Hon. V. Gene McDonald (Ret.) has been a full time JAMS panelist since 1997 and is sought after especially for his expertise in construction, class action, employment, probate/estate, real property and general business litigation matters. Clients appreciate his high level of intelligence, his active listening skills and his ability to perceive client needs. He is well reasoned and very patient, but also evaluative when the situation calls for it.
As a trial judge in San Mateo County for twenty years, Judge McDonald performed every function available to a Superior Court judge including law and motion and Presiding Judge of the court. The final seven years of his judicial career, he presided over a full-time civil settlement calendar. In his nearly thirty years of experience as a trial court judge or ADR provider, Judge McDonald has presided over the resolution of thousands of civil cases.
ADR Experience and Qualifications
- Business/Commercial: Corporate/partnership dissolution, breach of contracts, franchise, fraud, etc.
- Catastrophic Personal Injury: Workplace injuries, auto accidents, premises liability, etc.
- Construction Defects: Single family homes to condo complexes
- Consumer Class Actions: Products and services
- Employment: Wrongful termination, discrimination, and harassment
- Insurance Issues: Coverage and bad faith
- Probate/Estate: Litigation of all aspects of probate and estate matters
- Professional Negligence: Medical, dental, legal, and accounting
- Real Property: Transactional litigation, lease disputes, broker issues, land use, land slides, fraud, breach of contract, and easements
Representative Matters
- Business/Commercial:
- Complex business disputes ranging from D & O issues, breach of contracts, limited partnership issues, business dissolutions, etc.
- Employment:
- Cases ranging from multi-plaintiff racial discrimination claims against a multi-national corporation to wrongful termination to sexual harassment
- Healthcare: Contract disputes regarding billing practices
- Dispute between major health plan and large provider over alleged billing "unbundling"
- Dispute between two major providers over billing practices for patients of one treated by the other
- Intellectual Property:
- Trade secret/unfair competition and technology licensing actions involving technology issues in a variety of factual and legal contexts
- Insurance:
- Cases ranging from coverage disputes and bad faith claims to inadequate limits
- Probate:
- Estate litigation involving allegations of elder abuse, undue influence and breach of fiduciary duty
- Professional Liability:
- Medical malpractice cases, legal, and accounting
- Real Property:
- Disputes involving undisclosed defects, lease disputes, toxic waste contamination, easements, etc.