MOTION IN LIMINE

A Motion in Limine is a type of pleading that is filed before the case actually goes to trial. The point of a Motion in Limine is to have the judge rule as to whether or not certain evidence will be allowed in court. A Motion in Limine is usually filed by one party to a lawsuit that is asking to exclude certain evidence that they feel would be prejudicial in trial.

CONTRACTORS STATE LICENSE BOARD ANNOUNCES NEW E-MAIL ALERT FEATURE

The Contractors State License Board (CSLB) has launched a new E-Mail Alert subscription service to provide licensees and consumers with instant notification of newly published industry bulletins, California Licensed Contractor newsletters, news releases and consumer alerts, and public meeting notices.

It only takes a few moments to sign up for one or all of these instant notification
categories.

“These e-mail alerts are another way for us to meet our goal of providing the most up-to-date information possible to licensees about the many issues affecting the construction industry and the operations of this Board,” said CSLB Registrar Steve Sands.

Simply go to the CSLB website www.cslb.ca.gov or www.CheckTheLicenseFirst.com and click on the “E-mail Alerts” button. Then, enter your contact information and hit “subscribe.”

That’s it.

Once you confirm your subscription, messages will automatically be sent to your e-mail address, alerting you of newly released CSLB publications and notices. You can opt-out just as easily if you later decide to discontinue receiving any of the alerts.

AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSE DEFINED

To explain what an affirmative defense is, we first need to understand how a lawsuit works. Typically, a lawsuit starts with the plaintiff filing a document with the court called a complaint. In the complaint the plaintiff alleges its causes of action and asks for damages. The defendant has to then defend himself. The most common way a defendant goes about defending himself is by filing a document called an answer with the court. In the answer, the defendant can deny claims set forth by the plaintiff (simply stating that the plaintiff's claims are not true) or the defendant can state that there are additional facts or arguments that will defeat the plaintiff's claims. These additional facts or arguments are what is known as affirmative defenses. Some of the more common affirmative defenses in a breach of contract or negligence case are listed below.

Statute of Limitations -- The plaintiff filed the lawsuit after the deadline imposed by law. For instance, if there is a dispute about a written contract, you have four years from the date that the contract was breached to file a lawsuit.

Accord and Satisfaction -- Simply, the plaintiff and defendant already settled the dispute.

Failure to Mitigate Damages -- If the plaintiff could have used ordinary care to lessen the damage, then the plaintiff should have done so.

Comparative/Contributory Negligence -- If the damages suffered is partly the plaintiff's fault, then the defendant can ask for a reduction (comparative negligence) or the complete bar of (contributory negligence) damages.

There are more affirmative defenses. The above is just a few of them.