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Gordon v. Law Offices of Aguirre & Meyer3/18/1999
CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION
(Super. Ct. No. 705959)
APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of San Diego County, Vincent P. DiFiglia, Judge. Affirmed.
In this legal malpractice action, the sole question is whether the doctrine of "equitable tolling" applies to Code of Civil Procedure section 340.6, the applicable statute of limitations. Guided by the plain language of the statute, and our high court's opinion in Laird v. Blacker (1992) 2 Cal.4th 606, we hold section 340.6 is not subject to equitable tolling; rather, the Legislature intended the statute's explicit tolling provisions to be exclusive. Accordingly, we affirm the judgment of dismissal entered after defendants successfully demurred to the complaint.
I
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
Plaintiffs, Richard L. Gordon, Elaine F. Gordon, Alan S. Glick, Sharon S. Glick, Marvin W. Fleishman and Ilyne C. Fleishman, are residents of Maricopa County, Arizona. They purchased interests in the Virgin Isle Hotel Limited Partnership from Prudential-Bache Securities (PBS), paying a small percentage down and signing promissory notes for the balance.
In early 1989 plaintiffs retained Aguirre & Meyer, a San Diego law firm, in order to sue PBS and others for violating securities laws in conjunction with the sale of the limited partnership interests. Aguirre & Meyer filed a class action in federal court, and Richard L. Gordon (Gordon) was a named plaintiff. In May 1990, plaintiffs met with Aguirre & Meyer attorneys in San Diego, making "it clear . . . they had substantial concern about the balance due on the promissory notes . . . they . . . had signed. The amount due on the notes was far in excess of the amount of the down payment they had each made."
In June 1991 Aguirre & Meyer provided plaintiffs with a notice of proposed settlement of the class action claims. The notice contained no reference to the promissory notes and did not warn class members the proposed settlement "would leave the members of the class who had signed promissory notes still liable on those notes." Before signing settlement papers, Gordon asked defendant Patricia A. Meyer and other Aguirre & Meyer attorneys how the proposed settlement would affect liability on the promissory notes. Meyer and the other attorneys told Gordon "there was no need to be concerned about the liability on the promissory notes." Gordon relayed this information to the other plaintiffs. Had plaintiffs known the settlement actually did not relieve them from liability under the promissory notes, they would not have accepted the settlement. The federal court approved the settlement in 1991.
In around September 1994, National Union Fire Insurance Company of Pittsburgh sued plaintiffs in New York for the unpaid balances on the promissory notes, interest and attorney fees. The total amount sought from plaintiffs exceeded $300,000. Plaintiffs, having unsuccessfully tendered their defenses to Aguirre & Meyer, retained New York counsel to represent them and began incurring costs.
In April 1995 plaintiffs filed a legal malpractice suit against Aguirre & Meyer, and Michael J. Aguirre and Patricia A. Meyer individually (hereafter collectively Aguirre & Meyer) in the superior court of Maricopa County, Arizona. The case was removed to federal district court in Arizona. That court dismissed the action on October 18, 1996, for lack of personal jurisdiction over Aguirre & Meyer.
On December 3, 1996, plaintiffs filed a complaint for professional negligence against Aguirre & Meyer in San Diego County Superior Court. In addition to the above facts, plain
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