Ambriz v. Kelegian

In Ambriz v. Kelegian (2007) 146 Cal.App.4th 1519, plaintiff was raped in her apartment complex by an intruder. She filed a premises liability action against the apartment complex and hired defendants to represent her. (Id. at p. 1524.) Plaintiff lost the premises liability action and then filed a legal malpractice action against her attorneys. (Id. at p. 1525.) Defendants moved for summary judgment, contending that even if they did breach a duty of care, plaintiff could not demonstrate prejudice because she would not have been able to establish causation in her premises liability action. (Ibid.) In opposition, plaintiff submitted the deposition of the detective who investigated the rape. The defendants objected on various grounds, including failure to include a reporter's certificate demonstrating the authenticity of the deposition transcript. (Id. at p. 1526.) The defendants had used excerpts from the deposition in their own motion for summary judgment. The trial court sustained defendants' objections and granted their motion for summary judgment. (Id. at p. 1525.) Citing section 1414, the appellate court held the defendants admitted the authenticity of the transcript by using portions of it in support of their motion. (Id. at p. 1526.) "Raising an objection as to lack of authentication of an excerpt from the same deposition defendants themselves relied upon in their motion is disingenuous, unless defendants can establish that the excerpt plaintiff offered was not part of the deposition transcript. Defendants made no such allegation." (Id. at p. 1527.)