Profile
Hon. Alex Saldamando (Ret.) has been a neutral at ADR Services since his retirement in 2005 after serving 26 years on the San Francisco Superior Court (15 years) and San Francisco Municipal Court (11 years). He has served as an arbitrator or mediator in more than 700 cases and has developed a reputation for being prepared, patient, and persistent in resolving disputes in many areas of the law.
ADR Experience
- Employment, especially wage and hour issues
- Property damage and personal injury torts, including medical, dental & legal malpractice
- Real property issues involving commercial and residential real estate purchase agreements, rent-control and non-rent control landlord-tenant disputes, homeowner association disputes condominium and tenancy in common issues partition and sales of real estate- commercial and residential
- Construction-defect related issues
- Insurance coverage issues
- Judge Saldamando has also participated in mock trials and as a neutral evaluator of potable water supply and software infringement disputes.
Judicial Experience
- On the Superior Court, he served ten years as a civil trial judge, five years as a criminal court felony trial judge, as well as brief stints in juvenile court and civil law and motion.
- Notable jury trials include a multi-year, bad faith insurance coverage case in which International Paper Corporation was awarded over $700 million dollars plus attorney fees by two separate juries against its primary level insurer, Wausau Insurance, and dozens of excess coverage insurers for bad faith failure to defend and indemnify Masonite Corp in a nationwide class action case litigated in Alabama.
- Judge Saldamando also presided in lengthy jury trials dealing with high-rise building construction-defects involving Montgomery Washington Towers in downtown San Francisco (MWTA v Crow Spieker et. al) and a twenty plus story San Francisco State graduate student housing dormitory (Calif State University v Perini.)
- He also served for five years as the conservation court judge specially appointed by the California Commissioner of Insurance to resolve CGL and other policy coverage claims brought against Golden Eagle Insurance Co, an insolvent insurer.
- Judge Saldamando also presided over numerous jury trials dealing with dental and medical malpractice and asbestos and other other health endangering products such as defective Dalkon shields.
- While on the Municipal Court, Judge Saldamando settled or tried numerous jury and non-jury tort cases including auto accidents and numerous landlord tenant disputes, dealing with both pre and post rent control issues.
Legal Experience
- 1977-1979 – Assistant District Attorney
- Served in the consumer Fraud Unit of the San Francisco District Attorney’s office
- 1974-1977 – Managing Attorney/Chief legislative advocate for California Rural Legal Assistance in Sacramento.
- Full-time lobbyist appearing before the California Legislature representing the interests of CRLA low income clients in pending state legislation involving employment, consumer credit issues including credit life and disability insurance and Personal Property Broker loan finance charge rates. Was also involved in the drafting and ultimate passage of CRLA sponsored legislation including AB1522(Berman) which establish the Berman wage-related administrative hearing procedure codified in Labor Code Sec. 98 et .seq.; SB1794(Nejedly) which amended Civil Code Section 2983.2 of the Automobile Sales Finance Act to permit limited reinstatement of auto installment sales contracts after default in payment by consumer auto purchasers; and SB 1978(Presley) which added CCP 690.30(now CCP 704.080) to provide a limited exemption from execution by judgment creditors of bank accounts holding federal social security benefits received by senior citizens and other federal assistance recipients.
- Also lobbied in support of AB1310 (Berman) which added CCP 1021.5 to award attorney fees in cases enforcing important public interest rights.
- 1970-1973 – Staff Attorney San Francisco Neighborhood Legal Assistance Foundation
- Represented low-income clients in landlord-tenant, domestic relations and person injury defense.
Education
- University of California (Berkeley) – B.A. Psychology – 1964
- Hastings College of the Law – J.D. – 1967
Languages