Albert Sonntag’s Legal Blog

“I cannot fiddle, but I can build a great empire from a little city.” (Themistocles)
It is truly amazing how our Long Beach office, the California branch of the prestigious firm of Smith & Garg of Houston, has developed and flourished in the course of three short weeks. The relentless work of Brian Smith […]

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“Moradi-Shalal:  The sad plight of California’s Plaintiffs’ Bar.”
 
In 1988, the California Supreme Court eliminated a third party plaintiff’s ability to sue his insurance company on grounds of bad faith.  The case of Moradi-Shalal v. Fireman’s Fund Ins. Companies (1988) 46 Cal.3d 287 held that no private cause of action could be maintained under California’s Unfair Practices […]

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“Why I am also an Historian”
By way of introduction, I note that I have spent a lot of my life studying Law and History. It has been a happy marriage of disciplines. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes famously said as follows: “The life of the law is not logic, but experience.” […]

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In January 2005, I visited the Rothko Chapel in Houston. I went to see it on two occasions, in the evening and in the morning. The colors on the paintings change depending on the daylight that shoots down on the Rothko panels within through a sky window in the ceiling. I want […]

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Not many years ago, I was confronted with a singular juror problem that required some strategic thinking. For, as the judge was asking the panel the usual questions about background and experience, one modest looking gentleman in casual attire and bemused look on his face, responded as follows: “My name is N.N., and […]

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