His general practice emphasizes litigation in all areas including, personal injury, wrongful death, product liability, professional negligence, and contract and general business matters. He also handles corporate, business negotiations and transactions.

His firm is considered "boutique" because he feels it necessary to be available to his clients whenever they need him; for his clients to have the ability to speak directly to him; for them to know he is the one handling their legal affairs; and, for them to have his home phone number so he can be reached any time. His firm exists just as he envisioned ... attorney and client ... one on one!

His accomplishments include successfully resolving many civil and criminal cases and, winning the majority of the numerous appeals he has handled which involve civil, criminal, and administrative cases in both the State Court and Federal Court systems. He has published opinions in both systems:


• Witchell vs. De Korne, (1986) 179 Cal. App. 3d 965, 225 Cal.Rptr. 176.
  
  (The Witchell decision led the California State Legislature to amend California Code of Civil Procedure, Section 437c in 1990.)
  
  
• United States of America vs. Alan R. Stoneman, 789 F.2d 196 (3d Cir. 1986).


In June 2005, he was successful in obtaining a judgment in favor of his client in a dispute over the ownership of a house bought in 1992 in Oxnard, California. Prior to its purchase, plaintiff and his father entered into an oral contract with the father agreeing to lend $28,000.00 to his son for the down payment. Plaintiff agreed that his father would have no financial obligations towards the house. Plaintiff's name was originally on title along with defendants but during a refinancing process in 2001, plaintiff's name came off title to facilitate the loan process. Defendants later refused to put plaintiff back on title making defendants the sole owners of record. Plaintiff continuously resided on the property from 1992. In May 2004, defendants served plaintiff an eviction notice claiming he was only a tenant with no ownership interest. Plaintiff claimed the quitclaim deed was invalid and by virtue of defendants' wrongful acquisition they held title as constructive trustee for plaintiff's benefit. Plaintiff sought the imposition of a constructive trust. The trial court awarded the house to plaintiff requiring him to pay defendants the $28,000.00 plus 5% interest. (Jesus Gonzalez Canela vs. Juan S. Gonzalez and Theresa Y. Gonzalez, Ventura County Superior Court Case No. CIV 228240.)

In January 2005, following a short one week jury trial involving allegations of the defendants' use of fraud to obtain a grant deed on the plaintiffs' home, he and attorney John Brown obtained a money verdict for their clients, Gurdip and Baljit Dhaliwal, in the amount of $176,000.00 for the defendants' fraud. (Gurdip S. Dhaliwal, et al. vs. Rajinder S. Dhaliwal, et al., Ventura County Superior Court Case No. SC035857.)

In June 2004, he and attorney John Brown sued Ventura County for the wrongful death of Lisa Castellucci who died on August 4, 2002 in a head-on auto collision on Victoria Avenue. He alleged the road was dangerous and a substantial factor in causing Lisa's death; that the road had a ten year history of accidents and deaths prior to Lisa's; and, that a barrier in the center median would have saved Lisa's life by preventing the the head-on collision which killed her. The case settled just prior to trial and, two months later, the County built a three foot high barrier in the center median. Mr. Menard lovingly refers to it as the "Lisa Castellucci Wall". (Chris and Sue Castellucci vs. Ventura County, Ventura County Superior Court Case No. CIV 220640.)

In April 2004, following a three week trial which involved fraud and conspiracy, he and attorney John Brown obtained a money verdict for their two clients, Mohan and Balbir Singh, for economic and punitive damages in excess of $475,000.00 against several defendants involved in the sale of the Ventura Central Market to the Singh brothers. The grocery store is located in the City and County of Ventura, California.(Singh vs. Behniwal, Ventura County Superior Court Case No. CIV 210603.)

Recently, Chris sued a major drug store chain for mis-filling his client's Prednisone prescription with 50 mg tablets instead of 5 mg as prescribed by his client's doctor. As a result, in a two day period, his client consumed 950 mg instead of the prescribed 95 mg. Just before trial was to start in April 2003, the case settled for an amount that was required to be kept confidential. (Grabinger vs. Long's Drug Stores Corporation, Ventura County Superior Court Case No. CIV 208959.)

Chris also handles certain types of criminal cases, having as one of his clients an ex-member of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club, Ventura County Chapter, who was indicted on over 50 criminal counts, along with 27 other Hells Angels members and associates, by the Ventura County Grand Jury in 2001. Following a three year investigation by the Ventura County District Attorney's office and several other law enforcement agencies and after almost one year's worth of testimony before the grand jury, the investigative materials and grand jury transcripts had to be delivered by truck and fork lift to Chris for his review. (People of the State of California vs. Robert E. Lee Hill, Ventura County Superior Court Case No. 2001-900004.)

He also represented Henry Hardy who was accused of running the largest prostitution ring in all of Ventura County through a modeling agency known as the Stardust Modeling Agency. Following Mr. Hardy's conviction of pimping and pandering, Chris was retained to appeal the conviction and was successful in overturning Mr. Hardy's conviction. Chris went on to represent Mrs. Hardy against the Ventura County District Attorney's efforts to seize the Hardy's residence which was located in the upscale Oxnard community known as River Ridge.

Chris, along with associate attorney John Brown of Oxnard, sued a national manufacturer for the death of a 72 year old retired man who died in a fire caused by the defendant's defective oven. Just prior to the 1998 trial, the case settled for $750,000.00. (Gleeson vs. Amana Refrigeration, Inc., Los Angeles County Superior Court Case No. GC 016604.)

In November 1997, he obtained a verdict with associate attorney Bruce Guttman for over $3,000,000.00. The case involved a boating accident on the Colorado River near Laughlin, Nevada. (Gonzales vs. Purvis, Los Angeles County Superior Court Case No. BC 133503.)

Chris has served as General Counsel and a Board of Director member of California Business Intelligence, Inc., a professional investigative firm located in Ventura County, California. CBI provides comprehensive risk assessment services to the legal, corporate, insurance, financial and entertainment communities of California and the world. CBI's clients include some of the most influential players in the information and banking industries, as well as state government task forces, international embassies, and legal professions.

He limited his practice to the representation of one major client with various real estate holdings, both national and international, including two hotels. His responsibilities included negotiation, and preparation, of land, equipment and facility leases. He also controlled the renovation, management and operation of the two hotels.

He devoted his practice to the defense of multi-million dollar major medical malpractice and product liability cases, including the infamous Freddie Prinze suicide case.

• Admitted to practice law before all courts in the State of California since January 7, 1977; State Bar No. 73560

• Admitted to practice law in the United States District Court for the Southern & Central Districts and to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

• Appointed, and still acts, as Judge Pro Tempore for the Courts of Ventura County since 1990

• Nominated to Ventura County Superior & Municipal Courts Judicial Arbitration Panel since August 1, 1991. Since that time, he has successfully resolved many cases through the judicial arbitration process, often turning them into mediations. He enjoys an approximate 85% settlement success rate for those cases. He also is qualified and available to act as arbitrator or mediator for your case.

    Law:  Southwestern University, Los Angeles Juris Doctorate - 1976 (Graduated in the top 12% of Class)

    Pre-Law: UCLA, Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology - 1973

    Law Fraternity:

Delta Theta Phi, McComb Senate at Southwestern University.  When he began his term as Vice-Dean in 1974, the Senate had 11 members. Mr. Menard instigated a drive to increase the membership and stature of the organization. At the time of his voluntary resignation as Dean in 1976, the Senate had 250 members making the McComb Senate the largest and most influential Senate of Delta Theta Phi nationwide.

    Born:  August 8, 1950 in St. Albans, Vermont

    Languages:  English & French