Ventura County Real Estate Attorneys
Finally your questions answered and we’re with you every step of the way. The advantages of retaining a sole practitioner include the fact we know your case thoroughly — inside out and upside down. You and your case receive the close attention you know it deserves. We are thorough, knowledgeable and relentless. An added bonus is you always get to deal directly with the with the person that’s there to keep you safe.
Real Estate
Home is important. We believe it paramount to take the time to address each client’s individual needs and concerns involving real estate. We love the law, we love the research involved in finding the best possible solution and outcome for our clients — even after 36 years.
Medical Malpractice
When choosing a lawyer, you want one who is honest, knows the law, is thorough, responsive and communicative. Especially when it comes to your or a loved one’s health. You want one who is reasonably priced, experienced, and will give you and your case the personalized service it deserves.
Legal Malpractice
To help you identify when the lawyer’s actions are malpractice, consider the following:
The lawyer stopped working on your case. If the lawyer ignores your case and your concerns, there is a good chance that it is going to end up turning into malpractice.
Insurance
During our years of working for insurance companies, we have amassed a wealth of experience. This makes us highly qualified to navigate and litigate the labyrinth of Insurance Law.
Real Estate & Medical Malpractice To Know
4Q 2019: Agency, PCD, RESPA, and Fair Housing
The 4Q 2019 edition of this quarterly publication covering risk management issues that affect real estate professionals: Agency, Property Condition Disclosure, RESPA, and Fair Housing.
Addressing Legal Concerns During COVID-19
Lesley Muchow, NAR Deputy General Counsel and Vice President of Legal Affairs, examines legal best practices to help navigate through COVID-19.
Your Home Is Here
We have extensive experience with “Real Estate” Litigation. Our 36 years of practice also include years as insurance company counsel. This has resulted in extensive experience in the areas of Medical/Legal Malpractice, Wrongful Death, Insurance Bad Faith, and All Torts, such as personal injury, malicious prosecution, abuse of process, libel, slander, fraud, and interference with business.
Judges presiding over courtrooms have said Malcolm R. Tator is, “one of the top three attorneys in the county.” It has also been said of Malcolm R. Tator he can “locate laws no one else finds.”
REAL ESTATE FRAUD LAW
Real estate fraud can be committed a number of ways. The most common is through a false statement on the required disclosure forms in California real estate sales. However, fraud can also be committed by an intentional omission from a partial revelation. Fraud can be committed without words by acts creating a false impression. Fraud can be committed by undue influence on a mentally weakened individual. Fraud can be committed by cheating someone out of an inheritance. Interestingly fraud can also be committed by entering a contract with no intention of performing.
MEDICAL MALPRACTICE LAW
Medical malpractice isn’t proved by just a bad result or a mistake committed by a doctor. It must involve an unreasonable mistake that wouldn’t be made by a reasonably careful physician, nurse, or chiropractor, etc. in similar circumstances. Usually medical malpractice law must be proved through testimony of an expert witness, but there are two main exceptions. The first is the common sense exception where a jury would know whether something was done improperly without an expert, such as leaving a clamp or a sponge in a patient, or sometimes failing to take x-rays. (Note courts are very austere in applying the exception.) The other main exception is the failure of a doctor, etc. to gain the informed consent of a patient by not revealing something an average patient would want to know.
LEGAL MALPRACTICE LAW
Legal malpractice results when a client is damaged and would have obtained a better result, if an attorney had acted as a reasonably careful attorney would have acted. The legal malpractice can be in litigation or it can be in a transaction arranged by the attorney. It can result by failure to communicate with the client. It can result from lacking learning and skill in an area of law. It can result from the failure to investigate or to attend hearings. It can arise from the failure to file or serve a complaint. It can arise from abandonment of a client. It can arise from failing to adequately supervise subordinates. However, just because an attorney made a mistake, does not establish that he/she committed malpractice. Remember it must be a mistake careful attorneys would not make.
INSURANCE COMPANY LIABILITY LAW
An insurance company can be liable to its insured in a number of ways. The obvious way is failing to pay a claim it owes. However there are other ways. For instance, an extremely important benefit of a homeowner’s, business, or automobile policy is the duty of the insurance company to defend its insured in negligence cases brought by third parties. In some instances, that duty even extends to charges of intentional wrongs done by the insured. The carrier can be liable for failure to defend its insured. An insurance company can also be liable when it injures its insured through unreasonable conduct. For instance, an insurance company can be liable to its insured for failing to settle a case against the insured. Sometimes it can be liable for delay in settlement. It can be liable for failure to investigate claims thoroughly. It can be liable for failing to evaluate a claim objectively. It can be liable for favoring one insured over another. It can be liable for abusive conduct such as intimidating witnesses, misrepresenting coverage, taking a hostile attitude, making groundless accusations, threatening to rescind a policy, or arbitrarily cutting off benefits. Learn more about our Insurance Law specialty.
Property Condition Disclosure Highlights: 1Q 2019
The Property Condition Disclosure cases consider residential property condition disclosure reports and a disclosure notices. In the first case, the court concluded that the sellers did not misrepresent the condition of the house of the Residential Property Condition...
RESPA Highlights: 1Q 2019
This quarter, the RESPA cases retrieved highlighted the importance of a borrower being able to show actual damages caused by alleged violations. In one case, the court found that the borrower had suffered compensable damages under RESPA as the direct result of the...
Potential Lawsuit: Zantac Medication Cancer Legal News & Lawsuit Information
Zantac (ranitidine hydrochloride) is being investigated after 150 Zantac tablets were found to contain a carcinogenic chemical up to 3,000 times greater than the FDA’s daily intake limit. The chemical found in the popular heartburn drug is N-nitrosodimethylamine...
Potential Lawsuit: Defense Base Act Benefit Denial Lawsuit News & Legal Information
The Defense Base Act (DBA) is a federal law that provides Worker’s Compensation and Death Benefits for civilian employees working outside the United States on U.S. military bases or under a contract with the U.S. government for public works or for national defense,...
ADA Website Case Dismissed
Read the full decision: Diaz v. Kroger Co.A district court in the Southern District of New York dismissed a website accessibility lawsuit against Kroger, Co. both as moot based on Kroger’s remediation of accessibility barriers to its website, and for lack of personal...
Employment Practices Legal Hotline
As an employer, your association faces the challenges of an ever-changing employment law landscape and ongoing employee issues. Employment-related claims are consistently among the top 10 insurance claims filed by REALTOR® associations and MLSs every year.Chubb (the...
Make Your Arbitration Decisions Stick
There are two types of Ikea customers: those who follow instructions and those who don’t. I was in the latter category. After spending an inordinate amount of time studying the instructions, assembling, disassembling, and reassembling parts to build my desk, I decided...
Membership for Licensees with a Criminal Past?
Q. We received an application from someone with a criminal history. Can we deny membership based on that alone?The bases upon which an applicant for REALTOR® membership may be denied are established in your association’s bylaws and clarified in NAR’s membership...
Agency Highlights: 1Q 2019
The agency cases from this quarter address several different agency issues. The first case, an interesting New York decision, the court held that a real estate representative breached her fiduciary duty by submitting her own offer for purchase of a property for which...
Property Condition Disclosure Highlights: 1Q 2019
The Property Condition Disclosure cases consider residential property condition disclosure reports and a disclosure notices. In the first case, the court concluded that the sellers did not misrepresent the condition of the house of the Residential Property Condition...
RESPA Highlights: 1Q 2019
This quarter, the RESPA cases retrieved highlighted the importance of a borrower being able to show actual damages caused by alleged violations. In one case, the court found that the borrower had suffered compensable damages under RESPA as the direct result of the...
Potential Lawsuit: Zantac Medication Cancer Legal News & Lawsuit Information
Zantac (ranitidine hydrochloride) is being investigated after 150 Zantac tablets were found to contain a carcinogenic chemical up to 3,000 times greater than the FDA’s daily intake limit. The chemical found in the popular heartburn drug is N-nitrosodimethylamine...