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News, Articles & LinksArticles of InterestSullivan Law Wins $5.2 Million Jury Verdict. Carson City, Nevada, October 28, 2009. In a complex and hard fought water rights fraud case, Sullivan Law was successful in convincing a Carson City jury to reach a combine $5.2 million verdict. The case arose from Tim Bertagnolli's allegedly fraudulent sale of worthless water rights to Jack White and D & D Tire, Inc./Retiremen LLC in 2004, during the Dayton land boom. The water rights were intended to be used for White's 211-unit Heritage Ranch residential development in Dayton, approved by Lyon County in 2006, and for D & D's new tire store property nearby, set to open in Dayton later this year. The plaintiffs contended that Tim Bertagnolli had misrepresented his Bertagnolli Aggregates gravel pit water rights (located near Carson City, Nevada) as being permanent water rights, good for land development in Dayton. Sullivan Law argued that the water rights were in fact temporary water rights which were worthless and could not be used for the intended developments. The jury entered findings of fraud, negligent misrepresentation and breach of contract against Tim Bertagnolli and T. E. Bertagnolli & Associates Inc. Four days into the trial, the Western Engineering co-defendants, including Dennis Smith and David Winchell, settled and were dismissed. The Western defendants agreed to o a $1,000,000 judgment for professional negligence, with an assignment of their related professional liability insurance policy to plaintiffs. In addition, Western agreed to assign 101 acre feet of Lyon County water rights to plaintiffs. In return, White agreed to assign 125 acre feet of the allegedly worthless water rights to Western. The settlement helped streamline the 8-day trial. After about 4 hours of jury deliberation, the Jack White plaintiffs were awarded $4,956,289, arising from Jack White's 11/04 purchase of Bertagnolli's 125 acre feet of water rights for $1,062,500; and the Retiremen plaintiffs were awarded $232,200, arising from their 12/04 purchase of 10 acre feet of Bertagnolli's water rights for $150,000. Plaintiffs' expert witness testimony on water rights came from former State Engineers, Hugh Ricci and Mike Turnipseed, as well as local engineer, Rob Anderson of R. O. Anderson Engineering. In addition, UNR's Dr. Tom Cargill provided economic loss testimony. Significant factual testimony was provided by Jim Valentine (ReMax Realty Carson Valley Realtor ®), Peter Beekhoff (contractor who Bertagnolli attempted to sell 224 acre feet of the pit water rights in 2004), Britt Johnson (plaintiff's manager), Jack White (plaintiff and contractor), Paul DiMartini (plaintiff's manager), Steven Kreck (former Bertagnolli employee), Dorothy Palmer (Vidler Water Company President), defendant Tim Bertagnolli and Paul Taggart (Tim Bertanolli's attorney in 2004, when Bergagnolli sold the water rights to plaintiffs), Larry Werner (Carson City Manager and former Carson City Engineer), and current State Engineer Tracy Taylor. The unanimous jury rejected Tim Bertagnolli's arguments that plaintiffs had failed to mitigate damages by choosing not to pursue the water rights appeal of State Engineer Ruling No. 5861 in District Court. Plaintiffs' engineering experts testified that the appeal would be futile, with virtually no chance of success. The jury also agreed with plaintiffs' contention that the temporary water rights sold by Tim Bertagnolli in 2004 had $0 value. The Bertagnolli defendants were represented by Carson City attorney, Day Williams. Plaintiffs were represented by Sullivan Law attorneys, J. D. Sullivan, Gene Kaufmann and Milos Terzich (Of Counsel), with the Honorable James Wilson presiding. Judge Wilson did a fantastic job with the contentious case. Nevada Appeal $5.2 Million Jury Verdict Article Dated 10.31.09 Sullivan Law has represented independent festival coordinators, Phil Stoll and Martha Williams, in negotiations with the Town of Genoa, as well as with NDOT and Douglas County, for Candy Dance 2008 and 2009. Links below access the Agreement proposed by the Town of Genoa on 10/23/08, the proposed changes to the Agreement requested on 11/18/08, and a related 12/12/08 news article from the Record Courier.
The following links are to State Bar consumer education pamphlets provided by The State Bars of California, Nevada and Arizona.
Sullivan Law
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