Schedule Free Consultation
AFFECTED BY MAUI WILDFIRES? SEE HOW WE CAN HELP
Free Consultation *-Required
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Free Consultation (650) 453-3600
Free Consultation Here
D M

Representative Case Results

We succeed because we take nothing at face value. And we know how to uncover the truth, no matter what it takes.

In every case, the defense has a story to tell. We didn’t manufacture the faulty part, they say. We didn’t see any danger. We didn’t do anything wrong and it’s the victim who is really to blame.

Our client’s story is always different from that which defendant would tell. We think that our Representative Cases show that, no matter what the specific situation, we find out what really happened so that we can hold the wrongdoer accountable.

Select A Practice Area
  • Aviation Accidents
  • Bicycle Accidents
  • Brain Injuries
  • Burn Injuries
  • Explosion & Fire-Related Injuries
  • Motor Vehicle Accidents
  • National Litigation - Commercial Helicopter Crash
  • National Litigation - EMS Helicopter Crash
  • National Litigation - Real Estate
  • Pedestrian Accidents
  • Roadway Defect
  • Utility Fire
  • Utility Wildfires
  • Wrongful Death

$9.5M Jury Verdict

Chandler v. State of California Bicycle Accidents, Motor Vehicle Accidents, Pedestrian Accidents, Roadway Defect, Wrongful Death

Chris Chandler, age 62, was struck by a car and killed while crossing a state highway. The police blamed Chris for riding his bicycle into oncoming traffic without first looking to make sure the road was clear and investigated the accident as a possible suicide.

We determined that Chris was in a marked crosswalk when he was struck. We found witnesses who told us that, contrary to the police report, Chris was walking his bike when he was killed, not riding it. We uncovered documents in the state’s files showing that the crosswalk was unsafe because the pedestrian’s view of oncoming traffic could be blocked by yielding vehicles. The state refused to fix the crosswalk because it did not believe enough people had been injured or killed at that intersection to justify the expenditure.

The state’s best settlement offer before trial was $100,000. The jury agreed that the crosswalk was a trap for pedestrians. It found that Chris could not have avoided the accident and was not to blame in any way. In a unanimous verdict, the jury awarded Chris’ family $9.5 million.

$20M Settlement

Case Name Confidential Burn Injuries, Explosion & Fire-Related Injuries, Utility Fire

Our client was walking along the sidewalk on her lunch break. An underground electrical vault exploded, blowing off a manhole cover and burning her severely. We filed a lawsuit against the electrical company on her behalf; she faced months of medical treatment and rehabilitation. Normally a case of this kind would take two years or more to prepare and bring to trial but the client wanted the situation resolved quickly; we set a goal of two months.

We interviewed eyewitnesses of the explosion and doctors who treated our client, on camera. We also interviewed friends and family members. We even managed to locate former employees of the utility who helped us determine the cause of the explosion, long before the government’s investigation was completed.

We ended up with 40 hours of recorded testimony which we edited down to 60 minutes. We sent the video presentation to the utility company’s upper management with a message stating that, unless they settled our client’s claim immediately, we were ready to go to trial.

Two days later, the utility settled for $20 million.

$14.9M Jury Verdict

Burdett v. Teledyne Continental Motors Aviation Accidents, Brain Injuries

The pilot of a Beechcraft was forced to crash-land in a vineyard because the engine came apart in cruise flight. His 44-year-old passenger suffered serious head injuries.

Government investigators concluded that the engine came apart because the mechanic who performed the last cylinder change failed to tighten crucial hold-down nuts. The mechanic, who was not licensed by the FAA, insisted he had performed the repairs precisely according to the instructions in the engine manufacturer’s repair manual.

We had our experts examine the engine. In one critical area, we found a tiny amount of sealant about half the size of a pea. The sealant should not have been there. We determined that even a very small amount of sealant in the wrong place could cause the nuts to loosen. The mechanic had applied the sealant because he was misled by confusing wording in the engine repair manual.

The manufacturer claimed that the mechanic misunderstood the wording only because he was untrained and unlicensed. The manufacturer’s lawyers insisted that, if the wording was truly unclear, other mechanics would have made the same mistake, but they hadn’t. But we had already discovered documents that the manufacturer had purged from its files that demonstrated that even properly licensed mechanics had — in numerous previous cases — applied sealant in the wrong spot, all because the manual was poorly worded.

After five weeks of trial, the jury agreed that the manufacture’s poorly-chosen language in the engine repair manual had contributed to the crash. The plaintiff was awarded almost $15 million, enough to take care of his needs for the rest of his life.

$10M Judgment

Denevi v. Swenson National Litigation - Real Estate

Pietro Denevi, a former high-school football coach, had dreamed for years of transforming a 210-acre parcel of land in Los Gatos, California, into a championship golf course. He negotiated with the owner to buy the land and then turned to Barry Swenson, a prominent Silicon Valley real estate developer, to provide $750,000 in return for an equity interest in the project.

But when the time came to fund the transaction, Swenson didn’t provide the money, and the seller sold the property to another buyer.

We sued Swenson for breach of his fiduciary duty to Denevi. Swenson claimed that the limited liability corporation he had established protected him from personal liability. We proved in court that Swenson never intended to fund the transaction. He intended to buy the property himself and develop it on his own, so that he would not have to share any proceeds with Denevi. His scheme failed because the seller sold the property to someone else.

After a four-week trial, the court agreed that Swenson had abused Denevi’s trust and that his corporation did not protect him from liability. Denevi was awarded $10 million.

$9.5M Settlement

Case Name Confidential Aviation Accidents, Burn Injuries, Explosion & Fire-Related Injuries

Plaintiff suffered burns while escaping from a fuel-fed fire. She remembered little of the sudden fire or her subsequent treatment and rehabilitation, which resulted in what her medical providers deemed a good recovery. Because plaintiff recalled little of her experience, she was unable to meaningfully assist us in the preparation of her case. And defendant claimed that she shouldn’t be compensated for what she couldn’t even remember happening.

We reconstructed and illustrated plantiff’s medical treatment and rehabilitation, including her various debridements and grafting procedures, and retained specialists to describe certain of her limitations that weren’t apparent to a casual observer. We proved that, though she couldn’t remember the details of her experience, the emotional fallout was real and long lasting. As compensation for her injuries, we obtained from the defendant corporation a confidential settlement of $9.5 million.

$12M Settlement

Case Name Confidential Aviation Accidents, National Litigation - Commercial Helicopter Crash, National Litigation - EMS Helicopter Crash, Wrongful Death

An air ambulance helicopter crashed when one of the main rotor blades came apart in flight. The three-person crew was killed.

The rotor blades were made of composite materials that were almost entirely consumed in the post-crash fire. Government investigators worked for more than a year but, with little evidence available, never determined why the rotor blade failed.

We gathered and examined thousands of pages of documents related to the maintenance of the helicopter and the rotor blades. A seemingly insignificant document — a mechanic’s daily time record from years before the crash — recorded the fact that the mechanic had performed a routine procedure, removing a metal abrasion strip from the leading edge of one of the blades.

We noticed, however, that the mechanic had spent less time on this job than on other similar jobs. The strip was attached to the blade with adhesive and it was a slow and time-consuming task to remove the adhesive with a heat gun. We discovered that, to speed the process, the mechanic had used a blowtorch instead.

By experimenting with other rotor blades, we discovered that using a blowtorch would soften not just the glue attaching the metal strip but also the glue deep inside the blade and along its structural spar. The blade’s internal structure was compromised by the mechanic’s shortcut. The fatal crash was the eventual consequence.

The case was settled for $12 million.

$2.2M Judgment

Dunn v. State of Hawaii Bicycle Accidents, Brain Injuries, Roadway Defect

A 41-year-old cyclist was riding his bicycle on the island of Oahu an hour before dawn, training for a triathlon. As he came down a hill on the Kalanianaole Highway, he lost control of the bicycle, fell and landed on his head. Even though he was wearing a helmet, he suffered a traumatic brain injury.

There were no witnesses to the accident and the cyclist had no memory of the event. We reconstructed what happened by examining a few fibers of cloth left in the pavement. The cyclist had fallen near a row of white reflector poles on the shoulder of the road. One pole was missing; only its base mount was still glued to the road. The base mount was black. The cyclist could not see it in the dark; he ran over it and lost control of the bicycle.

We found witnesses who testified that the pole had been missing from its mount for months. Further research into road design standards showed that the white reflector poles should never have been installed in the path of possible bicycle traffic.

The state of Hawaii, however, refused to accept any responsibility. The state’s lawyers, at trial, claimed that the cyclist simply ran off the road and never even hit the pole mount. We proved that two punctures in the cyclist’s front tire could only have been made by the base mount.

The judge agreed and awarded the cyclist $2.2 million.

$2.9M Jury Verdict

Kyne v. PG&E Burn Injuries, Explosion & Fire-Related Injuries, Utility Fire, Wrongful Death

Gas leaked from a service line buried beneath a busy street. The gas found its way into nearby homes, where it ignited. The explosion killed two and burned three.

PG&E blamed a contractor who struck the service line with a backhoe during a sewer repair project some months earlier. We proved that the contractor damaged the line only because PG&E did not give the contractor accurate information as to the line’s location.

In the course of the case, we forced PG&E to turn over thousands of documents and we questioned hundreds of witnesses. That evidence showed that the utility failed to take appropriate action in response to numerous leak reports in the weeks leading to the explosion. Had it done so, the accident would have been avoided.

$2.9M Jury Verdict

Young v. Standard Aero Aviation Accidents, National Litigation - Commercial Helicopter Crash

A professional pilot was flying his helicopter over rough terrain when the turbine engine stopped and the helicopter crashed. The pilot survived the crash but injured his back. The facility that had last overhauled the engine claimed that it was the pilot who caused the crash by failing to check the oil level in the engine before taking off—it also claimed that the pilot did not follow appropriate emergency procedures when the engine seized up.

We proved at trial that the overhaul facility had failed to tighten a critical bearing retaining nut. The loose nut caused the turbine engine to meltdown in flight, just as it would have if the oil level had dropped too low. We also demonstrated that the pilot had handled the emergency perfectly; otherwise, he would not have survived at all.

The jury determined that the engine overhauler was fully responsible and awarded the pilot $2.9 million.

$50M Judgment

Jing-Li v. Sheng Hsiang Jen Foods Wrongful Death

Jeffrey’s father gave 2-year-old Jeffrey a popular Mini-Jel candy as a special treat. Jeffrey began to choke. His father tried to remove the candy from Jeffrey’s throat but could not dislodge it. Jeffrey suffered serious brain damage and died two weeks later.

We had the candy tested in a laboratory and learned that it contained an ingredient called “konjac gel” — an ingredient derived from plant root. We consulted with Dr. Henry Heimlich, inventor of the familiar Heimlich maneuver for dislodging food stuck in a windpipe. He looked at the lab tests and declared that even his maneuver would not jar loose a candy made with konjac gel.

We uncovered documents proving that the manufacturer knew that the candy was dangerous for young children, but deliberately marketed it to children anyway. When the manufacturer refused to answer our questions concerning those documents, we obtained a court order preventing the defendant from further defending the case.

The judge awarded $50 million to Jeffrey’s parents, commenting that this was “exactly the type of case punitive damages were designed for.”  After the case made national headlines, the Food & Drug Administration banned the further import of konjac gel candy into this country.

Confidential Settlement

Crane v. Firestone Motor Vehicle Accidents, Wrongful Death

Joey Crane, 20, and his brother Bobby, 17, were driving from Danville, California, to Los Angeles in the family’s SUV for a vacation at the beach. Suddenly the tread peeled off the right rear tire. Joey lost control of the vehicle. It rolled over and Bobby was killed. The official report concluded that the tread came off the tire because the tire was under-inflated. But Joey claimed he had put air in the tires right before the trip.

We determined that the tire only had 2000 miles on it and had been fully inflated when the accident took place. It was the accident itself that had caused the tire to lose pressure. We also learned that, that though the tire looked almost new, the tire was actually 14 years old. We found research indicating that tires oxidize over time and that, after six years, tires are unsafe and prone to detreading, regardless of how few miles they’ve accumulated.

We filed suit against Firestone on behalf of the Crane family, alleging that the company should have warned customers about the dangers of old tires. Firestone insisted that old tires were safe as long as they were in good condition. But we uncovered internal Firestone documents proving that company management had known about problems with older tires since the 1970s. Firestone had never warned the public because it wanted to continue its practice of warehousing tires for years before selling them. Firestone wanted to avoid the losses involved in destroying “stale” inventory.

Firestone agreed to a confidential settlement days before the trial was to begin.

The evidence we found attracted national media attention. Manufacturers now warn consumers to check the date of tire manufacture and to discard any tires that are more than six years old, no matter what their apparent condition.

Confidential Settlement

PG&E Wildfires in Calaveras County Explosion & Fire-Related Injuries, Utility Fire, Utility Wildfires

A wildfire raged through Calaveras County burning 70,000 acres and hundreds of homes. The fire started when a tree contacted a PG&E power line. We determined that PG&E should have trimmed the tree to keep the powerline safe. PG&E proclaimed that the fire was not the result of a tree touching its power line but, if it was, it was all the fault of an independent tree trimming contractor. We proved that PG&E failed to properly train the contractor. In addition, PG&E’s bonus system encouraged outside contractors to avoid trimming trees to save PG&E money.

The judge agreed with us, ruling that the fire was PG&E’s responsibility. We obtained a court order holding PG&E liable for our clients’ losses.

Confidential Settlement

In re PG&E “San Bruno Fire” Cases Explosion & Fire-Related Injuries, Utility Fire, Utility Wildfires

When one of PG&E’s underground gas lines ruptured in San Bruno, California, it caused an explosion that killed eight, destroyed 38 homes, and damaged many others. The gas line ruptured because when PG&E installed it in 1958, it did not properly weld the pipe’s seam. Over the years, PG&E’s own engineers warned management that the pipe might be unsafe. But instead of replacing it, PG&E operated the pipe at increasingly high pressures until it ultimately split apart.

PG&E’s CEO was replaced once the utility’s unsafe practices came to light, and PG&E was ordered to institute new and safer practices so that similar explosions would be avoided.

We obtained settlements for 59 victims of the explosion. Though the settlement amounts are confidential, PG&E has reported that the clients’ claims were resolved as part of a larger settlement that cost PG&E more than $500 million.

$2.3M Settlement

Case Name Confidential Aviation Accidents, National Litigation - EMS Helicopter Crash, Wrongful Death

The air ambulance was a twin-engine fixed wing turboprop with four aboard.  Thirteen minutes into the flight, the pilot reported to air traffic control that he smelled smoke in the cockpit.  A fire had started beneath a circuit breaker panel mounted on the cockpit floor between the pilot and co-pilot seats.  The crew began an emergency descent and tried to extinguish the fire.  But the fire was being fed by flammable fluid from hydraulic lines near the breaker panel.  As the fire grew, it burned through a main wing support structure.  Before the crew could get on the ground, the wings separated from the aircraft.  The aircraft began to tumble and disintegrate in flight.  No one survived the impact.

We traced the fire’s origins to a stretcher system that had been improperly wired through the ship’s electrical panel.