DeAnn Flores Chase, Attorney

DeAnn Flores Chase is Your South Bay Business Lawyer. A South Bay resident for over ten years, Ms. Chase prides herself on providing personable, one-on-one, client service to new and growing businesses.

Ms. Chase's practice focuses primarily on individuals and small business owners advising and counseling them on personal liability protection from forming and maintaining an entity structure, contract review and drafting, and dispute counseling.
 
Ms. Chase's focus on liability protection comes from the successful handling of all aspects of litigation, as well as writs and appeals, for individuals and businesses of all sizes. In 2003, Ms. Chase handled the defense of a chemical company against a wrongful death action arising from an automobile versus tractor-trailer collision. In that case, plaintiffs argued that Ms. Chase's client, a private motor carrier of property, was vicariously liable for the negligence of the for-hire motor carrier of property it hired to haul the load of goods on the truck at the time of the collision. Ms. Chase filed a motion for summary judgment arguing that her client owed no liability to the plaintiffs as a matter of law. The motion was denied.

Ms. Chase then prepared and filed a petition for writ of mandate with the Second Appellate District for the Court of Appeal of California asking the appellate court to direct the trial court to vacate its order denying summary judgment, and to make a new order granting summary judgment. In Hill Brothers Chemical Company v. Superior Court (2004) 123 Cal.App.4th 1001, hailed by the National Private Truck Council as "one of the most important legal decisions involving the private truck industry in 30 years," the appellate court granted the petition and held that a private motor carrier is not vicariously liable for the negligent acts of its independent contractor as a matter of law. Hill Brothers continues to be the law of the State of California, and has been followed in other states.

Ms. Chase has held leadership positions in many professional organizations. Her professional memberships include the State Bar of California Business Law Section; Association of Southern California Defense Counsel; Los Angeles County Bar Association; American Bar Association, and its Tort and Insurance Practice Section, Commercial Transportation Litigation Committee, Products Liability Committee and Trial Techniques Committee; the Defense Research Institute, and its Trucking Law Committee; and the American Inns of Court, Benjamin Aranda III Inn of Court, (South Bay Inn). Ms. Chase is also an "A"-rated member of the Better Business Bureau.

In July 2000, Ms. Chase served as Program Chair for the Tort and Insurance Practice Section of the American Bar Association, and coordinated with members of the Litigation Section of the American Bar Association, across the United States, Canada and England to develop and present a plenary program featured at the Annual Meeting of the American Bar Association in London, England entitled, "Products Over The Pond – Is U.S. Style Litigation Invading the U.K.?" This program provided a comparison of the legal systems in the United States and England against a background of products liability and commercial transportation. The program featured renowned speakers from the U.S. and the U.K., including former Attorney General of the United States of America, Benjamin Civiletti, and Lord John Taylor of Warwick.

Ms. Chase was admitted to the State Bar of California in 1996. She earned her J.D. in 1996 from Southwestern University School of Law in Los Angeles, California, and her B.A. in Rhetoric in 1993 from the University of California at Berkeley. She is admitted to practice in the United States Court of Appeal, Ninth Circuit; the United States District Court for the Central, Eastern and Southern Districts of California, and all of the courts in the State of California. Ms. Chase is a longtime resident of the South Bay communities. She currently resides in Manhattan Beach, California with her husband and their two children, ages 3 and 5. She is actively involved in the Manhattan Beach Chamber of Commerce, and its Women in
Business Committee.