Hon. Laurence K. Sawyer (Ret.) served as Judge of the Sonoma County Superior Court where he settled and managed numerous complex, multiparty litigation matters for 20 years. Counsel consider Judge Sawyer an expert on law and motion, and he enjoys a reputation as a thorough, intellectual jurist who takes the time to become familiar with a case.
ADR Experience and Qualifications
- Managed numerous multiparty, complex litigation matters involving construction, environmental, business, and other issues throughout his 20-year career in the judiciary, in addition to mediating and settling virtually all types of civil cases
- Settled a wide variety of cases, as a settlement judge on the bench, from personal injury cases valued at less than $10,000 to multi-party construction defect cases valued in the millions
- Involved in running the case management conference calendar during his most recent 12 years on the Superior Court and participated in the installment of the Sonoma County pilot ADR program which started in 2000 and ended in 2004
- Served as Probate Judge in Sonoma County, 2000-2005
- Specialized in general civil litigation and tried many personal injury, environmental, and commercial cases during his 13-years as a litigator
Representative Matters
- Business/commercial: tried to verdict Kruse v. Bank of America, a leading case in lender liability
- Construction: defects, delay
- Employment: wrongful termination, discrimination, harassment, and compensation
- Environmental: CEQA and timber harvest plan
- Governmental regulation: land use and general plan issues
- Personal injury: auto accident, premises liability, wrongful death
- Probate: will contests and trust issues
- Professional malpractice: legal, medical, accountancy, chiropractic
- Real estate: residential and commercial sales