Leslie M. Del Guercio

Experience

Breach of Contract and Related Business Litigation

• Successful prosecution and defense of multiple breach of contract actions. Examples include real estate purchase, sale, or lease contracts, and supply contracts.
• Represented multiple parties in a variety of lease disputes, including a municipal leasing client in breach of contract action which concluded in a highly favorable arbitration award before a private judge.
• Represented public and private landlords in numerous unlawful detainer actions, including a large public project requiring prosecution of multiple unlawful detainer actions concurrently to meet project deadlines.
• Represented refinery in business interruption action and concluded with a highly favorable settlement.

Eminent Domain and Inverse Condemnation

• Repeated representation of public entities in eminent domain actions, resulting in highly favorable settlements and judgments.
• Represented nursery in inverse condemnation action and recovered significant damages in action against city.

Toxic Tort

• Represented railroad in various aspects of litigation as a result of a derailment and subsequent pipeline explosion in multi-million dollar actions.
• Represented precious metals refiner in federal action for C.E.R.C.L.A. response costs in connection with a refinery explosion. (See published opn., Pease & Curren Refining, Inc. v. Spectrolab, Inc., 744 F.Supp. 95 (C.D. Cal. 1990).)
• Defended corporate client in connection with asbestos exposure litigation.

Business Transactions

• Formation of various business entities and drafting of related documents.
• Interpretation of rights and responsibilities under governing documents in anticipation of litigation.

Writ of Mandamus

• Represented municipalities in successful defense of state and federal mandamus actions resulting in dismissals or highly favorable settlement.

Appellate Work

• Representation of foreign bank before the California Appellate Court and obtained a reversal requiring payment to bank on letter of credit.
• Successfully represented city in defending trial court denial of writ of mandamus action in the California Appellate Court. (See published opn., El Rovia Mobile Home Park, LLC v. City of El Monte (April 23, 2020).)
• Representation of city in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to uphold District Court’s dismissal of regulatory takings claims against city.

Related Experience

• Law Clerk for the late Hon. Edward Rafeedie, United States District Court, Central District (1985-1986)

Honors & Recognition

B.A., Claremont McKenna College, Cum Laude (1982)