List of Significant Cases

By G. Michael "Mike" German

A listing of some major cases I've handled in my 24+ years of practice as a lawyer throughout California's State and Federal Courts.

2. Coon v. Joseph, 192 CA3d 1269 (1987). Civil rights suit of first impression brought to extend Dillon v. Legg bystander tort liability to gay male couple. Court of Appeal affirmed trial court's reluctant dismissal of suit, but only after resubmission and in a dissonant trio of opinions. New Jersey Supreme Court later adopted same theory of recovery in Dunphy v. Gregor, 642 A2d 372 (NJ, 1994), and AB25, signed into California law in 2001, now contains same provision enacted into law.

3. Seven Resorts, Inc. v. Cantlen, 57 F3d 771, (9th Cir. 1995). Maritime action brought against owner/operator of Lake Shasta houseboats after coed caught in propeller. Case brought Ninth Circuit into accord with other Circuits - never an easy task! - by holding that merely bringing a Limitation of Liability action did not establish federal admiralty jurisdiction; independent connection to traditional maritime jurisdiction still must be shown. Case settled for substantial sum shortly thereafter.

4. Hernandez v. McClanahan, 996 F.Supp. 975, (USDC, ND, Cal. 1998). Civil rights suit by former student against high school and police department for wrongful arrest. Case sought to adjudicate petition for late claim relief under California's Tort Claim Act in federal court but was dismissed on jurisdictional grounds and later settled. Subsequent caselaw in other federal courts came to opposite conclusion and it is now possible to efficiently and economically litigate such issues in one federal forum, instead of bouncing back and forth between state and federal court.

5. Johnson v. Knowles, 113 F.3d 1114 (9th Cir. 1997). Civil rights suit filed on behalf of two gay longtime Republicans who were twice elected to and twice ousted from their county central committee on spurious grounds in retaliation for their efforts to moderate its right-wing stance. Case pled 42 USC §§ 1983 and 1985 civil rights claims against committeemembers who orchestrated ouster, but was dismissed by federal court on jurisdictional grounds.

6. Complaint of American Auto, 1989 AMC 1489 (USDC, ND, Cal. 1991). Multiparty, multiforum federal maritime case brought by survivors of yacht fire in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, in which I represented a survivor and served as all plaintiffs' special maritime counsel. Case settled for a significant, confidential amount after I successfully briefed issues of jurisdiction and Limitation of Liability and later assisted in submitting amicus curiae brief to U.S. Supreme Court in a similar action.

7. David Jaramillo et al. v. City & County of San Francisco, (USDC, ND, Cal. 1997). Multi-plaintiff action brought on behalf of senior citizens residing in SF Housing Authority property for negligence of SFHA in allowing repeated assaults and robberies to occur on their premises, including that upon lead Plaintiff, a well-known, longtime and respected community leader. Case exposed more mismanagement in SFHA and settled for a substantial and confidential sum before trial.

8. G. Michael German v. Tammy Haygood, San Francisco Registrar of Voters, (SF Superior Ct. 2002). Writ of mandamus filed against Willie Brown appointee, subsequently removed from office, for her refusal to strike misleading and irrelevant materials from SF Voters Guide, a victory for voters' right to accurate ballot statements.

9. Does v. Roes I, II and III, (San Diego Superior Ct. 1990). Civil rights claim brought by gay SD college student against employer and partner's parents after they conspired to defame him and fire him from his campus job. Case set precedent when SD 4th District Court of Appeal extended privacy of sexual history to gays, and case settled for substantial sum shortly thereafter, kept confidential at defendants' request.