pro bono Spotlight

Jones, Skelton & Hochuli, P.L.C. (Phoenix, AZ)

Jones, Skelton & Hochuli, P.L.C. (JSH) attorneys Michael E. Hensley and John D. Lierman obtained summary judgment for the owner/operator of a family-style restaurant, Sal & Teresa’s Mexican Restaurant (Restaurant). The case concerned a traffic incident in which Defendant Necaise, driving a pickup 45-50 mph, lost control and collided with a car driven by Plaintiff Baca. After the collision, Necaise’s passenger tumbled out of his truck, obviously intoxicated and totally naked. Necaise was clothed, but also obviously intoxicated. Police found numerous open containers of alcohol in and around Necaise’s truck. Necaise was found to have a BAC of 0.22 two hours after the accident.

Necaise’s passenger told police that she and Necaise consumed alcohol at the Restaurant earlier that day. Plaintiff brought suit, alleging that Necaise was overserved alcohol by Sal & Teresa’s which therefore bore fault in the accident. After litigation began, Necaise fled the jurisdiction and was never located. His passenger was also never located.

JSH moved for summary judgment, arguing that Plaintiff had no admissible evidence that anyone was overserved, nor that Necaise was even at the Restaurant that day.

Plaintiff opposed our motion with a Rule 56(d) motion to be allowed more discovery. The court denied Plaintiff’s motion because the deadline to disclose an expert had already passed and there was no evidence offered that any additional discovery would support Plaintiff’s case. Plaintiff then argued that the statement made by Necaise’s passenger qualified for an exception for hearsay, most plausibly as an “excited utterance.”

JSH argued that the passenger’s statement did not qualify for a hearsay exception and that with no evidence to show the alcohol in Necaise’s system was from the Restaurant, Plaintiff could never make out a case for causation. The court agreed and granted summary judgment in our client’s favor.

transactions

Baird Holm LLP

Baird Holm LLP in Nebraska represented Berkshire Hathaway Inc. in its sale of BH Media Group’s newspaper and digital news operations to Lee Enterprises for $140 million and Berkshire’s long-term financing to Lee Enterprises of approximately $576 million. The sale included a 10-year lease of all of BH Media Group’s real estate to Lee Enterprises. The transaction closed on March 16, 2020. The Baird Holm team on this transaction included J. Scott Searl, Aaron Johnson, Kevin Tracy, Brian Schumacher, Austin Graves and Adam Ripp.

pro bono spotlight

Barclay Damon LLP

Combining its pro bono and diversity efforts, Barclay Damon LLP has several minority-owned small business initiatives underway. In August, Corey Auerbach reached out to Barclay Damon LLP’s pro bono partners at LASNNY (Albany), ECBA VLP (Buffalo), VSLP (Rochester), and OVLP (Syracuse) to work with each of them on screening and intake of minority-owned businesses to assist with pro bono virtual services. In addition to providing virtual services at a small business workshop, Barclay Damon’s outreach to their pro bono community partners has resulted in four new pro bono matters: • Representing a minority-led not-for-profit corporation in purchasing real property to house a theatre company; • Creating business contracts and labor and employment policies from an upstart minority-owned cleaning company; • Providing intellectual property assistance to a minority-owned family-oriented sound-system business; and • Formation of a minority-led not-for-profit to operate a halfway home for men who have been recently incarcerated. Also, New York is on the precipice of a deepening and dire housing crisis as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. A staggering number of New Yorkers have lost their jobs and over 1 million households currently face a risk of housing instability or rent shortfalls. Unaddressed, this will lead to an astounding number of eviction proceedings and consequent evictions. Barclay Damon attorneys, including many who do not normally handle housing court matters, have participated in CLEs conducted by OVLP and LASNNY to receive training to assist with the avalanche of eviction proceedings that are anticipated to overburden the courts.

Hanson Bridgett LLP

After the onset of the pandemic back in March, Hanson Bridgett LLP’s Pro Bono Committee reached out to several community partners to ask how they could provide support. Recent Hanson Bridgett pro bono initiatives include the representation of families seeking asylum in the U.S. through a partnership with the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights. Hanson Bridgett’s attorneys helped secure continued long-term safety and peace of mind for numerous families. Hanson Bridgett’s Pro Bono Committee also approved several amicus matters this year, including one on behalf of the Tahirih Justice Center in the case of Rosa Rivera-Perez v. William Barr where a Salvadoran woman was threatened with deportation because the immigration judge and the Board of Immigration Appeals failed to consider circumstantial evidence regarding El Salvador’s gruesome machismo and femicide culture. Hanson Bridgett drafted and filed an amicus brief in support of Ms. Rivera-Perez’s petition for review. Currently, the appeal is ongoing in the Ninth Circuit.