INTERESTING CASES FROM CHRISTOPHER LEWI'S CAREER:
Even Best Friends Can Rip You Off:
Long time neighbors and best friends -- "Jones" and Mr. Lewi's clients the "Smiths" -- become entangled in fraudulent business schemes perpetrated by Mr. Jones, who was the Smiths' attorney, CPA, and business adviser. When Jones could not and would not account for the millions of dollars the Smiths delivered to him for investment over the years, the Smiths sue. Smiths obtain a $12 million fraud judgment, including $2 million in punitive damages and $800,000 in attorney's fees. Before judgment is entered, Jones files for bankruptcy (Jones resigned his law license with an investigation pending.) Mr. Lewi handled everything post-judgment, unwound the layers, closely worked with bankruptcy counsel to deal with the bankruptcy issues, handled five different appeals, and enforced judgment against scattered assets including a number of real properties in San Luis Obispo County and a $550,000 bank account in France, all of which resulted in multi-million dollar recovery and control of several very valuable pieces of property.
"The Grapes Case" -- Construction Project & Crop Damage:
Mr. Lewi's client, the general contractor, designs and builds a large “cold storage” facility for table grapes just north of Bakersfield. Towards the end of construction, a mysterious gritty white powder is deposited onto $330,000 of stored grapes. The owner sues for damages. Mr Lewi's client cross-complains for unpaid balances owed on the construction contract. The two sides truly distrusted each other. After coordinating discovery, a site inspection of the storage facility, finding and hiring a team of experts for both construction and agricultural issues, traveling to Bakersfield and Fresno for depositions, and corralling his client's several insurance carriers to participate, Mr. Lewi brokered a mediation and successful settlement.
Neighbor Blocks Entry:
Mr. Lewi's client lived (and still lives) in a neighborhood where a number of tiny cottages are accessed only by footpaths. The footpath used (and still used) by Mr. Lewi's client was mostly on the neighbors’ property. The path had been used for many years and at all times during the years that the client lived there. When the neighbors erected a fence across the path, it essentially locked the client out of his own home. Mr. Lewi obtained a preliminary injunction requiring the neighbors to allow the client to use the path, but only after Mr. Lewi was able to find his client’s predecessor owner in Phoenix and obtain a declaration from him that he had used the pathway in an open and notorious manner for over 13 years, which proved a prescriptive easement in favor of the client. The case then settled, resulting in a grant easement of record to Mr. Lewi's client granting him and his property irrevocable, express permission to use the footpath.
Minor Accident with Major Injury:
Mr. Lewi’s client was driving her car in a parking lot. The defendant negligently drove his car into hers. The impact was at very slow speed and would not seem to be one that would cause any great damage or pain. However, the client had a congenital defect to her jaw for which she had numerous surgeries, including jaw joint replacement, prior to the accident. The proverbial “egg shell” plaintiff, the accident caused the client a concussion and she was on bed rest for several months in great pain. Her thought processes were impaired and her speech was slower than before and a little slurred. She ended up in a very dark emotional place and ultimately in lock-up for a night or two in the psych ward after she became addicted to the pain medication prescribed her. Despite the “low impact” speeds and the strong assumption that his client’s severe injuries could not have resulted from the accident Mr. Lewi recovered the maximum insurance proceeds for his client.
Murder Doesn't Pay:
Mrs. Ayobi, a 40-something criminal justice student living in the Sacramento area, took out several life insurance policies against her husband’s life, naming herself and her sister as beneficiaries. At or around the same time, she asked a classmate if he could get her a gun and she was asked another classmate if he would help her kill her husband. Months later, in a staged car-jacking, Mrs. Ayobi’s accomplice shot and killed Mr. Ayobi, who was home on leave from his duties as a civilian “cultural awareness” instructor for US servicemen on their way to Afghanistan. The killing was a local story in Sacramento and made the local newscasts and papers. They all reported that Mrs. Ayobi was a victim too of a horrible crime. But one month later, Mrs. Ayobi was arrested for murder and conspiracy to commit murder. At her trial, Mrs. Ayobi admitted to the killing and her role in it but plead in her defense that she was a “battered spouse”, that her horrifying childhood experiences in Afghanistan during the Russian occupation skewed her sense of acceptable human norms, and that because she was already once divorced from her first husband it would be social suicide to have another divorce from Mr. Ayobi. The jury would have none of it and convicted her. She was sentenced to what will amount to her living the rest of her life in prison. (The case was sensational enough that "Dateline" had its cameras in the courtroom.) Mr Lewi represents one of the life insurance companies involved; his client wrote a $150,000 policy. As a murderer, Mrs. Ayobi is and was ineligible to collect the insurance proceeds under California’s “slayer statute” but Mrs. Ayobi’s children – innocent in any of her schemes – made claim for the money as her legal heirs. In this case, California law required that for the insurer to deny the claim, it was not enough that Mrs. Ayobi killed her husband but the insurer had to prove that at the time she obtained the policy Mrs. Ayobi intended harm to her husband, i.e., that she was scheming to kill him. In coordination with the investigating police detective, and based on key evidence introduced at trial, Mr. Lewi developed just such evidence and saved his client from paying out the $150,000 policy.
Collection Requires Creativity & Persistence:
Mr. Lewi's client's business partner embezzled more than $1 million from her. She reported her business partner to the police; he pled guilty and was sent to prison. Part of his agreed sentence was a $1 million restitution order; such orders are enforceable as a civil judgment. Defendant, it turns out, was (and still is presumably) an art collector of some repute, and he used the embezzled money to buy at least some of the artworks. The art collection -- as a collection -- was worth more than the judgment and was strewn about greater Los Angeles in homes, galleries, and art storage facilities, as well as the defendant's home. Art works cannot be simply seized; they are too fragile and valuable for that. Within the formal framework of judgment enforcement, Mr. Lewi coordinated and prosecuted the work of gathering and selling the collection to pay off the judgment, which required him to work closely with the Sheriff's (levying officers), art dealers, storage facilities, and defendant's personal art broker. The net result was a happy one for the client, who was paid in full on the judgment.
Every Client Zealously Represented:
A physician and Mr. Lewi's client, a pharmacist, were arrested and prosecuted by the US Attorney for over-prescribing and over-dispensing pain medication, i.e, vicodin, oxycontin, methadone, fentanyl, morphine, etc. Police investigators said that so much of these medications were dispensed that it drove down the street price for oxycontin. Whilst the levels of medication may seem shocking, neither defendant was ever charged with making any money (drug dealing) and at best, they were prosecuted for and ultimately pled guilty to criminal negligence. Mr. Lewi became involved in civil litigation that arose when former patients or the survivors of former patients sued for personal injury and wrongful death. Perhaps surprisingly, each case presented with good defenses. In one, the patient illegally shared her prescribed medication with her mother and also traded the prescription meds for cocaine; her mother died from a resulting overdose of cocaine and the prescribed meds. In another case, despite being told that she needed to brush her teeth each time she took the prescribed medication - essentially a pain-killer cough drop -- plaintiff did not and, predictably, her teeth fell out from all the sugar in the lozenges. In another, the plaintiff was a convicted drug felon. Mr. Lewi, in coordination with criminal defense attorneys and other counsel, zealously defended these cases, obtained several outright dismissals and, based on the plaintiffs’ own negligence and drug-misuse, negotiated favorable settlements of the rest.
Even Best Friends Can Rip You Off:
Long time neighbors and best friends -- "Jones" and Mr. Lewi's clients the "Smiths" -- become entangled in fraudulent business schemes perpetrated by Mr. Jones, who was the Smiths' attorney, CPA, and business adviser. When Jones could not and would not account for the millions of dollars the Smiths delivered to him for investment over the years, the Smiths sue. Smiths obtain a $12 million fraud judgment, including $2 million in punitive damages and $800,000 in attorney's fees. Before judgment is entered, Jones files for bankruptcy (Jones resigned his law license with an investigation pending.) Mr. Lewi handled everything post-judgment, unwound the layers, closely worked with bankruptcy counsel to deal with the bankruptcy issues, handled five different appeals, and enforced judgment against scattered assets including a number of real properties in San Luis Obispo County and a $550,000 bank account in France, all of which resulted in multi-million dollar recovery and control of several very valuable pieces of property.
"The Grapes Case" -- Construction Project & Crop Damage:
Mr. Lewi's client, the general contractor, designs and builds a large “cold storage” facility for table grapes just north of Bakersfield. Towards the end of construction, a mysterious gritty white powder is deposited onto $330,000 of stored grapes. The owner sues for damages. Mr Lewi's client cross-complains for unpaid balances owed on the construction contract. The two sides truly distrusted each other. After coordinating discovery, a site inspection of the storage facility, finding and hiring a team of experts for both construction and agricultural issues, traveling to Bakersfield and Fresno for depositions, and corralling his client's several insurance carriers to participate, Mr. Lewi brokered a mediation and successful settlement.
Neighbor Blocks Entry:
Mr. Lewi's client lived (and still lives) in a neighborhood where a number of tiny cottages are accessed only by footpaths. The footpath used (and still used) by Mr. Lewi's client was mostly on the neighbors’ property. The path had been used for many years and at all times during the years that the client lived there. When the neighbors erected a fence across the path, it essentially locked the client out of his own home. Mr. Lewi obtained a preliminary injunction requiring the neighbors to allow the client to use the path, but only after Mr. Lewi was able to find his client’s predecessor owner in Phoenix and obtain a declaration from him that he had used the pathway in an open and notorious manner for over 13 years, which proved a prescriptive easement in favor of the client. The case then settled, resulting in a grant easement of record to Mr. Lewi's client granting him and his property irrevocable, express permission to use the footpath.
Minor Accident with Major Injury:
Mr. Lewi’s client was driving her car in a parking lot. The defendant negligently drove his car into hers. The impact was at very slow speed and would not seem to be one that would cause any great damage or pain. However, the client had a congenital defect to her jaw for which she had numerous surgeries, including jaw joint replacement, prior to the accident. The proverbial “egg shell” plaintiff, the accident caused the client a concussion and she was on bed rest for several months in great pain. Her thought processes were impaired and her speech was slower than before and a little slurred. She ended up in a very dark emotional place and ultimately in lock-up for a night or two in the psych ward after she became addicted to the pain medication prescribed her. Despite the “low impact” speeds and the strong assumption that his client’s severe injuries could not have resulted from the accident Mr. Lewi recovered the maximum insurance proceeds for his client.
Murder Doesn't Pay:
Mrs. Ayobi, a 40-something criminal justice student living in the Sacramento area, took out several life insurance policies against her husband’s life, naming herself and her sister as beneficiaries. At or around the same time, she asked a classmate if he could get her a gun and she was asked another classmate if he would help her kill her husband. Months later, in a staged car-jacking, Mrs. Ayobi’s accomplice shot and killed Mr. Ayobi, who was home on leave from his duties as a civilian “cultural awareness” instructor for US servicemen on their way to Afghanistan. The killing was a local story in Sacramento and made the local newscasts and papers. They all reported that Mrs. Ayobi was a victim too of a horrible crime. But one month later, Mrs. Ayobi was arrested for murder and conspiracy to commit murder. At her trial, Mrs. Ayobi admitted to the killing and her role in it but plead in her defense that she was a “battered spouse”, that her horrifying childhood experiences in Afghanistan during the Russian occupation skewed her sense of acceptable human norms, and that because she was already once divorced from her first husband it would be social suicide to have another divorce from Mr. Ayobi. The jury would have none of it and convicted her. She was sentenced to what will amount to her living the rest of her life in prison. (The case was sensational enough that "Dateline" had its cameras in the courtroom.) Mr Lewi represents one of the life insurance companies involved; his client wrote a $150,000 policy. As a murderer, Mrs. Ayobi is and was ineligible to collect the insurance proceeds under California’s “slayer statute” but Mrs. Ayobi’s children – innocent in any of her schemes – made claim for the money as her legal heirs. In this case, California law required that for the insurer to deny the claim, it was not enough that Mrs. Ayobi killed her husband but the insurer had to prove that at the time she obtained the policy Mrs. Ayobi intended harm to her husband, i.e., that she was scheming to kill him. In coordination with the investigating police detective, and based on key evidence introduced at trial, Mr. Lewi developed just such evidence and saved his client from paying out the $150,000 policy.
Collection Requires Creativity & Persistence:
Mr. Lewi's client's business partner embezzled more than $1 million from her. She reported her business partner to the police; he pled guilty and was sent to prison. Part of his agreed sentence was a $1 million restitution order; such orders are enforceable as a civil judgment. Defendant, it turns out, was (and still is presumably) an art collector of some repute, and he used the embezzled money to buy at least some of the artworks. The art collection -- as a collection -- was worth more than the judgment and was strewn about greater Los Angeles in homes, galleries, and art storage facilities, as well as the defendant's home. Art works cannot be simply seized; they are too fragile and valuable for that. Within the formal framework of judgment enforcement, Mr. Lewi coordinated and prosecuted the work of gathering and selling the collection to pay off the judgment, which required him to work closely with the Sheriff's (levying officers), art dealers, storage facilities, and defendant's personal art broker. The net result was a happy one for the client, who was paid in full on the judgment.
Every Client Zealously Represented:
A physician and Mr. Lewi's client, a pharmacist, were arrested and prosecuted by the US Attorney for over-prescribing and over-dispensing pain medication, i.e, vicodin, oxycontin, methadone, fentanyl, morphine, etc. Police investigators said that so much of these medications were dispensed that it drove down the street price for oxycontin. Whilst the levels of medication may seem shocking, neither defendant was ever charged with making any money (drug dealing) and at best, they were prosecuted for and ultimately pled guilty to criminal negligence. Mr. Lewi became involved in civil litigation that arose when former patients or the survivors of former patients sued for personal injury and wrongful death. Perhaps surprisingly, each case presented with good defenses. In one, the patient illegally shared her prescribed medication with her mother and also traded the prescription meds for cocaine; her mother died from a resulting overdose of cocaine and the prescribed meds. In another case, despite being told that she needed to brush her teeth each time she took the prescribed medication - essentially a pain-killer cough drop -- plaintiff did not and, predictably, her teeth fell out from all the sugar in the lozenges. In another, the plaintiff was a convicted drug felon. Mr. Lewi, in coordination with criminal defense attorneys and other counsel, zealously defended these cases, obtained several outright dismissals and, based on the plaintiffs’ own negligence and drug-misuse, negotiated favorable settlements of the rest.
