Walsworth Secures Victory in San Diego Commercial Fire Litigation
On May 8, Walsworth Partner Jennifer Morin secured a significant victory on behalf of Walsworth’s client through a dispositive demurrer and anti-SLAPP motion in a highly contentious commercial fire case pending since April 2021.
The litigation arose from a large fire in April 2020 at a commercial retail center. Walsworth’s client, an electrical contractor, had been retained approximately seven months earlier to perform basic maintenance and inspections at the property. The tenants alleged the fire was caused by aging lighting affixed to the building, which the client neither serviced nor encountered during its work at the property. Three of the property’s tenants filed separate lawsuits stemming from the fire, only one of which initially asserted claims against Walsworth’s client. The three matters were later consolidated.
Jennifer successfully resolved the tenant’s claims through litigation and settlement and, over the objection of the other two tenants, obtained a good-faith settlement determination from the court. Following the resolution of the matter as to Walsworth’s client, the remaining two tenants repeatedly attempted to bring the client back into the litigation, including arguing that consolidation of the three matters rendered their claims asserted against the client. Jennifer defeated those arguments, opposed the tenants’ attempts to amend their pleadings, and obtained an order striking an amended complaint filed without leave of court.
After those efforts proved unsuccessful, the remaining two tenants filed separate lawsuits against Walsworth’s client asserting bad faith, fraud, and various other tort claims arising from the settlement and the client’s discovery responses. One of the newly filed suits was met with an anti-SLAPP motion, resulting in a dismissal of that action, and the other suit was challenged through a comprehensive dispositive demurrer based on the expiration of the applicable statutes of limitation. The court sustained the demurrer without leave to amend, bringing the long-running litigation to a close and securing a victory for Walsworth’s client.