Dennis Resh
Area of Expertise
Mr. Resh has extensive background and experience as a civil litigator and trial lawyer. His practice emphasis is civil and business litigation; legal malpractice, real estate broker and other professional liability defense; products liability; construction law; toxic torts/environmental law; elder law; personal and catastrophic injury and wrongful death; transportation and commercial trucking; automobile manufacturer and dealer liability; real property litigation and premises liability; and insurance. He also defends public and governmental entities. He has as lead counsel successfully defended to verdict many jury trials, including construction defect, premises liability, legal malpractice and products liability matters. He has over the years represented lawyers, as well as architects, engineers, developers and contractors, in defense of claims. Dennis has been retained as an expert in defense of attorney malpractice claims. He has also developed an appellate practice, including briefing and oral argument before various California Courts of Appeal, which resulted in published and unpublished opinions.
Representative Clients
In addition to the numerous individuals and business entities, insurance carriers and TPAs have included: INAPRO (INA Professional Liability), CNA, Lawyer Protection, and TIG Speciality (legal malpractice); CNA, North American Specialties, Carl Warren (Construction Defect); AIG, Chartis, WorldSource, Lexington (products liability); CNA, Lexington, Sentry, McLarens Young International, Business Alliance, Grocers & Merchants, Mitsui Sumitomo (premises, vehicle and other personal injury).
Representative Cases
Mr. Resh has tried cases through verdict throughout the Southern California region in courthouses located in Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Compton, Van Nuys, Burbank, Rancho Cucamonga, Victorville, Westminster, Long Beach, and Orange, as follows:
Defense Matters:
Orange – DEFENSE VERDICT
Speth v. Hibbard – legal malpractice.
Long Beach – DEFENSE VERDICT
Jackson v. Hugo Neu Proler – personal injury.
Westminster – DEFENSE VERDICT
Knotts v. Johnson – personal injury.
Los Angeles (Central) – DEFENSE VERDICT
Staley v. Tibbals – legal malpractice.
Los Angeles (Central) – DEFENSE VERDICT
Promenade East Homeowners Associations v. Goldrich & Kest – construction defect.
Van Nuys – DEFENSE VERDICT
Dominciuez v. PBI Corporation – products liability.
Rancho Cucamonga – DEFENSE VERDICT
Milligan v. C.P. Construction – personal injury.
Orange – DEFENSE VERDICT
Vuletie v. ABR Painting – personal injury.
Compton – DEFENSE VERDICT
Saldana v. Foodmaker – security/personal injury.
Victorville – DEFENSE VERDICT
Ruesch v. Ponce – personal injury.
Los Angeles (Central Civil West) – DEFENSE VERDICT
Franciscan Hill v. Newhall Land – construction defect.
Los Angeles (Central) – DEFENSE VERDICT
Reed v. J.C. Penney Company, lit. – false imprisonment.
Santa Monica – DEFENSE VERDICT
Frazier v. GMT Studios. Inc. – personal injury/premises liability.
Burbank – DEFENSE VERDICT
Pratt v. Miller – personal injury/premises liability.
Plaintiff Matters:
Los Angeles (Central) – DEFENSE VERDICT REVERSED ON APPEAL
Boal v. Price Waterhouse – breach of contract.
Background
Prior to becoming an attorney, Mr. Resh served as law clerk in 1976 to Justice Raymond L. Sullivan at the California Supreme Court. He is a former Eagle Scout and is a member of Phi Alpha Delta legal fraternity. He remains active in his college fraternity Sigma Alpha Epsilon. Since 1988, he has served by appointment as a Judge Pro Tem to the Los Angeles County Superior Court, in its Central and branch districts. He also serves as Court mediator and arbitrator for litigated cases in an attempt to resolve before trial.
Memberships
Mr. Resh was admitted to practice by the State Bar of California (1977); the United States District Court, Central, Northern and Southern Districts (1985); the United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit (1985); and the United States Supreme Court (1988). In addition to the State Bar, he currently holds membership in the Los Angeles County Bar Association (Litigation, and Business and Corporations Law Sections); the American Bar Association (Litigation, Tort and Insurance Law, and Construction Law Sections); the Pasadena Bar Association; and the Association of Southern California Defense Counsel. He is a former Treasurer of the Pasadena Bar Association, and each year since 1989 has been appointed and served as a Los Angeles County Bar Association delegate to the State Bar Conference of Delegates, in charge of proposing new legislation relating to the law. He served by election on the delegation’s Executive Committee from 1998 to 2001. In this regard, he was Vice Chair, then Chair of the Sergeant-at-Arms Committee by appointment of the State Bar Conference. Dennis has been a “master” member of the Trial Practice Chapter of the American Inns of Court since 1996 and served on its Executive Committee Board for 1998-2003. He is a frequent speaker at continuing legal education seminars for others in the profession. In 2004, Dennis was elected to the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles County Bar Foundation, a non-profit public benefit corporation. The Board is selected from all areas of the legal profession and is in charge of the Bar’s educational and charitable programs in Los Angeles County.
Dennis has been rated by Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory since 1985, with currently its highest “AV” rating as to legal abilities and professional ethics, based on surveys over the years of area lawyers and judges.
Education
Mr. Resh attended the University of Southern California, graduating with a B.A. degree in 1973, magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. He attended law school at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, graduating with a J.D. degree in 1977. At Hastings, he was a member of the Board of Editors, 1975-1977, and Associate Editor, 1976-1977, of the law review Hastings Law Journal.
