Criminal Law

• Assault
• Forgery
  In a coverage action, the court granted summary judgment for the insured finding coverage for a Ponzi scheme perpetrated by a third party using the insured's escrow services.  The court found coverage under the forgery bond because the insured suffered direct losses for which it was legally liable.  The court also found the insured's suspicion of wrongdoing was not sufficient to constitute an awareness of knowledge of facts and circumstances of a covered loss.

Business and Corporate Law

• Corporate Law
  The business and tax practice at GPS&L utilizes the experience of attorneys specializing in corporate and business law to serve the legal needs of its clients. The business law practice covers a wide variety of corporate, commercial and business transactions, including...
• Mergers and Acquisitions
  H. Ray Peffer is one of the founding partners of Greenan, Peffer, Sallander & Lally, LLP. Mr. Peffer is a transactional lawyer with extensive experience in corporate, real estate, securities, agricultural, taxation and administrative law, mergers and acquisitions, entity formation and venture capital and other financing transactions.
• Business Disputes
  Andy Sarkar is a transactional law associate at Greenan, Peffer, Sallander & Lally (“GPS&L”). Andy’s practice emphasizes commercial leasing, real estate purchase and sales, trademark registration, contract drafting and negotiation, corporate and business law, taxation, and estate planning.
• Business Transactions
• Limited Liability Companies
  Mr. Peffer currently represents public, private, domestic and international corporations, and limited liability companies in all aspects of internal governance and transactional issues. His clients include a broad variety of businesses including wineries, real estate developers, international retail companies, private equity firms, software companies and international export and distribution companies. Transactional matters handled by Mr. Peffer include, without limitation, public and private securities offerings, entity formation, mergers and acquisitions, real property purchases and sales, contract negotiation and drafting, franchising and product distribution matters and venture capital/emerging company legal issues.
• Trade Secrets
• Intellectual Property
  Mr. Ishibashi frequently addresses licensing, trademark, copyright and other intellectual property issues for his franchising, software and electronic commerce clients. He is part of the total solution that Greenan, Peffer, Sallander and Lally LLP provides to its clients.
• Unfair Competition
  Chip has represented companies to help them defend and prosecute claims for a wide variety of business torts and contract claims, including defamation, false advertising, unfair competition, copyright infringement, the registration and use of internet domain names, the disputed ownership of companies and their intellectual property, and disputes regarding sales and supply contracts.
• Antitrust

Employment Law

• Wrongful Termination
  We also defend companies and individuals with employment litigation. We have tried cases involving wrongful termination, sexual harassment and discrimination, and represented employers in cases involving ADA violations, and wage and hour cases in state and federal court and administrative agencies.
• Employment Discrimination
  Curiously enough, considering that the ADA is meant to prohibit a type of employment discrimination, before the latest legislation and regulations came into effect, the federal appellate courts were divided over whether "working" was a major life activity. Now that question has been answered in the affirmative.
• Employment Contract
  The employee, so long as he remained employed, had permission to access and use the company's computers. There was no written employment agreement or set of guidelines for employees that might have prohibited or restricted employees of the company from e-mailing the company's documents to personal computers. If keeping in-house documents in-house was a priority for the company, it would have been wise to incorporate appropriate restrictions on computer access and use by employees into an agreement or personnel policy.
• Employment Litigation
  Robert L. Sallander, Jr. brings an aggressive yet pragmatic and cost-efficient approach to his handling of complex civil litigation. His practice emphasizes insurance coverage and bad faith, though Mr. Sallander has successfully handled a variety of matters including toxic injury, environmental actions, employment disputes and other business torts.
• Sexual Harassment

Property Law

• Real Estate Litigation
  Whatever legal challenges our clients face in their real estate matters, GPS&L has a cost-efficient, pragmatic and effective way to meet them.
• Construction Litigation
  A subcontractor had breached its duty to defend a general contractor under Crawford. An insurance company asserting a subrogation claim for defense costs argued that because of that breach, the defendant subcontractor was jointly and severally liable for all of the general contractor’s defense costs in the underlying construction defect action. In an order denying, in part, the insurer’s motion for summary adjudication, the court held the subcontractor did not have a duty to defend the entire action against the general contractor; that the subcontractor was only obligated to defend the general contractor as to matters embraced by the indemnity; and that the insurer had not established several elements of its claim for subrogation, including the defense costs attributable to the allegations of defects in the subcontractor’s work.
• Real Estate Transactions
  The real estate law practice at GPS&L utilizes the highly specialized experience of real estate attorneys to serve the legal needs of farmers, developers, brokers, owners, investors and lenders and covers all facets of commercial, industrial, agricultural and residential real estate transactions. In addition to GPS&L’s real estate practice, GPS&L can also meet the legal needs of private clients in zoning and land use matters and in administrative and regulatory proceedings at the state and local level, including proceedings related to hazardous materials and other environmental matters. GPS&L's real estate practice includes...
• Eminent Domain
  Mr. Makin has a broad litigation background, trying cases and appearing before state and federal trial and appellate courts, as well as administrative and regulatory agencies. His litigation repertoire includes a variety of subject matters, such as trade regulation in the media field, engineering liability, commercial land use and regulation, eminent domain, environmental regulation, intellectual property and construction disputes.
• Land Use and Zoning
  From complex mergers and acquisitions to advice regarding corporate and limited liability company formation and dissolution, trade name registration, real estate and land use matters, and employment matters, GPS&L offers a high level of expertise.
• Landlord-Tenant Disputes
  Helen H. Chen practices commercial litigation with an emphasis on complex insurance coverage and bad faith litigation. Ms. Chen is a skilled litigation attorney with extensive experience in federal and state courts, and has experiences in all phases of civil litigation: discovery, law and motion, alternative dispute resolution, trial and appeal. Her excellent research, writing and analytical skills have led to successes in winning cases by way of terminating sanctions in employment and legal malpractice actions, dispositive motions in insurance coverage, landlord-tenant and legal malpractice actions, and appellate victories on issues of insurance coverage, informed consent, judicial misconduct, and anti-SLAPP.
• Property Damage
  A state court ruled that the sellers' insurer was within its rights to deny that there was coverage under the policy with the sellers. As with so many disputes over insurance coverage, the meaning of the terms used in the policy was crucial. The homeowners policy covered an occurrence that resulted in either bodily injury or property damage. An "occurrence" was defined by the policy as "an accident that results in damage."

Health Law

• Personal Injury
  In a coverage action in which defendant sought reimbursement of defense costs, the court granted summary judgment finding the discovery responses clarified that the underlying action was for "declaratory and injunctive relief and does not contain a claim for personal injury," and also affirmed the claim did not allege any bodily injury.  The court reasoned defendant's duty to defend was extinguished upon receipt of those discovery responses.

Trusts and Estates

• Estate Planning
  Estate planning to avoid probate and representing our clients in probate matters or litigation require both legal expertise in specialized areas of law and practical knowledge of our clients' current needs and future plans. GPS&L provides advice on the development, documentation and litigation to defend or implement our clients' estate plans. Being involved in both the drafting of wills, trusts, and other estate planning devices, as well as, the litigation of probate matters; gives us the opportunity to avoid unintended consequences and to implement successful litigation strategies. The depth of our income and estate tax backgrounds allows us to provide complete solutions for our clients.
• Wills

Finance Law

• Bankruptcy
• Foreclosure
  In an unreported decision, the California court of appeals affirmed a judgment against an insured seeking coverage for property damage to real property acquired through foreclosure proceedings, reasoning the "full credit bid rule" prevents a lender from seeking insurance coverage for damages to property damaged before the foreclosure sale.
• Tax Law
  GPS&L combines specialized expertise in business and tax law and the overall skills of the firm in the corporate, tax, employment, litigation and real estate areas to provide a broad base of support for GPS&L's business practice.