Hon. Lon F. Hurwitz, Ret.

Wage and Hour

• Mediated an employment dispute asserting FEHA and wage-and-hour claims involving a part-time employee.

Family Law Issues

• Presided over a complex Family Law case involving the sale of a major business valued in the nine-figure range. The husband violated Automatic Temporary Restraining Orders by forming multiple LLCs and purchasing dozens of properties using substantial hard money loans. A receiver was appointed to take control of all assets and LLCs pending payment of the wife’s agreed-upon share of the community property, which was ultimately paid in full.

Coverage

• Presided over an action against an insurance carrier for declaratory relief concerning the carrier’s duty to defend a plaintiff company in a governmental investigation, which concluded in a consent settlement with the plaintiff.
• Presided over a coverage dispute stemming from an underlying construction defect case. The central issue was whether a subcontractor had shut down his business (as claimed by the carrier) or passed it on to his son who continued operations (as claimed by the plaintiff).

Subrogation

• Presided over a fire litigation case against a public utility company. The case was bifurcated into insurance carrier subrogation actions and individual homeowner claims.

Dental

• Presided over a dental malpractice mass tort case involving multiple dentists and dental practices, with over two hundred plaintiff children. The case had been in litigation for five years. A tentative settlement was proposed, but there was no formal agreement, and not all plaintiffs had agreed, despite the defense's position that unanimous agreement was required. The court ordered a draft agreement and held multiple status conferences until all plaintiffs signed. To expedite the process, all minors' compromise hearings were conducted in our department rather than in Probate Court, reducing the estimated duration from one year to eight weeks. The case also involved Medi-Cal lien reductions (Ahlborn hearings), reimbursement of common benefit fund costs, attorney’s fees, blocked accounts, and structured annuities.
• Mediated a dispute regarding the distribution of Common Benefit Fund attorneys’ fees following the resolution of a dental malpractice mass tort case previously settled on the bench. The matter was referred for mediation by the judge managing the remaining case inventory.

Breach Of Contract

• Presided over a real estate dispute involving multiple LLCs, where a member filed an action against the managing members for breach of fiduciary duty. The managing members had exercised an involuntary withdrawal of the suing members, allegedly in accordance with the LLC operating agreements.

Land Slide

• Presided over a bench trial concerning a landslide case related to the expansion of a freeway. The case involved geological issues including the Capistrano Formation, a continuous clay seam, 60 feet of fill from 1965 with unknown compaction ratios, and a ground anchor tieback system for a retaining wall that used high-pressure injection grouting.

Real Estate Land Use

• He has experience handling easement matters, including a recent trial involving a “Right of Way” easement dispute between public transportation entities and a private landowner concerning access and property rights.

PI Sexual Molestation

• Mediated a case in which a plaintiff sued a county and a foster family agency for alleged damages arising from sexual abuse by her foster father. The dispute focused on whether information known to agency staff should have put defendants on notice of the abuse, despite testimony that no actual notice was received until months later.

Business Torts

• Presided over an action filed by a non-lawyer against a law firm partner and clients of the law firm for malicious prosecution. The case stemmed from a prior action filed by the lawyer and clients against the non-lawyer for breach of fiduciary duty related to an alleged partnership in the law firm.

PI Auto

• Mediated an auto–pedestrian injury case involving a vehicle backing incident, disputed facts regarding the pedestrian’s location at impact, and contested course-and-scope issues affecting liability and available coverage.

Premises Liability

• Mediated a slip and fall case with no witnesses or photographs of the accident area and disputed liability. The plaintiff sustained a hip fracture, and the matter involved significant disagreement over valuation.
• Mediated a trip and fall case at a community college construction site involving multiple defendants, including issues related to defense obligations and coordinated resolution among the parties.