Gallegos v Tesoro, Los Angeles County Superior Court Case Number BC550108.


From the appellate court's decision and online county court docket it is Lawzilla's understanding the following occurred:

Attorney April Verlato is one of the attorneys representing the plaintiff on appeal, and is the attorney filing the appeal.




The plaintiff injured his ankle falling off a curb. His attorneys sued Tesoro who owned a gas station and a company called Titan.

The case when to trial and the jury found Titan had no liability.

Against Tesora there was a net judgment of $104,821.91.




Titan then sought to recover payment for its case costs: $56,158.45.

The judge granted the full amount, which was to be paid by the plaintiff.




Attorney April Verlato then filed appeal for plaintiff from the jury trial judgment, but did not appeal the order to pay $56,158.45 in costs for losing the case against Titan.

The court said the appeal states the date of the jury trial.




From the Los Angeles online court records, this document was filed by attorney April Verlato:




When it came time to designate for the appeal what records were relevant, the document said it was for the date relating to when the trial court denied a motion for a new trial.




From the Los Angeles online court records, this document was filed by attorney April Verlato:




Plaintiff's attorneys then filed a second document, which also listed the denial of their request for a new trial.

They also send the jury verdict to the court of appeal.




However, when the attorneys submitted their brief to the court of appeal, the only issued they argued was the $56,000 award of costs to Titan.

The court then dismissed the appeal because Verlato had not appealed the cost award.

Ouch.

Based on what we read in the court of appeals decision, our opinion is this is a case of legal malpractice in botching the appeal.

However, we do not know if the $56,158.45 would have been reversed, in full or part, if an appeal had properly been made.

There are additional case details, beyond the appellate decision, we simply do not know.

But we wonder how much, if anything, the plaintiff actually recovered.

The jury verdict started with $209,643.81. Then got cut in half. Then plaintiff had $56,158.45 awarded against him. The motion for a new trial was lost.

There are three law firms listed on the appeal and plaintiff likely has medical bills to be paid.

We are left wondering - was the blown appeal indicative of the attorney performance and that is why plaintiff sought a new trial and was also hit with an order to pay $56,000+ in costs by Titan?

Bottom line: The trial was the hard part and results can be unpredictable. Putting the right order on the notice of appeal was the easy part.

Would you hire April Verlato, Esq., to be your attorney?

April Verlato was admitted to the California Bar in 2000. Bar Number 207451.

33 East Huntington Drive
Arcadia, California 91006-3210

Law School: Southwestern University

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