Confidential
Verdict – $950,000Judge
Court
Inyo Superior
Attorneys
Plaintiff
Martin L. Stanley
(Law Office of Martin L. Stanley)
Defendant
Experts
Plaintiff
Tom Anderson
(technical)
David J. Lafaille
(technical)
Defendant
Danny L. Taylor
(technical)
Facts
The plaintiff is a prospector; the defendant is an attorney specializing in Mining Law. In 1995, the plaintiff, Van Ert, staked 16 gold mineral claims in the Inyo Mountains. (Each claim is one half-acre in size). Van Ert then entered into a three-page preliminary agreement with BHP Minerals, a mining company, whereby BHP agreed in essence to lease the claims from Van Ert and to provide him with what is known in the mining industry, as an area of interest surrounding the 16 claims. According to the preliminary agreement, the area of interest would result in Van Ert having an interest in any mining claims staked within a 64 mile area surrounding his 16 claims. BHP submitted a formal written agreement to Van Ert. Van Ert hired defendant attorney, a mining law specialist, to review the formal agreement and make sure that its terms matched the preliminary agreement and provided the area of interest to Van Ert. Unfortunately, the 34-page formal agreement sent by BHP failed to provide for an area of interest to Van Ert and the defendant overlooked this failure. In or about 1998, BHP assigned the 81 claims to John Zimmerman and Donald Merrick who assigned such claims to Majestic Gold Corporation.
Settlement Discussions
Settlement with the BHP defendants: After jury selection, but before opening statements, the BHP defendants settled, giving up all 81 claims to Van Ert and stipulating to quiet title of those claims, along with an award of attorney's fees. According to the plaintiff's expert, the claims were valued at $7 million. According to the defendant's expert, the claims had no value whatsoever. As a result of the settlement with the BHP defendants, the only claim left to be tried was the legal malpractice claim against the defendant attorney for the value of the loss of use of the 81 claims for the five-year period during which the BHP defendants had retained the claims to the exclusion of Van Ert. A settlement was reach with the defendant attorney which recognized him right to a partial offset for the settlement with other defendants. The plaintiff demanded $730,000 from defendant attorney after reaching settlement with other defendants; the defendant offered $350,000.
Damages
The plaintiff claimed that the 81 claims surrounding his 16 claims contained valuable gold mineralization and that the reasonable value of the loss of use of the 81 claims was between $100,000 and $500,000 per year. The plaintiff claimed a loss of use of the claims for five years. The defendant claimed that the 81 claims had little or no value because of low gold prices and California enviromental issues and, at best, could be leased for under $20,000 per year.
Result
Majestic Gold Corp. was paid $80,000 by BHP for the 81 claims, which were ultimately granted over to Stephen Van Ert.
Other Information
The plaintiff dismissed fraud and punitive damage claims against defendant attorney during trial. Defendants Zimmerman and Merrick were in pro per. This case is believed to be the largest verdict ever in Inyo County.
Deliberation
one hour and 30 minutes
Poll
11-1 (all issues)
Length
12 days
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