Joyce S. Mendlin

Joyce Mendlin’s practice over the last 30+ years has included inverse condemnation, real property litigation and business litigation.  In select cases, she has represented clients for personal injuries. She has extensive jury trial and bench trial experience in her areas of practice. She has served as a volunteer mediator for the Los Angeles Superior Court after completing the 42-hour Strauss Dispute Resolution training. Since a majority of cases do settle, knowledge and skill in the area of dispute resolution can be of great help in litigation.

REPRESENTATIVE INVERSE CONDEMNATION CASES AGAINST GOVERNMENTAL ENTITIES

• Represented over forty family client-homeowners in Carmel, California for claims for flood damages from the Carmel River against public entities and private property owners.  Settled with all defendants except the County of Monterey.  Tried the case against Monterey County, and obtained a jury verdict in favor of client-homeowners
• Successfully represented over twenty family client-homeowners in claims for flood damage from the San Francisquito Creek against public entities in Santa Clara County
• Successfully represented property owners through trial on a claim for DDT-contamination against a public entity in Riverside County
• Successfully represented individual homeowners in dozens of cases against public entities for mudslides, landslides, subsidence, sewer spills, and damages caused by storm drain overflows
• Successfully represented clients in cases involving damages caused by broken and damaged drain pipes
• Represented clients in cases involving damages caused by DWP water main
• Represented clients in cases involving damages caused by water from City streets
• Represented clients in cases involving damages caused by broken or backed-up sewer pipes
• Represented clients in cases involving damages caused by blocked and overflowing storm drains
• Represented clients in cases involving damages caused by subsidence resulting from leaking drainage pipes
• Represented clients in cases involving damages suffered by lower landowner caused by water and mudflow from upper landowner’s property

REPRESENTATIVE REAL PROPERTY DISPUTES

• Represented landlords and tenants in commercial unlawful detainer actions
• Represented clients in neighbor-to-neighbor disputes, including boundary disputes and easements
• Represented clients in disputes over trees, including border trees
• Represented a property owner against a prospective buyer’s claim for specific performance, by obtaining summary judgment against the prospective buyer
• Represented the owner of a residence against claims by the tenant for damages allegedly caused by exposure to toxins, by obtaining a jury verdict in favor of the client-owner

REPRESENTATIVE CASES FOR AND AGAINST LAWYERS

• Represented a business owner against her prior law firm in a lawsuit for legal malpractice
• Successfully represented a law firm in its claims for fees against that law firm’s former client while defeating that law firm’s
• former client’s claims for legal malpractice

REPRESENTATIVE BUSINESS LITIGATION CASES

• Represented an individual through jury trial on her claims against a bank for misappropriated assets
• Prosecuted through trial an action for misappropriation of partnership assets, including obtaining injunctive relief, contempt sanctions, and punitive damages
• Represented the administrator of an estate in a claim to enforce a promissory note
• Represented partners in various partnership disputes
• Represented corporate offices in a Corporations Code section 709 ; trial to validate the results of a shareholders election

REPRESENTATIVE TORT LITIGATION CASES

• Represented a property owner against a fraudulent claim for personal injury damages, obtaining summary judgment; affirmed on appeal
• Represented a client seeking insurance coverage for a copyright infringement suit brought against that client
• Represented clients in the Santa Monica Farmers Market Litigation, in which the City failed to take precautions, allowing an elderly man to drive through a crowded farmers market on an unprotected city street

REPRESENTATIVE PROBATE LITIGATION

• Represented through trial a disabled man in an action for support against a trust
• Successfully represented through trial a claimant in a gift causa mortis petition

REPRESENTATIVE PROCEDURAL ISSUES LITIGATION

• Successfully opposed claims that a client’s settlement with one defendant should be deducted from the client’s damages claimed against a public entity defendant in inverse condemnation, under the law pertaining to good faith settlements, in two separate cases
• Successfully argued that the adverse party could not dismiss his case against client on the morning of the hearing on a motion for summary judgment to avoid liability to the client for attorney’s fees

REPRESENTATION FOR AND AGAINST CONSTRUCTION CONTRACTORS

• Represented contractors and subcontractors on their claims for payment, including at trial and in arbitrations
• Represented property owners in claims for construction defects against contractors
• Defended contractors against claims for construction defects
• Defended through trial a contractor against a subcontractor’s claims for payment

BAR ADMISSIONS

• California

EDUCATION

Southwestern University School of Law, S.C.A.L.E. Program, Los Angeles, California, Law Review, Judicial Extern to the Honorable Justice Clarke E. Stephens, California Court of Appeal, 1979, J.D.

St. John’s College, Annapolis, Maryland, 1975, B.A.

PUBLISHED WORKS

• “Applying the Inverse Condemnation Remedy to Water Damage,” Los Angeles Lawyer, April 2015(Co-Author with Roger Rosen)
• “Obtaining Recovery for Property Damage through Inverse Condemnation,” Los Angeles Lawyer, January 2011(Co-Author with Roger Rosen)

PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATION MEMBERSHIPS

• 2013 Super Lawyer
• 2008 Finalist for Consumer Attorneys of California ‘Lawyer of the Year’
• Los Angeles County Bar Association
• Santa Monica Bar Association