Mr. Charchut is a Partner in the Appellate Practice Group. He is a certified specialist in appellate law, as certified by the California Board of Legal Specialization of the State Bar of California. He has drafted more than 100 appellate briefs in diverse areas of law including employment, product liability, professional liability, probate, insurance, and personal injury, and has more than 20 published appellate decisions in state and federal courts. Additionally, Mr. Charchut has been selected to participate on panels that deal with appellate practice. He is currently serving as the Chair of the Los Angeles County Bar Appellate Courts Committee.
Among the more significant published cases that he has handled on appeal are North American Chemical Company v. Superior Court, 59 Cal.App.4th 764 (1997) which stated that a negligent breach of contract for services may provide the basis for tort damages. In Thomas v. Gordon, 85 Cal.App.4th 113 (2000), the appellate court affirmed a judgment in favor of the defendant accountant clarifying and broadening the application of the doctrine of judicial estoppel. He also worked on Edwards v. California Sports, Inc., 206 Cal.App.3d 1284 (1988), which reversed of a million dollar judgment of the trial court with directions and entered judgment in defendant's favor, limiting the scope of duties owed by a sports facility operator to its patrons. Skarbrevik v. Cohen, England v. Whitfield, 231 Cal.App.3d 692 (1991), was a legal malpractice action in which the court reversed a $1 million dollar judgment with directions to enter judgment in favor of defendant, on the theory that a lawyer could not conspire to breach a duty owed exclusively by the client.
In difficult cases, Mr. Charchut also assists trial counsel with posttrial motions for relief from adverse judgments and to perfect the trial court record for an eventual appeal. In Gousse v. City of Los Angeles, L.A.S.C. No. BC 252804, the trial court, on February 27, 2004, granted defendant’s motion for new trial on damages, thereby setting aside a $32 million judgment in a complex personal injury action. In 2006, the Riverside Superior Court set aside a $6.5 million judgment in McCarty v. Caltrans, RSC No. RCV060424, a catastrophic personal injury action. In additional to drafting the post trial motions, Mr. Charchut is also handling the appeals.
Prior to pursuing a legal career, Mr. Charchut was an investment real estate broker for three years and a practicing electrical engineer in the aerospace industry for 12 years.
He volunteers as an Appellate Settlement Officer for the 2nd Appellate District and is also a member of the Los Angeles County Bar Association (Appellate Courts Committee) in addition to the American Bar Association and the State Bar of California.
Mr. Charchut earned his B.S.E.E. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1964 and went on to obtain a Master of Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1968. He then received his MBA in finance from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1975 and his J.D., cum laude, from Loyola University School of Law in 1983.
