Los Angeles Lawyer Magazine February 2018
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THE MAGAZINE OF THE LOS ANGELES COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION FEBRUARY 2018— PART 1 OF 2 / $5 EARN MCLE CREDIT PLUS TAX BENEFITS PATENT FOR START-UPS EXHAUSTION page 25 page 30 Class Certification post Tobacco II page 12 On Direct: JohnH.Haney page 8 Space to GROW Los Angeles lawyers David W. Wensley (right) and Amir Sadr review the current regulatory framework governing medical and recreational cannabis in California and analyze how its operation may affect the state’s real estate page 20 FEATURES 20 Space to Grow BY DAVID W. WENSLEY AND AMIR SADR The laws, regulations, and policies governing cannabis operations in California are still evolving and subject to the unpredictable impulses of federal, state, and local officials 25 Start-Up Opportunities BY MEGAN LISA JONES New federal legislation expands opportunities for a variety of businesses to benefit from tax code exemptions Plus: Earn MCLE credit. MCLE Test No. 275 appears on page 27. 30 Exhausting the Possibilities BY RYAN SWANK A recent U.S. Supreme Court case sustains increasing adherence to the doctrine of patent exhaustion that has been developing for a century Los Angeles Lawyer DEPARTME NTS the magazine of the Los Angeles County 8 On Direct 15 Practice Tips Bar Association John H. Haney Parental liability for copyright February 2018 INTERVIEW BY DEBORAH KELLY infringement by a minor child BY RENA E. KREITENBERG AND Volume 40, No. 11 10 Barristers Tips KAYLEE KREITENBERG How Ginger and Fred settled the battle COVER PHOTO: TOM KELLER between two "Empires" 36 Closing Argument BY ZACHARY T. ELSEA Championing the cause of civic learning in public schools 12 Practice Tips BY THE HONORABLE KEVIN S. ROSENBERG AND The determinants of class certification THE HONORABLE HALIM DHANIDINA after In re Tobacco II BY MICHAEL MALLOW, AMY LALLY, AND LOS ANGELES LAWYER (ISSN 0162-2900) is published SHAWN COLLINS monthly, except for a combined issue in July/August, by the Los Angeles County Bar Association, 1055 West 7th Street, Suite 2700, Los Angeles, CA 90017 (213) 896-6503. Period - icals postage paid at Los Angeles, CA and additional mailing offices. Annual subscription price of $14 included in the Association membership dues. Nonmember subscriptions: $38 annually; single copy price: $5 plus handling. Address changes must be submitted six weeks in advance of next issue date. POSTMASTER: Address Service Requested. Send address changes to Los Angeles Lawyer, P. O. Box 55020, Los Angeles CA 90055. 02.18 VISIT US ON THE INTERNET AT WWW.LACBA.ORG/LALAWYER E-MAIL CAN BE SENT TO [email protected] EDITORIAL BOARD Chair JOHN C. KEITH Articles Coordinator SANDRA MENDELL Assistant Articles Coordinator TYNA ORREN Secretary RENA KREITENBERG Immediate Past Chair TED M. HANDEL JERROLD ABELES (PAST CHAIR) GL Howard and Company CPAS, LLP SCOTT BOYER CHAD C. COOMBS (PAST CHAIR) THOMAS J. DALY GORDON K. ENG EFFECTIVE DONNA FORD (PAST CHAIR) SUPPORT FOR STUART R. FRAENKEL MICHAEL A. GEIBELSON (PAST CHAIR) WHITE COLLAR SHARON GLANCZ GABRIEL G. GREEN ISSUES STEVEN HECHT (PAST CHAIR) DENNIS F. HERNANDEZ JUSTIN KARCZAG 562.431.9844 • www.glhowardandcompanycpas.com MARY E. KELLY (PAST CHAIR) KATHERINE KINSEY JENNIFER W. LELAND CAROLINE SONG LLOYD PAUL S. MARKS (PAST CHAIR) COMM’R ELIZABETH MUNISOGLU CARMELA PAGAY GREGG A. RAPOPORT JACQUELINE M. REAL-SALAS (PAST CHAIR) LACEY STRACHAN YHEZEL ARMANDO VARGAS THOMAS H. VIDAL STAFF Editor-in-Chief SUSAN PETTIT Senior Editor JOHN LOWE Art Director LES SECHLER Director of Design and Production PATRICE HUGHES Advertising Director LINDA BEKAS Senior Manager MELISSA ALGAZE Administrative Coordinator MATTY JALLOW BABY Copyright © 2018 by the Los Angeles County Bar Association. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is pro hibited. Printed by R. R. Donnelley, Liberty, MO. Member Business Publications Audit of Circulation (BPA). The opinions and positions stated in signed material are those of the authors and not by the fact of publication necessarily those of the Association or its members. All manuscripts are carefully considered by the Editorial Board. Letters to the editor are subject to editing. 4 Los Angeles Lawyer February 2018 LOS ANGELES LAWYER IS THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE LOS ANGELES COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION 1055 West 7th Street, Suite 2700, Los Angeles CA 90017-2553 Telephone 213.627.2727 / www.lacba.org LACBA EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE President MICHAEL E. MEYER President-Elect BRIAN S. KABATECK Senior Vice President TAMILA C. JENSEN Vice President PHILIP H. LAM Assistant Vice President JESSE A. CRIPPS Assistant Vice President JO-ANN W. GRACE REAL ESTATE DISPUTE CONSULTING Treasurer JOHN F. HARTIGAN Immediate Past President WARONZOF ASSOCIATES MARGARET P. STEVENS Timothy R. Lowe, MAI, CRE, FRICS Barristers President JEANNE NISHIMOTO •economic damages •lease disputes Barristers President-Elect •fair compensation •land use disputes JESSICA GORDON •property valuation •partnership interest value Executive Director STANLEY S. BISSEY •lost profits •reorganization plan feasibility Chief Financial & Administrative Officer Waronzof Associates, Incorporated 310.322.7744 T 424.285.5380 F BRUCE BERRA 400 Continental Boulevard, Sixth Floor [email protected] BOARD OF TRUSTEES El Segundo, CA 90245 www.waronzof.com KRISTIN ADRIAN HON. SHERI A. BLUEBOND SUSAN J. BOOTH RONALD F. BROT TANYA FORSHEIT JENNIFER W. LELAND MATTHEW W. MCMURTREY F. FAYE NIA BRADLEY S. PAULEY ANGELA REDDOCK DIANA K. RODGERS MARC L. SALLUS MICHAEL R. SOHIGIAN EDWIN C. SUMMERS III KENDRA THOMAS KEVIN L. VICK WILLIAM L. WINSLOW FELIX WOO AFFILIATED BAR ASSOCIATIONS BEVERLY HILLS BAR ASSOCIATION CENTURY CITY BAR ASSOCIATION Confidence At The Courthouse. CONSUMER ATTORNEYS ASSOCIATION OF LOS ANGELES CULVER MARINA BAR ASSOCIATION Business litigation is increasingly complex. That is why we believe valuation GLENDALE BAR ASSOCIATION issues must be addressed with the same meticulous care IRANIAN AMERICAN LAWYERS ASSOCIATION as legal issues. Analysis must be clear. Opinions must be ITALIAN AMERICAN LAWYERS ASSOCIATION JAPANESE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION defensible. Expert testimony must be thorough and JOHN M. LANGSTON BAR ASSOCIATION articulate. HML has extensive trial experience and can THE LGBT BAR ASSOCIATION OF LOS ANGELES provide legal counsel with a powerful resource for expert MEXICAN AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION testimony and litigation support. PASADENA BAR ASSOCIATION SAN FERNANDO VALLEY BAR ASSOCIATION For More Information Call 213-617-7775 SANTA MONICA BAR ASSOCIATION SOUTH BAY BAR ASSOCIATION Or visit us on the web at www.hmlinc.com SOUTHEAST DISTRICT BAR ASSOCIATION • • • SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA CHINESE LAWYERS ASSOCIATION BUSINESS VALUATION LOSS OF GOODWILL ECONOMIC DAMAGES LOST PROFITS WOMEN LAWYERS ASSOCIATION OF LOS ANGELES Los Angeles Lawyer February 2018 5 o all of you who just reported your MCLE compli- ance, I say: I hope you learned something useless. I T don’t mean that sarcastically. I genuinely hope you learned something of no apparent application to your practice at all. I know I did, and it was worth it. This year I spent a few hours learning wine law from some CEB programs. I don’t practice wine law. I don’t plan to practice wine law. I don’t even really want to practice wine law. But despite (or perhaps because of) that, I enjoyed those CEB programs more than any others. As attorneys, so much of our learning is driven by practical necessity. Being a litigator, I learned how to draft pleadings, motions, and discovery not out of idle curiosity but because I had to. I research legal issues as they arise and show their relevance to a matter. This type of learning has its own rewards. As we develop our practice skills, there is a pride and often enjoyment in mastering the tools of our trade. We are lucky that law is a profession that allows us to continue learning, even over decades, and most of us would not be attorneys unless we had both a skill and a thirst for learning new things. But the second of those qualities—the thirst—applies not only to overtly practical learning but also to a kind whose purpose is less clear. We should nourish that thirst, and quench it at every opportunity. For most of us, it is an innate quality that helped us persevere through years of schooling, the bar exam, and the difficult— often frightening—early years of practice, when so much felt beyond our knowledge, our skills, and our control. View it this way and it is not hard to see a practical purpose for ostensibly “useless” learning. The love of learning is like a muscle. It must be exercised, but unless you mix up your exercise routine, you risk getting bored and having your commitment flag. I was a bit bored that day I watched my first wine law program. Afterwards, I felt more reinvigorated than if I had whiled away an hour on the Internet. (For me, the Internet is a conundrum in that it enables me to consume so much information and to retain so little. At dinner, my wife may ask if I read anything interesting that day, and though I spent an hour or more online, I feel hard pressed to say anything. Perhaps because the Internet is always there—at our desks, on our phones—and tends to broadcast in bite-sized bits, browsing is more a distraction, too passive and diffuse to constitute actual learning. It is far different to affirmatively commit to something that promises to teach us something, however “useless.” Finally, here is another practical purpose for useless learning. Clients, judges, juries, coworkers, opposing counsel—they are all just people. While some are lawyers like ourselves, everyone is different. The more we know about the world and the human experience, the better we can relate to these different constituencies, and the better we are at what we do. So, let’s go out there and learn something useless today.