Kevin Kennedy (Builder): [JOINT DEFENSE/SUBPOENA COMPUTER HARD DRIVE]

Kevin Kennedy was the supervising attorney on this matter which involved a suit filed on behalf of the firm’s client, CDM Construction, Inc. seeking payment by work they performed on and around the road improvements leading to the subject church. Skyline Wesleyan Church subsequently sued all of the contractors for all aspects of the project alleging various construction deficiencies. This matter was filed in the San Diego Superior Court with the Honorable Ronald Prager presiding. Counsel for Plaintiff, Skyline was represented by Richard D. Corona, Esq. of the Corona Law Firm. CDM, our firm’s client as a plaintiff was represented by David Kuhlman, Esq. of Procopio, Corey, Haggards & Savage. During the course of the litigation CDM decided to terminate the relationship with Procopio and hired Kennedy & Souza to pursue Plaintiff’s case and to defend the construction defect matter.

This matter was complex in that CDM, with respect to off-site improvements acted as a general contractor and our firm spearheaded a pursuit against the subcontracts requesting that the additional insured’s contribute toward CDM’s defense. Through the firm’s efforts a joint defense involving RiverStone, Zurich North American, GBA Claims-Ward North America, Inc., Investors Underwriting Managers, and EXL Insurance Global Risk all participated in the defense of CDM. This matter involved several parties, however, Kennedy & Souza took the laboring oar of performing certain discovery including subpoenaing computer hard drives and deposing key witnesses in order to force Skyline to resolve this matter. There were allegations of opposing counsel, Mr. Corona participating in fraudulent activity as a member of the church which was revealed during course of discovery. We further established that Skyline Church merely raised the allegations against various subcontractors in an effort to divert attention from CDM’s claim for reimbursement in an amount over $300,000. The ultimate result of this case was as follows:

  1. We obtained $500,000 from Skyline on behalf of CDM; and
  2. We settled the defect claim against CDM for $90,000 with a demand in excess of $1 million.