This summer the Lewis & Llewellyn team enjoyed some friendly competition over a few rounds of ping pong at SPIN in San Francisco. We’re grateful for the opportunity to spend time with our summer fellow, Taylor Tsan, and strengthen our team connections outside the office.
In California state court, if the opposing party fails to timely respond to your Requests for Admissions (RFAs), you have a valuable tool at your disposal: the motion to have facts deemed admitted along with mandatory attorneys’ fees as sanctions.
California Code of Civil Procedure section 2033.280 provides that failure to provide timely responses means “[t]he party to whom the requests for admission are directed waives any objection to the requests, including one based on privilege or on the protection for work product.” It further provides that “[t]he requesting party may move for an order that the genuineness of any documents and the truth of any matters specified in the requests be deemed admitted, as well as for a monetary sanction.” Importantly, the statute requires the court to impose a monetary sanction, including attorneys’ fees, on the party or attorney whose failure to respond made your motion necessary.
This is more than a procedural remedy; it is a tactical opportunity. Deemed admissions can significantly narrow the issues in dispute—or even eliminate the need for trial on key claims or defenses.
Track RFA deadlines meticulously. Missing a response deadline can trigger severe consequences for the opposing party—and present a critical leverage point for your client.
Partner Evangeline Burbidge will be attending The Sedona Conference WG12 Annual Meeting on October 6-7, 2025, in Atlanta, Georgia. Evangeline is an active member of The Sedona Conference Working Group on Trade Secrets, which aims to “develop consensus and nonpartisan principles for managing trade secret litigation and well-vetted guidelines for consideration in protecting trade secrets.” The October conference will cover topics such as international trade secret enforcement and protection, developing an effective “incident response plan” when trade secret disputes begin, and trade secret guidance for employees who change jobs.
Partner Paul Llewellyn will once again return to speak at the Sexual Abuse Litigation & Coverage Conference, hosted by Perrin Conferences. The conference, taking place in New York on October 7, 2025, will discuss current trends in sexual abuse litigation. Registration is available here.
Lewis & Llewellyn is pleased to share that Partner Becca Furman was recently nominated and selected for the UC Law SF Alumni Association Board of Governors. The Board of Governors consists of 30 alumni members and serves as a liaison between alumni and the school’s administration. The group provides valuable input on alumni volunteer activities, chapter and affinity group programming, and helps support department initiatives at UC Law.
Lewis & Llewellyn is once again looking to bolster our ranks!
We are looking for an experienced associate to dive deeply into our complex and interesting portfolio of matters and take their practice to the next level. As always, we are looking for attorneys with top-flight credentials coupled with the passion to litigate. The ideal candidate would have impeccable educational credentials, two to four years’ experience at an AmLaw 100 firm and be ready to develop an exciting practice in both state court, federal court, and arbitration.
Lewis & Llewellyn deeply values diversity and we encourage applications from diverse candidates. If you are interested in joining a team of world class attorneys, practicing at the cutting edge of litigation, and who love what they do, send your resume to careers@lewisllewellyn.com.
We are pleased to announce that 14 Lewis & Llewellyn attorneys were recently named by Super Lawyers as leaders in their field. Super Lawyers is a rating service of outstanding lawyers who have attained the highest degree of peer recognition and professional achievement.
Paul Llewellyn was once again recognized as one of the Top 100 Attorneys in Northern California, and Marc Lewis, Evangeline Burbidge, Ryan Erickson, Becca Furman, Tobias Snyder, Peter Squeri and Erin Reding were all selected as a Northern California Super Lawyers, a recognition limited to just 5% of California attorneys.
Additionally, Brad Estes, Zachary Flood, Nitesh Daryanani, Sable Bahleda, Daniel Jordan and Rina Plotkin were all selected as Rising Stars, an honor limited to just 2.5% of California attorneys.
The Lewis & Llewellyn team recently got together for an impromptu lunch on the newly renovated rooftop of our office building. It was a treat to enjoy lunch in the San Francisco sunshine and sneak in some quick practice swings in the driving range.
In a landmark decision issued on April 24, 2025, the California Supreme Court ruled that contractual clauses limiting liability for intentional torts are unenforceable under California Civil Code § 1668. The case, New England Country Foods, LLC v. VanLaw Food Products, Inc. (S282968), arose when NECF accused VanLaw of intentionally misappropriating its barbecue sauce recipe to sell directly to Trader Joe’s, violating their manufacturing agreement. VanLaw sought to dismiss the claims based on a contract clause limiting damages, but the Court held that any provision attempting to limit liability for willful injury is invalid, regardless of the parties’ sophistication or the clause’s scope.
This decision clarifies that while limitations on liability for ordinary negligence may be enforceable under certain conditions, any attempt to contractually limit damages for intentional misconduct is categorically prohibited.
Read the full opinion here.
Lewis & Llewellyn attorneys, Rina Plotkin and Grace Ramirez, recently completed National Institute for Trial Advocacy’s (NITA) deposition skills course. NITA’s courses provide lectures and demonstrations on deposition-taking techniques and are considered the gold standard in teaching trial advocacy. Attorney Zachary Flood also attended the NITA trial skills course last week in San Francisco. We look forward to seeing his enhanced skills in action. 
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