Walston

Filed 6/4/

CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FIRST APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION FIVE

640 OCTAVIA LLC et al., Plaintiffs, Cross-defendants and Appellants, A168428 v. GREGORY S. WALSTON et al., (City & County of San Francisco Defendants, Cross- Super. Ct. No. CGC20585410) complainants and Respondents.

In this appeal, for reasons identified post, we conclude a trial court may not rely on the doctrine of claim or issue preclusion to exclude material evidence when a cross-complaint has not yet been litigated. Moreover, given the record at hand, we conclude the court’s erroneous use of the preclusion doctrine was prejudicial. Plaintiffs/cross-defendants, 640 Octavia LLC and Edward Kountze (collectively, plaintiffs), sued defendants/cross-complainants, Gregory S. Walston and Walston and Associates, A Professional Corporation, doing business as Walston Law Group (collectively, Walston), for legal malpractice after Walston unsuccessfully represented plaintiffs in a federal unlawful detainer action. Walston filed a cross-complaint against plaintiffs for unpaid attorney…