Legal Question in Business Law in California

You are not going to be happy with the following generalg 'advice'.

If you can not testify or introduce evidence of your damages, and if you have no timely disclosed expert to do so, your case is essentially over. It will likely be dismissed by Motion for Judgment or Directed Verdict as soon as the trial begins, or at least at the end of your opening presentation, short as that is going to be.

This is a common situation with ProPers trying to practice law without the knowledge how to do so. Sorry, but a ProPer is properly held to the same standards of knowledge of rules and procedures as the attorneys he faces. You are quite entitled to represent yourself, but that doesn't mean you should in an important case. It would appear it is too late to consult with or hire counsel in this case, since those court rulings are already made.

IF you consult with Appellate counsel after your case is dismissed, and IF they find some serious error made by the judge that affected and would have changed the outcome, you could then consider appealing if you are willing to pay the substantial fees and costs involved.

If you agree this really is the situation you find yourself in, you might consider asking the judge for a voluntary settlement conference the morning before the trial starts. See if the judge confirms the above assessment of legal procedure outcome. See if the judge will attempt to mediate a settlement before trial starts. With or without the help of the judge, your goal then would be to get the defendants to agree to waive their incurred costs and fees if you will dismiss before trial starts. They are probably entitled to their costs as a judgment against you if you simply lose the case or dismiss it without such agreement to waive..

Good luck, or rather, may justice prevail. The only reason I responded to this pro per question is that I had enough sympathy for your self inflicted situation to offer a way you could avoid a judgment against you. You might try to consult with local counsel asap to see if they agree.

I'm afraid I agree with Mr. Nelson. When the other side asked you about your damages during discovery, you had a duty to tell them. Saying "I don't have the answers yet" is not good enough, unless the reasons why you couldn't answer yet were beyond your control.

That you wanted an expert's input before you answered is understandable. It may even be commendable. But if that's how you wanted to get the information, you had to consult with your expert before the time came to answer discovery. If that time came and you weren't ready, you had to give the best answers you could under the circumstances. It sounds like you refused to do even that.

The reason we have discovery is so that litigants will know before trial what evidence will be used against them and what exposure they face if they lose. The defendants were entitled to ask you for this information. When they did (assuming they did it correctly), you were required to give it to them. Because you didn't, the judge's decision was probably right. You can't use evidence during trial if you should have provided it during discovery but didn't.

I might see things differently if I had more information. Since you seem to already be in trial, I don't see how I could help you in time to make a difference. But you should feel free to contact me directly once the trial is over. I am a certified appellate specialist (per the State Bar's board of legal specialization) with over 20 years' experience in appeals and post-trial motions. You won't have much time to act once the trial has ended. So whatever you do, you should not delay.

Good luck.

A person is always allowed to testify as to the market value of their own property, if they are the owner, regardless of the face of whether or not they are a licensed real estate appraiser.