Steven Guess Email and Phone Number

Steven R. Guess is a trial attorney who concentrates his practice on public agency litigation. Mr. Guess also works for the General Counsel at a number of County Water Districts, providing advice, research, and transactional assistance on a range of matters. Mr. Guess also provides Risk Management advice to the City of Ontario.Mr. Guess has handled all aspects of litigation in a number of different areas of law, including: eminent domain and valuation, personal injury, constitutional law, proposition 218, public contracts code, water rights, election law, political law, breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, interference with contract and prospective economic advantage, landlord-tenant, disparagement of title, slander, construction defect, products liability, and employment discrimination. Representative Matters:* As lead trial counsel, Mr. Guess defeated a senior partner of one of the largest law firms in Southern California in a $2.75 million complex eminent domain jury trial. The jury awarded $191,000 for the property acquired, only $16,000 more than the pre litigation offer.*In a case that made statewide news, again acting as lead counsel Mr. Guess represented a public agency on a Proposition 218 property-related fee case. Mr. Guess successfully convinced the court in a bench trial to find that water rates are not subject to referendum where they are adopted as an urgency measure and where the referendum would interfere with an essential government service.*Mr. Guess successfully petitioned the Legal Services Corporation ("LSC") in Washington D.C., to declare all Legal Aid Board Meetings public and to require Legal Aid programs provide notice of their meetings in a manner reasonably calculated to be viewed by the public. This nationwide decision will assist the poorest in our society by enabling them to bring their concerns directly to the Board without a staff filter. The decision will improve quality, and incorporate the views of the poor in a broad array of Board decisions, including the budgetary priorities. http://www.lsc.gov/advisory-opinion-2017-001