturing facility in Bakersfield.  The case concerned wage claims for donning/doffing and meal periods.  The case eventually settled for $13.5 million with many individual class members recovering more than $10,000.   The Firm also helped prosecute two “drive time” wage-and-hour cases. Brewer v. Contractor’s Wardrobe, Inc., Los Angeles Superior Court Case No. PC048364 (with the Law Office of Michael Smith), and Riley v. Commercial Foodservice Repair, Inc., Alameda Superior Court Case No. RG13673525.

In Davis v. California Department of Corrections, Mr. Schallert was lead counsel and lead trial attorney for the Pillsbury trial team in a four-month-long civil rights trial in Contra Costa County Superior Court.  His co-counsel was the ACLU represented by (District Court Judge) Edward Chen.  Mrs. Davis was married to a parolee and the CDC conducted an invasive raid of her home, which was filmed for an anticipated reality television show.  The jury trial resulted in an award of emotional distress damages and attorneys’ fees exceeding $2.5 million in total.  The San Francisco Chronicle reported this was the first verdict against the CDC arising from a parole search.  Mr. Schallert wrote and argued the appeal, which ultimately upheld the jury’s verdict.

Over the course of three trials, each a month long, Mr. Schallert was lead trial counsel for the Pillsbury trial team that represented the interests of thousands of people and institutions who owned $1.8 billion in non-recourse bonds.  The bonds were paid by “guaranteed investment contracts” issued by Executive Life Insurance Company.  When Executive Life became insolvent with over $10 billion in policies issued, the Insurance Commissioner sought to deny any recovery by Mr. Schallert’s clients so that other policyholders could be paid in full.  After the third trial (and third appeal), Mr. Schallert’s clients recovered their pro rata share of the Executive Life assets, roughly $1.6 billion, which was then paid to the bondholders.  The three trials led to three published opinions.   Texas Commerce Bank v. Garamendi, 11Cal. App. 4th 460 (1992); Commercial National Bank v. Superior Court, 14 Cal. App. 4th 393 (1993); In Re Executive Life Ins. Co., 32 Cal.App.4th 344 (1995).

In his first major civil trial, Mr. Schallert was second chair for plaintiff in a month-long trial arising out of a check-kite fraud culminating in a final judgment of $23 million. The judgment was upheld on appeal. Chicago Title Insurance Company v. California Canadian Bank, 1 Cal. App. 4th 798 (1991).