Ovando

Javier F. Ovando appeals an order granting a new trial after the jury awarded him $6.5 million in damages against his former defense attorney, Tamar Toister, and her employer, the County of Los Angeles, for legal malpractice resulting in his false conviction. The trial court concluded that a juror had committed prejudicial misconduct by failing to disclose her knowledge of facts concerning a police corruption scandal involving officers from the Los Angeles Police Department’s Rampart Division, and that the jury’s apportionment of zero percent fault to rogue former police officers Rafael Perez and Nino Durden was against the weight of the evidence. Ovando contends the evidence does not support the conclusion that the juror committed misconduct or that the misconduct was prejudicial, and contends fault cannot be apportioned to Perez and Durden as a matter of law.

The county and Toister appeal the judgment and challenge the denial of their summary judgment motion and a prior order granting Ovando relief from the claim presentation requirement on the ground that his claim was timely. They contend Ovando’s legal malpractice cause of action accrued on the date of his…