ERISA: Remedies for Breaches of Fiduciary Duty
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MAY 2020 • $5 A Publication of the San Fernando Valley Bar Association COVID-19: Its Impacts on Lawyers and the Practice of Law ERISA: Remedies for Breaches of Fiduciary Duty www.sfvba.org www.ketkcpa.com 2 Valley Lawyer ■ MAY 2020 www.sfvba.org lewitthackman.com 818.990.2120 www.sfvba.org MAY 2020 ■ Valley Lawyer 3 www.SteveSepassi.com CONTENTS MAY 2020 VALLEY AWYER A Publication of the San Fernando Valley Bar Association 12 22 35 26 FEATURES 12 ERISA: Remedies for Breaches of Fiduciary Duty | BY BRENT DORIAN BREHM AND MICHELLE L. ROBERT MCLE TEST NO. 139 ON PAGE 21. DEPARTMENTS 22 Online Dispute Resolution: 7 President’s Message The Time is Now | BY JENNIFER JOHNSTON TERANDO 9 Editor’s Desk 26 COVID-19: Its Impacts on Lawyers and 11 Event Calendar the Practice of Law | BY DAVID GURNICK 37 Member Focus 35 High-Performance Leadership in 41 Attorney Referral Service Times of Crisis | BY ROBERT GROSSMAN 43 Valley Community Legal Foundation 38 Who Do You Trust with Your 45 Neighborhood Legal Services Pet (Trust)? | BY SUSAN B. SHARE 46 Classifieds www.sfvba.org MAY 2020 ■ Valley Lawyer 5 Jack G. Cohen COURT QUALIFIED AUTOMOBILE EXPERT WITNESS, LICENSED SAN FERNANDO VALLEY BAR ASSOCIATION AUTOMOBILE DEALER 20750 Ventura Boulevard, Suite 140 Woodland Hills, CA 91364 30 years experience in the automotive industry Phone (818) 227-0490 Fax (818) 227-0499 Plaintiff and Defense www.sfvba.org EDITOR Consulting with attorneys, dealers, Michael D. White consumers, insurance companies GRAPHIC DESIGNER Marina Senderov OFFICE: 747.222.1550 « CELL: 747.222.1554 EMAIL: [email protected] OFFICERS 2629 Townsgate Road, Suite 110 « Westlake Village, CA 91361 President ..................................Barry P. Goldberg President-Elect .........................David G. Jones Appraisals Secretary .....................................Christopher P. Warne Industry standards Treasurer ..................................Matthew A. Breddan Immediate Past President ........Yi Sun Kim Dealer fraud Executive Director ....................Rosie Soto Cohen Vehicle sales and leasing Dealership practices BOARD OF TRUSTEES New and used auto transactions Michael L. Cohen Joy Kraft Miles Auto warranty issues Alan Eisner Amanda Marie Moghaddam Finance documentation and analysis Kyle M. Ellis Samuel R.W. Price Ivette Fernandez Allan D. Sarver Lender-dealer relationships Heather Glick-Atalla George N. Seide Wholesale & Retail Gary J. Goodstein Steven M. Sepassi Diminished value cases Alexander S. Kasendorf Benjamin E. Soffer Automobile and equipment rentals Minyong Lee Taylor F. Williams STAFF Director of Education & Events .... Linda Temkin SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA’S NEMECEK COLE Communications Manager .........Michael D. White PREEMINENT PROFESSIONAL Member Services Coordinator ...Sonia Bernal Attorneys At Law & Associate Director of LIABILITY DEFENSE FIRM Public Services .......................... Miguel Villatoro Referral Consultant .................... Favi Gonzalez SECTION CHAIRS Bankruptcy Law ............................Steven R. Fox Business Law & Real Property ..... Lauri Shahar Criminal Law.................................. David S. Kestenbaum Employment Law .......................... David G. Jones Family Law ....................................Vanessa Soto Nellis ......................................................Amir Aharonov Litigation ......................................Christopher P. Warne New Lawyers .............................. Yi Sun Kim ....................................................... Amanda Marie Moghaddam Probate & Estate Planning ............John E. Rogers .......................................................Nancy A. Reinhardt Taxation Law ................................Hratch J. Karakachian Workers’ Compensation .............. Jeffrey S. Swartz FRANK W. NEMECEK* JONATHAN B. COLE* MICHAEL MCCARTHY* EDITORIAL COMMITTEE CHAIR David Gurnick Valley Lawyer is published monthly. Articles, announcements, and advertisements are due by the first day of the month prior to the publication date. The articles in Valley Lawyer are written for general interest and are not meant to be relied upon as a substitute for independent research and independent verification 16255 VENTURA BOULEVARD, SUITE 300 of accuracy. ENCINO, CA 91436-2300 Printing Southwest Offset Printing TEL: 818.788.9500 / TOLL FREE: 877.314.1177 © 2020 San Fernando Valley Bar Association 6 Valley Lawyer ■ MAY 2020 www.sfvba.org PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE BARRY P. GOLDBERG Legal Leadership During a Crisis SFVBA President [email protected] HOPE YOU AND YOUR FAMILY “Let me give you some more good client would need custody modifi cations are well! news–I will not abandon you during and support payment adjustments... At this point, every single lawyer this crisis. Your jobs are solid and a lot of stay-at-home couples are going in the San Fernando Valley has been we are still in business. I have been to immediately fi le for divorce. So–I ask dramatically affected by the COVID-19 taking steps to keep you secure in the you–who is going to do all that work and pandemic. coming months even though nobody make all that money? The answer is the The Bar Association has been is crashing any cars right now! law fi rms that stayed cool and stuck with affected as well and, just like you, we are “I was inspired to write you this their teams! up and running as best as we can. email this morning because I read “I am sharing my ‘mindset’ with you As SFVBA President, I issued a a post online from a very good and because I want you to take a few seconds challenge to our staff to continue to well-established divorce and estate to apply a positive mindset to your provide excellent online and remote planning lawyer that I know. In sum, particular situation. Will you panic, freeze services to our members to assist in she said that she is “freaking out,” and and give up? Or will you carry on, while providing the tools to succeed in going has let most of her employees go. I others you know scramble for government forward. believe this is crazy for two reasons. help and stock up on toilet paper? I am encouraging our members One, who is going to do the work now “To carry on, all I ask is that you keep to display leadership to their clients, and when things recover? And two, up your regular work schedules, spoil our colleagues and employees. she is seeing doom and gloom instead clients with care and try to solve as many While this is an impactful event, it of an opportunity. problems as you can. We will get through will end soon and we will all be judged “Opportunity?” you ask? Yes. this together. on how we reacted. I am distressed by Could you imagine if our fi rm did “Thank you for being part of my how many of my fellow lawyers have estate plans right now? Every single team!” surrendered to anxiety and fear. person I know would want a will, a I plead with law fi rm owners not to My fellow attorneys, all I ask is that trust and a medical directive in case panic and dismiss employees–business you not give in to panic or desperation. someone got sick. We could sell will return and there is plenty of public- Please fi nd apportunities to serve your a million of these. If that were not sector help to tide you over. clients in this great time of need. enough, could you imagine if we did There is no better time to continue When all is said and done, isn’t that family law right now? Every divorced to provide excellent legal services to our really why we chose our profession? community regardless of your area of practice. Robert Graf I would like to share some excerpts DRE# 01469117 of a letter I recently wrote to my team: Will provide all vendors necessary “Let me give you the good news! We to prepare any property for sale. are all going to get through this so do Attorney references provided upon request. not let fear and panic take over. Although Serving greater Los Angeles, Ventura, this crisis is unique, crises still happen and Orange County areas. with some regularity. You need to keep your heads even though others are losing theirs! If any of you need anything for O: 818.368.6265 | M: 818.399.9455 | E: [email protected] you or your family, please contact me www.RobertGraf.com | 11141 Tampa Ave., Porter Ranch, CA 91326 directly. www.sfvba.org MAY 2020 ■ Valley Lawyer 7 www.arxisfi nancial.com www. Life Insurance Term, Universal Life, Survivorship, Estate Planning, Key-Person Disability Insurance Insure your most important asset—"Your ability to earn income" Insures you in your own occupation Benefits keep up with inflation Long Term Care Insurance Several quality carriers for individuals and firms Health Insurance All major insurance companies for individuals & firms An Insurance and Financial Services Company Phone: (800) 468-4467 E-mail: [email protected] Elliot Matloff 8 Valley Lawyer ■ MAY 2020 www.sfvba.org EDITOR’S DESK MICHAEL D. WHITE Trying Times…Again SFVBA Editor [email protected] ACK IN THE DAY, I WORKED Rights, the Constitution and the halting tells us to surrender to the panic and with the World Trade Institute baby steps of the new Republic were gnawing uncertainties. of Pace University as a beyond the horizon of even the most That, perhaps is easier said than consultant, helping them cultivate West optimistic among those freezing in done, but, “Tyranny [read: COVID- Coast trade associations as partners the snow, compelled to eat their shoe 19], like hell, is not easily conquered, for their curriculum of international trade leather at Valley Forge. yet we have this consolation with us, and logistics classes. Since then, we, as a nation, have that the harder the confl ict, the more The Institute was headquartered seen many times that have shaken us glorious the triumph,” wrote Paine. on the 55th fl oor of the World Trade to the core–civil war, a pair of world “The summer soldier and the sunshine Center’s East Tower, and early on that wars, depressions, recession, disease, patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from September morning some 20 years ago, fi nancial panics, rabid terrorism, fanatic the service of his country; but he that it all came crashing down.