Judith Posner

Judy Posner is a senior partner at Benedon & Serlin, LLP, a Southern California premier appellate law firm. She specializes in representing clients in a wide variety of complex appellate matters, including employment, contracts, personal injury, probate, real estate, family law and arbitration.  As an appellate attorney for 30 years, Judy is proficient in handling all types of appeals, writ proceedings, trial consultations, and post-trial motions and appears before the California Supreme Court, California Courts of Appeal and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

As a Certified Specialist in Appellate Law, Judy is consistently recognized in the appellate field by Best Lawyers in America and has been selected as a Southern California Super Lawyer for many years.  Prior to her current stint in private practice, Judy spent more than a decade as a judicial attorney for the California Court of Appeal, specifically for Presiding Justice Dennis Perluss and Presiding Justice Frances Rothschild. Judy currently serves as the treasurer for the California Academy of Appellate Lawyers.

Specific examples of Judy’s work include:

·       Supreme Court review of cases involving jury trial waiver: After being denied relief from a jury trial waiver, a plaintiff appealed from an adverse judgment based on the denial of relief. The Court of Appeal, in a split decision, affirmed the trial court’s judgment. Judy, along with her Benedon & Serlin colleague, successfully persuaded the California Supreme Court to (1) grant review to resolve a conflict in the prevailing case law, and (2) issue a grant and hold in another matter with similar issues. Although the Supreme Court ultimately affirmed the Court of Appeal’s majority decision, it acknowledged the conflicting case law, and used this specific ruling to disapprove several published appellate opinions supporting the client’s position on relief from jury trial waivers. 

·         Personal injury case with complex discovery abuse issues: In a personal injury action by a veteran and his wife after the veteran suffered traumatic brain and spinal injuries in a car accident, the case turned into a discovery debacle because the defendants and their counsel repeatedly failed to respond to routine discovery requests and violated multiple court orders. Although the trial court initially imposed a variety of lesser discovery sanctions, it eventually issued “terminating sanctions,” striking the defendants’ answer and entering a default judgment against defendants. A prove-up jury trial followed, along with numerous post-trial motions filed by the defendants and their insurance carrier, culminating in a $58 million judgment for the injured couple, plus prejudgment interest. Judy, along with her Benedon & Serlin colleague, strategically responded to separate briefs from defendants and their insurance carrier, systematically refuting each argument, including issues relating to terminating sanctions, statements of damages, the mandatory and discretionary provisions of Code of Civil Procedure section 473, and the non-economic damages award. The Court of Appeal affirmed the judgment in every respect.

·         Associational standing and costs of proof issues: In action by the Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs (ALADS) against its former president and vice president for breach of their fiduciary duties, the trial court found in favor of  ALADS and awarded damages for various costs incurred by ALADS due to the defendants’ misconduct. The trial court, however, found ALADS did not have associational standing to pursue $7.8 million in damages sustained by its member deputy sheriffs due to the defendants’ derailment of contract negotiations between ALADS and the County of Los Angeles. The trial court also denied ALADS its attorney fees as “costs of proof” for having to prove certain facts that the defendants refused to admit in discovery. On appeal, Judy, with her B&S colleagues, successfully persuaded the Court of Appeal that the defendants’ liability challenge had no merit and additionally that ALADS had associational standing to obtain the $7.8 million in damages for its members and was entitled to costs of proof.