Legal Pad

SF Trial Lawyer of the Year Won Landmark Verdict

[Kate Moser]

Walkup, Melodia, Kelly & Schoenberger partner Michael Kelly won 2009’s trial lawyer of the year last night at the San Francisco Trial Lawyer Association’s annual award dinner. In February, Kelly won a $23.2 million birth injury verdict in what was thought to be the largest such verdict in Minnesota history (free reg. req.). 

The other nominees for the 2009 award:

Daniel Dell’Osso for Dax Pierson v. Ford Motor Co., an $18.3 million verdict in the Northern District of California for a Ford van rollover accident. Dell’Osso is with The Brandi Law Firm. 

Randall Scarlett, for his $49 million brain injury verdict (free reg. req.) in Santa Clara County Superior Court. 

Walter Walker, of Walker, Hamilton & Koenig, for a $5.8 million verdict in San Mateo County Superior Court for a pedestrian struck by a vehicle. 

Assembly Candidate Tarred with Trial Lawyer Taint

[Cheryl Miller]

Betsy Butler isn’t a trial lawyer. She isn’t even a lawyer.

But apparently the Assembly candidate’s past work as a fundraiser for the Consumer Attorneys of California carries enough of a taint to make her the target of a pro-MICRA group.

Californians Allied for Patient Protection is running TV ads against Butler, a Democratic candidate in the Los Angeles-area 53rd Assembly District. The spots -- watch a poor quality Quicktime version here -- call Butler a lobbyist’s “best friend” and sneer at her campaign contributions from “wealthy trial lawyers.” What’s worse, Butler is a “Sacramento hypocrite,” a hidden voice charges.

Why the hate? Butler’s work for the CAOC “is very key to what her philosophy is going to be if she’s elected to the state Legislature,” said CAPP executive director Lisa Maas. CAPP spent more than $108,000 on the ad’s production and air time.

Butler campaign consultant Parke Skelton said in a prepared statement that “corporate interests” are picking on the candidate because of her support for environmental and consumer protections.

CAPP reports five-figure contributions in March from the Cooperative of American Physicians and the California Medical Association, two groups eager to see California’s cap on medical malpractice awards stay put.

Butler took in plenty of money from the plaintiff bar -- her list of donors read like a Who’s Who of CAOC leaders -– but her filings also show donations from labor groups, incumbent Democrats and corporations like Boeing, Hewlett-Packard and Norcal Waste Systems.

Ironically, this left-leaning Assembly District has a slew of Democratic candidates running against Butler – including four lawyers -- most of whom would probably support the CAOC’s political agenda. CAPP hasn’t targeted any of them, yet.

As viewers are warned at the end of the Butler ad, “Stay tuned for more.”

Law Firm's Former Bookkeeper Sentenced

Two recent developments in law firm/lawyer embezzlement news …

A former bookkeeper at San Francisco medical malpractice and personal injury firm Bostwick, Peterson & Mitchell was sentenced just before Christmas for helping himself to $9 million of the firm’s funds over about nine years.

San Francisco Superior Court Judge Kay Tsenin sentenced the former bookkeeper, Richard Thomas, to 10 years in state prison. He’ll also have to pay $8.7 million in restitution.

When audits are really helpful, after the jump ...

Looking Back at Some of the Year's Biggest Plaintiff Verdicts

Over at The Recorder’s site, we just posted an "Exhibits" page (a regular feature that appears in print and online once every other week). This one looks back at 10 of the biggest plaintiff jury verdicts in California this year.

The Exhibits page itself has a shorthand description so you can see, say, what kind of claims jurors thought were worth $16 million or more (up to $350 million!). But we thought we'd post the verdict forms behind each case, too, in case you're one of those really detail-oriented types.

For the links to all of 'em, flip to the jump …

Trial Lawyers Versus Insurers: This Time It's Car Parts

Trial lawyers and insurance companies have had their political battles through the years: Prop. 64. Disability access lawsuits. Competing candidates in primary elections.

But this year’s legislative proxy fight between the two titans developed over a decidedly less high-brow issue: car parts.

AB 1200 would allow insurance companies to offer “truthful and nondeceptive information” about specific auto body shops to customers looking to get their dinged up cars fixed. The bill’s author, Assemblywoman Mary Hayashi, D-Hayward, says she’s just trying to give consumers more information. AB 1200 opponents, however, see the legislation as the insurance industry’s attempt to restore steering, the banned practice of guiding customers to an insurer’s preferred repair shop.

Who won the battle over AB 1200, after the jump.

A Colleague Remembers Phil Harley

While we are running our own obituary today for East Bay trial attorney Phil Harley (pictured at right), who died Thursday afternoon, we thought readers might be interested in a more detailed account of his life and work by attorney Jim Oberman, a colleague at Kazan, McClain, Lyons, Greenwood & Harley.

Please click here (.pdf) to see all the ways Harley will be remembered.

—  Petra Pasternak

Trial Lawyers Ruffled By Chrysler Bankruptcy Plan

Trial lawyers will head to Capitol Hill on Monday to corner lawmakers about an issue they say has been overlooked in Chrysler’s bankruptcy proceedings: tort immunity.

Larry Coben, a Scottsdale, Ariz., attorney involved in the New York case, said the fast-approaching resolution would effectively divide Chrysler owners into three classes. Those who buy Chrysler automobiles after the company reorganizes and launches a new alliance with Fiat will retain traditional rights to sue for injuries caused by vehicle defects, he said.

But buyers of Chryslers on the market before that new company emerges will be barred from bringing a claim for car-defect injuries against the resulting Chrysler-Fiat manufacturer, Coben said. And at least 300 litigants with pending claims against Chrysler will likely be forced to scramble with other unsecured creditors for a share of whatever assets remain after bankruptcy, he said.

“It’s tort reform by the Treasury and the bankruptcy court,” Coben said.

California's Trial Lawyer Leader weighs in … after the jump.

Trial Lawyers Coming to Town

Trial lawyers arrive in San Francisco today for their annual state convention. And politically, at least, it seems like the Consumer Attorneys of California have plenty to celebrate.

There’s a new president-elect, one that will surely be more receptive to their political views on preemption, insurance regulations and other issues than the current White House occupant. And on the state level, four out of six CAOC-backed candidates won on Tuesday night, while a fifth, Democrat Hannah-Beth Jackson of the 19^th Senate District, is clinging to a tiny lead. The trial lawyers have also managed to make it through the year – the first in a while -- without a serious ballot initiative threat by opponents.

Into this arena steps Christine Spagnoli, the Green Broillet & Wheeler partner who will be installed as the new president of CAOC on Saturday night.