California condominium owners association bound by arbitration provision in CC&R's *

USA - August 22 2012
Developers got a significant win in California last week when the California Supreme Court held that an arbitration provision contained in a recorded instrument bound a homeowners association, despite the fact that the homeowners association did not exist when the instrument was recorded and thus had no opportunity to negotiate the provision.

Illinois finds coverage for additional insured despite lack of coverage for named insured engineer under professional services exclusion; California finds fire-sale pricing of high end goods may trigger personal injury coverage for trade disparagement *

USA - July 31 2012
Illinois and California appellate courts recently issued two policy-holder favorable decisions.

Significant changes to California's Mechanics Lien Law coming July 1, 2012 *

USA - May 16 2012
Effective July 1, all of the existing statutes governing mechanics liens, stop notices and payment bonds in California will be repealed and replaced by updated statutes.

Co-authors: John S. Poulos, Chris R. Rodriguez, Amy L. Pierce, Robert A. James.

Whither high-speed rail in California? *

USA - April 19 2012
California's ambitious plan to build a high-speed rail system linking San Francisco and Los Angeles has been getting quite a lot of attention lately.