Practice Areas

At Law Offices of Douglas Borthwick, we are skilled in personal injury, family law, estate planning, and wage disputes. Douglas Borthwick is knowledgeable in plaintiff personal injury, family law, and estate planning.

Criminal and Family Law

When people are accused of a crime, they face the terrible prospect of going to jail, or of it affecting future possibilities. Whether you are charged with a misdemeanor or a felony, you cannot afford to waste a moment in obtaining a competent and experienced criminal defense lawyer. Or if you are facing divorce or any other family law issue, you need to receive fast and effective solutions that restore your peace of mind. Family legal issues are emotional and difficult, involving the most personal matters such as relationships and children. You need a knowledgeable, determined and compassionate lawyer who will explain your legal rights in easy-to-understand terms.

Our Criminal Law Representation Includes:

• DUI and DMV Hearings
• Misdemeanor / Felonies
• Assault, Battery
• Grand / Petty Theft
• Assault
• Warrants
• Expungements/Cleaning Criminal Records

Our Family Law Representation Includes:

• Divorce
• Child Support
• Child Custody
• Separations
• Domestic Violence
• Paternity

Personal Injury

Our firm represents individuals who have been injured in car crashes, motorcycle crashes and medical malpractice incidents. We also protect against insurance companies who deny the claims of individuals who have legitimately sustained injuries and pain and suffering and incurred expenses that should have been reimbursed.

Personal Injury Cases We Represent Include:

• Automobile / truck accidents
• Bus accidents
• Boating and bicycle accidents
• Slip and fall accidents
• Hit and run accidents
• Food poisoning accidents
• Accidental death
• Wrongful death

Individuals must realize that today’s insurance Companies Do not Have their best interest at heart! If your having issues With your insurance Company don’t wait. Call us Today! Law Offices of Attorney Douglas Borthwick We can Help You settle Today!.

DUI

When someone is arrested for DUI, there are actually two separate cases brought against the accused: a criminal court case and an administrative DMV hearing.

Those arrested for a DUI are generally charged with having violated two separate statutes in the criminal court case. The first statute is driving under the influence in violation of California Vehicle Code section 23152, subdivision (a). The second statute is driving with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08% or greater in violation of California Vehicle Code section 23152, subdivision (b).

To avoid lifelong consequences, you must act quickly or your DUI arrest may haunt you long after the initial shock and anger has worn off. You must contact the DMV within 10 days of your arrest to request a hearing.  If you fail to contact the DMV within 10 days your license will be automatically suspended.

Res Ipsa Loquitur and Bar Stools

In plaintiff’s suit for negligence under the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur, arising from injuries plaintiff sustained when he fell off of a counter stool at a restaurant operated by defendant, trial court’s grant of defendant’s motion for summary judgment is reversed as, although the presumption of negligence established by Evidence Code section 646 disappears upon the introduction of evidence tending to rebut the presumed fact, the plaintiff is still entitled to rely on the logic of the underlying common law inference of negligence if the evidence supports it, and here, the unrebutted predicate facts were enough to raise a triable issue of material fact requiring denial of defendant’s motion for summary judgment – Howe v. Seven Forty Two Co., Inc., No. B218939

Watch Before You E-mail, Court Says

E-mails are just as binding in real estate negotiations as traditional ink-on-paper contracts, according to a state court ruling in New York regarding a real estate dispute.

“Given the vast growth in the last decade and a half in the number of people and entities regularly using e-mail,” handwriting and e-mail should now basically be considered one and the same, ruled the Appellate Division, First Department of State Supreme Court in Manhattan, N.Y.–which handed down its ruling on Oct. 5, but it mostly went unnoticed by the public. The ruling was appealed this week to New York’s highest court, the Court of Appeals.

The case–Naldi v. Grunberg–stems from accusations of a breach of contract in a commercial real estate transaction. The court’s ruling, which also applies to residential transactions, is expected to bring some clarity to how legally binding e-mail is in real estate.

“As much as communication originally written or typed on paper, an e-mail retrievable from computer storage” is proof of a deal, the court said.

Robert J. Braverman, a Manhattan real estate lawyer, told The New York Times, “you need to be mindful of what it is you are saying in electronic communications.” For example, a broker or seller who uses a phrase such as “$700,000 was more of what I had in mind” in an e-mail “might have a problem,” Braverman says.

Mario J. Suarez, a lawyer at Thompson Hine, says adding a disclaimer on e-mails may help. The e-mail disclaimer may read something like the communications “shall not be deemed an offer, as no documents are binding unless and until executed.”