NEWSTIP? RioMesadeveloper wins$25million judgmentinSan ... · The Fresno Bee, 2016-03-22 Cropped...
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The Fresno Bee, 2016-03-22 Cropped page Page: 2A Copyright 2016 Olive Software 2016-04-04 11:09:45 A Fresno jury has awarded a Madera County development company $25 million in damages against Fidelity National Title Insurance in a civil trial over the developer’s blocked access to the San Joaquin River. Attorneys James Ardaiz and John G. Michael of the Fresno law firm of Baker Manock & Jensen said Monday the verdict in Fresno County Superior Court involved Rio Mesa Holdings LLC’s attempt to turn nearly 1,600 acres east of Highway 41 into an upscale residential devel- opment north of the river on the old Peck Ranch. Known as Tesoro Viejo, it’s expected to break ground later this year and is part of the Rio Mesa Area Plan where development on other projects already has begun. A key selling point of the project was allowing residents of the devel- opment and the public access to the river. In 2004, Rio Mesa bought a $25 million title policy from Fidelity Na- tional to protect its rights and title to the property. The jury found that Fidel- ity National’s lawyers failed to protect the devel- opment’s access to the river after property own- ers in the area claimed they had a right to block it and prevailed in court. According to Ardaiz and Michael, the jury found Fidelity National liable for improperly delaying Rio Mesa’s insurance claim, insurance misconduct, and for handling Rio Me- sa’s claims in bad faith. Irvine-based attorney Michael Busch, major claims counsel for Fidelity National, said Monday that the company respects the hard work of the jury and the court during the trial. But, he said, “the company continues to believe it fulfilled all of its obligations under the insured’s policy and antic- ipates its position will be upheld in further proceed- ings.” The case was tried in Fresno because Fidelity National, the largest title company in the United States, has an office here. The verdict was reached last week after nearly eight weeks of testimony in Judge Donald Black’s courtroom. Former feder- al judge Oliver W. Wan- ger, who is now in private practice in Fresno, testi- fied as an expert witness for Rio Mesa about Fidel- ity National’s handling of the developer’s claims in bad faith. Once the verdict was announced, Black thanked the jury, saying it was one of the most complicated cases he had ever seen as a judge or tried as a law- yer in Fresno County. The case stems from a JOHN WALKER Fresno Bee file Bob McCaffrey, a member of Rio Mesa Holdings LLC, stands next to the San Joaquin River in 2007 during the early stages of his fight to ensure that his development would have access to the river. On March15 a Fresno jury awarded $25 million to Rio Mesa. Rio Mesa developer wins $25 million judgment in San Joaquin River case ....................................................... Madera County developer wants to build upscale development north of San Joaquin River ....................................................... Rio Mesa Holdings says Fidelity National Title Insurance failed to protect developer’s access to river ....................................................... BY PABLO LOPEZ [email protected] SEE RIO MESA, 10A
Transcript of NEWSTIP? RioMesadeveloper wins$25million judgmentinSan ... · The Fresno Bee, 2016-03-22 Cropped...
The Fresno Bee, 2016-03-22 Cropped page Page: 2A
Copyright 2016 Olive Software 2016-04-04 11:09:45
LUCKY NUMBERS
POWERBALLSaturday’s draw for$80 million
11 23 43 54 60 3Winner: NoneNext draw:Wednesday ($90million)
MEGA MILLIONSFriday’s draw for$25 million
5 8 57 59 73 13Winner: NoneNext draw: Tuesday ($30million)
SUPERLOTTO PLUSSaturday’s draw for$7 million
2 17 19 24 33 22Winner: NoneNext draw:Wednesday ($8million)
DRAWN MONDAYFantasy 5 2 3 4 5 16Daily 4 2 8 2 7Daily 3 Afternoon 7 6 0Daily 3 Evening 9 7 3Daily Derby 11 8 4Race time: 1:46.55
SOURCE: CALIFORNIA LOTTERYIt is The Bee’s policy to
acknowledge errorspromptly. Mistakes shouldbe called to the attentionof the editors involved.
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THE FRESNO BEE
Fresno’s UniversityHigh took home the Cali-fornia Academic Decath-lon small school title with52,514.2 points duringcompetition over theweekend in Sacramento.The school, based on
the campus of FresnoState, will be eligible tocompete in the U.S. Aca-demic Decathlon onlineNational Competition inApril.Other Valley schools
participating includedLemoore Middle CollegeHigh, which placed 21st;Edison High in Fresno,53rd; Merced High, 55th;Granite Hills High inPorterville, 59th; andChowchilla Union High,65th.Overall student winners
included Fayyaz Ahamedof University High, whoplaced third in Division 1honors; and Ben Drake ofEdison High, who placedfirst in Division 2 honors.The top school state-
wide was Granada HillsCharter High School inLos Angeles UnifiedSchool District, whichscored 61,149.6 points outof 65,400 possible. Theteam will represent Cali-fornia in the nationalcompetition scheduled forApril 28-30 in Anchorage,Alaska.Academic Decathlon
teams are comprised ofthree honor students (3.75and above GPA), threescholastic students (3.00-3.74 GPA), and three var-sity students (2.99 GPAand below).For full results, go to:
www.facebook.com/Aca-demicDecathlon/
FRESNO CO. JAILERSTABBED BY INMATEA Fresno County cor-
rectional officer wasstabbed by an inmatewhile serving dinner inthe county jail, the Sher-iff’s Office said Monday.Officers were serving
meals about 6:30 p.m.Saturday when CharlieMichael Smith ambushedthe officer, stabbing himrepeatedly in the back andhead with a sharpenedbroom-handle weapon hemade in jail, Sheriff Mar-garet Mims said.“Within just a few sec-
onds, he was subdued,”Mims said. “However, hewas able to stab the cor-rectional officer severaltimes in the back, side andin the back of the head.”Other correctional offi-
cers detained Smith andplaced him in a holdingcell, the Sheriff’s Officesaid. The injured correc-tional officer, who hasworked in the jail sinceDecember 2015, was tak-
en to a hospital for treat-ment, including stitches,and was sent home Sun-day.Smith, 33, was arrested
on Jan. 26 for being aparolee in possession of afirearm and was recentlyconvicted, Mims said.Smith was scheduled to betransported to WascoState Prison this week toserve a sentence of twoyears and eight months.As a result of this latest
crime, he will now be heldat the Fresno County Jailto face an attempted mur-der charge, Mims said.Smith’s prior convictions
include carjacking, rob-bery and assault with adeadly weapon.Attacks with jail-made
weapons on jail staffmembers are extremelyrare, Mims said.
MAN SHOT IN LEG INSOUTHWEST FRESNOOne man was shot in
the leg in southwest Fres-no when a gunmanopened fire on a group ofpeople Monday at Cali-fornia Street and PottleAvenue.Lt. Joe Gomez said
there may be more vic-tims.
The shooting took placeabout 10:30 a.m. Gomezsaid the group was in frontof a duplex across from astrip mall when the gun-man emerged from anearby alley and firedabout 10 rounds, strikingthe victim in the leg.The man ran about a
block before collapsing atPottle and Inyo Street,across from a Catholicchurch, where he wasfound by officers.The gunman ran west
on Mono Street. Policefound shell casings in thealley. Gomez said officersare trying to determine ifanyone else in the groupwas struck.Pottle Avenue turns into
Martin Luther King Boule-vard south of CaliforniaStreet. The strip mall hasbeen the scene of a num-ber of gang-related shoot-ings in recent years.Police did not say
whether the latest vio-lence is gang-related.
University High takes homesmall-school state decathlon title
NEWS & NOTES
ERIC PAUL ZAMORA [email protected]
Fish heads float in a broth at PhilHouse inside IslandPacific Seafood Market in Fresno. The supermarketcaters to Filipino and other Asian communities,offering difficult-to-find items. Take a tour atwww.fresnobee.com/video
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A Fresno jury hasawarded a Madera Countydevelopment company$25 million in damagesagainst Fidelity NationalTitle Insurance in a civiltrial over the developer’sblocked access to the SanJoaquin River.Attorneys James Ardaiz
and John G. Michael ofthe Fresno law firm ofBaker Manock & Jensensaid Monday the verdictin Fresno County SuperiorCourt involved Rio MesaHoldings LLC’s attempt toturn nearly 1,600 acres
east of Highway 41 into anupscale residential devel-opment north of the riveron the old Peck Ranch.Known as Tesoro Viejo,it’s expected to breakground later this year andis part of the Rio MesaArea Plan wheredevelopment on otherprojects already hasbegun.A key selling point of
the project was allowingresidents of the devel-opment and the publicaccess to the river.In 2004, Rio Mesa
bought a $25 million titlepolicy from Fidelity Na-tional to protect its rightsand title to the property.The jury found that Fidel-ity National’s lawyersfailed to protect the devel-opment’s access to theriver after property own-ers in the area claimedthey had a right to block itand prevailed in court.According to Ardaiz and
Michael, the jury foundFidelity National liable forimproperly delaying RioMesa’s insurance claim,
insurance misconduct,and for handling Rio Me-sa’s claims in bad faith.Irvine-based attorney
Michael Busch, majorclaims counsel for FidelityNational, said Mondaythat the company respectsthe hard work of the juryand the court during thetrial. But, he said, “thecompany continues tobelieve it fulfilled all of itsobligations under theinsured’s policy and antic-ipates its position will beupheld in further proceed-ings.”The case was tried in
Fresno because FidelityNational, the largest titlecompany in the UnitedStates, has an office here.The verdict was reached
last week after nearlyeight weeks of testimonyin Judge Donald Black’scourtroom. Former feder-al judge Oliver W. Wan-ger, who is now in privatepractice in Fresno, testi-fied as an expert witnessfor Rio Mesa about Fidel-ity National’s handling ofthe developer’s claims inbad faith.Once the verdict was
announced, Black thankedthe jury, saying it was oneof the most complicatedcases he had ever seen asa judge or tried as a law-yer in Fresno County.The case stems from a
JOHN WALKER Fresno Bee file
Bob McCaffrey, a member of Rio Mesa Holdings LLC, stands next to the San JoaquinRiver in 2007 during the early stages of his fight to ensure that his development wouldhave access to the river. On March 15 a Fresno jury awarded $25 million to Rio Mesa.
Rio Mesa developerwins $25 millionjudgment in SanJoaquin River case. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Madera County developerwants to build upscaledevelopment north ofSan Joaquin River. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Rio Mesa Holdings saysFidelity National TitleInsurance failed toprotect developer’saccess to river. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
BY PABLO [email protected]
SEE RIO MESA, 10A
The Fresno Bee, 2016-03-22 Cropped page Page: 10A
Copyright 2016 Olive Software 2016-04-04 11:10:59
10A TUESDAY MARCH 22 2016Local FRESNOBEE.COM
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May 2012 Fresno appel-late court ruling thatupheld a jury’s award ofmore than $3.2 million tohomeowners in a MaderaCounty river bluff neigh-borhood in their nearlysix-year legal battleagainst the Rio Mesa de-velopers.Back then, the 5th Dis-
trict Court of Appeal af-firmed Judge James E.Oakley’s ruling in Madera
County Superior Court in2008 that the 49-lot Sum-ner Hill subdivision is aprivate, gated communitythat has exclusive rights tothe river.Therefore, it can bar the
public and the Rio Mesadevelopers from goingthrough the subdivision toget to the river, the rulingsaid.The homeowners were
pitted against a Rio Mesa
partnership of three majorbuilders including theMcCaffrey Group, whichis headed by local builderBob McCaffrey.Around 2004, the
McCaffrey Group and twopartners – fellow homebuilder Gary McDonald(who no longer is part ofthe group, Ardaiz said)and commercial developerLyles Diversified – boughtalmost 1,600 acres of thePeck Ranch, east of High-way 41 on both sides ofRoad 204.The proposed devel-
opment called for about
5,200 homes, a trail, andpublic access that wouldpass through Sumner Hillto reach the river.But soon after close of
escrow, it became appar-ent that Sumner Hill prop-erty owners had a right toblock Rio Mesa’s access tothe river, so they sued RioMesa Holdings in 2006,putting the developmentin jeopardy, Ardaiz andMichael said.After Fidelity National
lawyers failed to success-fully defend Rio Mesa’saccess to the river, it leftRio Mesa Holdings no
choice but to seek restitu-tion from the title compa-ny through the courts,Ardaiz and Michael saidMonday.The successful verdict
has severe repercussionsfor title companies acrossthe country, the lawyerssaid. “It effectively says tothe title company industryto be more careful aboutwhat they do and thatCalifornia insurance lawsare very strict and aredesigned to protect,” thelawyers said in a newsrelease.Ardaiz and Michael said
the $25 million was thebiggest judgment in re-cent Fresno County histo-ry. But the money doesnot cover all of the dam-age done to the Rio Mesadevelopment by losingaccess to the river.Because Fidelity Na-
tional was found to beoperating in bad faith,Ardaiz said, a secondphase of the trial couldresult in the title companypaying millions of dollarsin attorneys’ fees.
Pablo Lopez:559-441-6434, @beecourts
FROM PAGE 2A
RIO MESA
