Elyn C. Holt

Ms. Elyn C. Holt is a seasoned litigator with a diverse practice acquired over thirty years of representing clients in state and federal court. Ms. Holt’s varied client base allows her to effectively craft unique and creative strategies to achieve effective litigation results based on her clients’ goals.  Ms. Holt has significant trial experience, having tried numerous cases before judges, juries and arbitrators.  In addition, Ms. Holt has handled hundreds of mediations achieving favorable, cost-effective results for her clients.  Ms. Holt has also represented her clients before the California Courts of Appeal.

Ms. Holt clients range from individuals and small businesses to large corporations and insurance companies.  She regularly represents title insurers and their insureds in fraud and forgery matters, easement and encroachment disputes, escrow claims, lien priority disputes and bad faith matters.  Ms. Holt has litigated title claims for Doma Title Insurance, Inc., North American Title Insurance Company, First American Title Insurance Company and Fidelity National Title Insurance Company. She also has a substantial experience litigating a wide variety of business torts, contract disputes and employment matters.  In addition, she has successfully litigated complex multimillion-dollar and multi-party construction defect lawsuits on behalf of her developer and general contractor clients.

Ms. Holt obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology from the University of California at Santa Barbara and her Juris Doctor degree from the University of South Carolina School of Law.  Ms. Holt is licensed to practice in California, and is also admitted to the U.S. District Court of the Central District of California.  Ms. Holt is an active member of the Association of Business Trial Lawyers and a member of the Orange County Bar Association.

Representative Matters

Ms. Holt represented a commercial property owner in establishing secondary easement rights under a granted easement against a neighboring property owner in a bifurcated trial.  After the trial court quieted title in favor of Ms. Holt, the jury then awarded substantial damages in connection with related claims for trespass, negligence and nuisance. Prevailing party attorneys’ fees and costs were also awarded.

Ms. Holt successfully represented a property owner in a five-day court trial establishing an implied easement and an equitable easement to maintain encroachments that had been in existence for over thirty-five years.

Ms. Holt represented a high-net-worth individual and his corporation against claims brought by lenders seeking to validate their void deeds of trusts after a fraudster obtained over $5 million in fraudulent loans secured against the clients’ properties.

Ms. Holt successfully defended a commercial property owner in an arbitration against a claim by a remediation contractor who alleged that the remediation contract included the right to perform repairs.  An arbitration award was granted in favor of Ms. Holt’s client after the arbitrator determined that the contract was unenforceable.

Ms. Holt represented a general contractor against construction defect claims involving a luxury resort.  Ms. Holt obtained a favorable settlement for the client after securing significant contributions from subcontractors.

Ms. Holt achieved a successful settlement in favor of her developer client that was far less than the multimillion-dollar claims of project-wide window defects in a high-rise condominium.