Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California
I need points and authorities for real estate fraud, to oppose a demurrer, where can i find them to admend my complaint?
6 Answers from Attorneys
Points and authorities refers to legal arguments and case or statutory law supporting the points made by you. Without knowing what topic you are referring to, all we can say is look up the arguments your opponent is making and see if the cases cited help or hurt you. Start out by looking at the books, such as West's California Codes to the detailed code sections listing of case, Witkin as to discussion of the section, Brown and Weil Civil Procedure Before Trial, etc to try to find support for your case. It probably is worth spending a few hour dollars to speak to an attorney experienced in that area of the law to find out if you have any case.
http://www.lmgtfy.com/?q=points+authorities+opposition+demurrer
You also might check out the civil jury instructions numbers 1900 et seq. (those that follow) for the elements you have to plead for fraud. Below the jury instructions are some cases that support those instructions: http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/reference/documents/civiljuryinst.pdf . To plead fraud, you must be specific, rather than use a legal conclusion such as "Defendant defrauded plaintiff." For instance, use the "who, what, when, where, and how" as an outline to allege fraud. You also must allege reasonable reliance upon the misrepresentation, and that without such representation, you wouldn't have acted the way you did, and that caused you damages.
Your post is too general to give you specific help. You might want to start in a public law library and look at Matthew Bender's series. They are broken into subject area, and contain discussions in various categories of law.
You need a lawyer to interpret the other side's reasons for demurring, and prepare points and authorities based on responses to the other side's points. Also, you do not have much time to respond. Let me know if you need help.
Best,
Daniel Bakondi, Esq.
415-450-0424
The Law Office of Daniel Bakondi, APLC
870 Market Street, Suite 1161
San Francisco CA 94102
http://www.danielbakondi.com
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For the first time in all the time I have been reading his answers, Mr. Bakondi has given the most correct one, and he didn't even tell us how massive his experience is with this kind of case like he always does. The boy may be growing into a lawyer. More importantly he is dead on right. Demurrers are usually a total waste of time. If you are facing one, either the other side is trying intimidate and trip you up, since if they succeed they can get your entire case thrown out if they win. OR you royally screwed the pooch with your complaint and it's an easy win for them. The ONLY thing you have going for you is that if there really IS a flaw in your complaint, you can amend. But of course if you knew how to amend to plead your case properly, you would have done it right in the first place, right? So the bottom line is you are going to get fire-hosed unless you get an attorney involved pronto. Otherwise you may as well save yourself the pain, and just dismiss and walk away.