Hon. William C. Pate (Ret.) effectively handles a wide variety of civil matters, including complex cases. Judge Pate joined JAMS following 20 years of distinguished service with the San Diego County Superior Court. During that time he regularly served as a Coordinating Judge for Judicial Council Coordinated Proceedings (JCCP), where cases filed in more than one California county are consolidated to a single court. Prior to his judicial appointment, Judge Pate worked for 14 years as a civil litigator in private practice.
ADR Experience and Qualifications
- Conducted numerous mediations including class actions, commercial, employment, personal injury, medical malpractice, and products liability. Has served as an arbitrator for commercial and other disputes including class actions.
- Conducted numerous mediations arising out of the automobile industry including employment, discrimination, “lemon” law, consumer fraud, and products liability. He is recognized as being very knowledgeable about automotive related matters.
- Conducted numerous settlement conferences covering all aspects of civil litigation, including personal injury, partnership dissolutions, sales of corporations, consumer fraud, professional liability, and injunctions
- Selected by the Presiding Justice of the Fourth District Court of Appeal to develop and institute a civil settlement program for Division One
- Chaired ADR Committee, Torts and Insurance Practices Section, American Bar Association
Representative Matters
Judge Pate was one of the original nine judges assigned to the Independent Calendar Program in San Diego. For 14 years, he handled an average of 500 cases at a time, in addition to JCCP cases. He has presided over 393 civil trials in San Diego, Alameda, Santa Clara, and Imperial Counties. These trials involved claims of professional malpractice; wrongful termination; wrongful death; products liability; breach of construction, real estate, and other contracts; the “lemon law”; racial, ethnic, and sexual orientation discrimination; fraud; and defamation.
- Representative trials and actions that concluded before trial:
- Class action against major wireless communications provider for various billing and contract termination practices; class was nationwide with over 50 million members
- Claim of fraud brought by over twenty major corporations against an international corporation for fraudulently manipulating an increase in copper prices worldwide
- Construction defect claims arising from the construction of the San Diego Convention Center
- Malicious prosecution claim by a major league baseball team against a community activist for delaying the construction of a baseball stadium
- Class action against bank for using improper interest calculation methods
- Class action against bank for overcharging for fire insurance the bank obtains on mortgaged property
- Class action for wages due for piece work for installing cabinets on residential construction projects
- Several class actions for wages for claimed non-exempt employees in “manager” positions in retail sales
- Fraud trial with bank as defendant, $945,000 verdict
- Products liability case against a crane company
- Personal injury, fall by construction worker, $1.5 million verdict
- Breach of contract against major insurance company, settled after 8 days of trial
- HOA construction defect case against developer, $2.4 million verdict
- Wrongful termination case against local television station
- Products liability case by HOA against developer for using polybutelene pipes
- Damage to a yacht while in Mexico
- Insurance bad faith case against State Farm
- Wrongful termination of corporate executive, $3.5 million verdict
- Breach of construction contract case against municipality, 26 day trial
- Racial discrimination case against municipality by employee
- Breach of contract case involving sale of minor league baseball team
- Medical malpractice case brought by professional baseball player, $6 million verdict
- Claim of Brown Act violation by public agency
- Breach of fiduciary duty by title insurance company
- Breach of Mexican contract for legal services
- Breach of contract and fiduciary duties against corporation and venture capitalists
- Breach of contract involving construction of power plant on Maui, Hawaii
- Sale of body parts by a crematorium, tried two of several coordinated cases
- Claim between excess and primary insurers arising from a crane accident resulting in a wrongful death
- Claim of bad faith against international insurance company arising from damage to a ship that drills off-shore oil wells
- Claim of bad faith against international insurance company over failure to pay claim of major league baseball team for injury to a pitcher
- Two cases arising from helicopter crashes -- one was a military helicopter and one a law enforcement helicopter
- Representative published opinions on cases presided over:
- La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club, Inc. v. Industrial Indemnity Co., 9 Cal. 4th 27
- Hendy v. Losse, 54 Cal 3rd. 723
- Anastos v. Lee, 118 Cal. App. 4th 1314
- Padres, L. P. v. Henderson, 114 Cal. App. 4th 495
- In re coordinated Latex Glove Litigation, 99 Cal. App. 4th 594
- Norwest Mortgage, Inc. v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Co., 97 Cal. App. 4th 571
- Fireman’s Fund Ins. Co. v. McDonald, Hecht & Worley, 30 Cal. App. 4th 1373
- Copesky v. Superior Court, 229 Cal. App. 3rd. 678
- Love v. Fire Ins. Exchange, 221 Cal App. 3rd 1136