Congratulations to C&W on three big court wins!
In the last few months the firm has had not one, not two, but three successes in court! Read more about these cases below:
After a three-day trial in Federal court in the Northern District of California (one of the first in the country conducted completely over Zoom), we cleared from our client’s real property title an unusual, decades-old easement. In 1994 our client purchased 21 acres overlooking the ocean in the Carmel Highlands of Monterey County, California. In 2014 he began seeking approval to build a modest home on the property. After the environmental impact surveys had been completed (and recommended allowing construction), the County of Monterey blocked our client’s application, citing a scenic easement dating from the 1960s that had a termination on record from 1990. The court found in our favor and we cleared the client’s title to his property and restored his ability to apply for a permit to build his home.
Next Duane Cook appeared before the Kentucky Supreme Court in another property dispute and successfully defended our client against claims that he had infringed on a neighbor’s property rights, saving our client from an illogical, disruptive, and costly renovation to his property. You can watch Duane’s skillful oral argument before the Kentucky Supreme Court here (from 18.40 to 37.08).
Finally, earlier this month the firm defended the probate estate of a long-time client, Hugo (Joe) Bobzien, former Chairman of the Board and CEO of American Commercial Lines, from a suit claiming that the deceased, by smoking during his son’s childhood in the ’60s and early ’70s, had caused the son to develop a variety of diseases decades later. Following an 8-day trial in Louisville District Court, the jury conferred for less than an hour before returning a unanimous verdict for our client, finding that the effects of secondhand smoke were not foreseeable during the son’s childhood. This case upheld the core principal of the law that a person can not be held responsible for knowledge that comes to light in future generations. You can read articles about this case in the Georgetown News-Graphic and the Louisville Courier Journal.
Congratulations to the attorneys and clients involved in these cases!