Below are summaries of our trials from 2024
John Kraft and Kelly McIntosh-Kraft v. Crane Co. et al.
Civil Jury Trial
Superior Court of the State of California, Alameda County
Hon. Patrick McKinney, Judge Presiding
Trial Type: Retired San Francisco Bay Area career Pipefitter with Lung Cancer (now largely asymptomatic) and asbestosis, plus loss of consortium with significant former use of cigarettes.
Case resolved during Jury Selection as to all case defendants in excess of $2,750,000.00.
December 2024
Shane Brandon et ux v. U.S. Borax, Inc. et al.
Civil Jury Trial
Superior Court of the State of California, City and County of San Francisco
Hon. Christopher Hite, Judge Presiding
Trial Type: Wrongful death of 79-year old retired Bay Area career pipefitter with disputed asbestosis (ILO score 1/0 from B-Reader) as well as acute cardiopulmonary disease, coronary artery disease and hypothyroidism from occupational exposures to asbestos products, dust and debris including associated with worker/laborers dry sweeping clean-up of jobsites.
Case resolved prior to hearings on Motions In Limine before jury selection as to all case defendants in excess of $125,000.00.
November 2024
Russell Utterback v. Westburne Supply Inc. (for P.E. O'Hair Company) et al.
Civil Jury Trial
Superior Court of the State of California, In and For the City and County of San Francisco
Hon. Curtis E.A. Karnow, Judge Presiding
Trial Type: 87-year old retired career Insulator - Mesothelioma and Lung Cancer – Various jobs across several decades and throughout California including Chico State University where trial defendant supplied asbestos-containing building products using its flatbed delivery trucks identifying itself on its doors with "a bunny on it - a bunny's head" – such products as asbestos-containing cement pipe, transite conduit pipe, pumps, values, packing and gaskets.
Case resolved just prior to jury selection as to all case defendants in excess of $4,750,000.00.
October 2024
John & JoAnn Sigg v. Pneumo Abex LLC; ENERPAC Tool Group (fka Actuant Corporation) et al.
Civil Jury Trial
Superior Court of the State of California, In and For the City and County of San Francisco
Hon. Samuel K. Feng, Judge Presiding
Trial Type: Career maintenance mechanic – Lung Cancer (Adeocarcinoma) – Assembler/Production Manager – J.M. Manufacturing Corporation – Santa Clara; Maintenance Mechanic – US Cold Storage Co. – Honolulu; Maintenance Mechanic – U.S. Semiconductor Corporation – Fremont; Maintenance Mechanic – St Regis Paper Company – Union City, California; Maintenance Mechanic – Romic Environmental – East Palo Alto, California.
Case resolved at pre-trial hearings prior to jury selection as to all case defendants in excess of $1,000,000.00.
September 2024
LeeAnn Timm v. Henkel US Operating Corporation (fka Henkel Corporations) et al.
Civil Jury Trial
Superior Court of the State of California, In and For the City and County of San Francisco
Hon. Samuel K. Feng, Judge Presiding
Trial Type: Mesothelioma/Lymphoma wrongful death – Aviation Machinist Mate, Naval training Center - San Diego; Naval Air Technical Training Center – Memphis; Vietnam Services – Hunters Point Naval Shipyard – San Francisco; Auto Mechanic Beatty Memorial Hospital, Westville, Indiana; Painter/Sheetmetal Worker Naval Aviation Depot – NARF – Aircraft Mechanic, Helicopter Repairman.
Case resolved at pre-trial hearings prior to jury selection as to all remaining case defendants in excess of $1,500,000.00.
August 2024
Gustavo Reyes-Gonzalez v. Caesarstone USA, Inc; Cambria Company LLC; Color Marble, Inc.; et al.
Civil Jury Trial
Superior Court of the State of California, Los Angeles County
Hon. William F. Fahey, Judge Presiding
Trial Type: 34-year old former fabricator working at shops cutting, sanding, shaping, drilling and tailoring Artificial Stone (“Quartz”/engineered stone) slabs manufactured and distributed by defendants for use in home new construction and remodeling, apartment complexes, hospitals, hotels, airports, convention halls and government buildings throughout Southern California in Los Angeles and Orange County with silicosis, an incurable lung disease caused by inhalation of invisible respirable crystalline silica (RCS) leading to pulmonary massive fibrosis (“PMF”), recipient of double lung transplant at Cedars-Sinai Hospital but facing a possible need for second lung transplant within the next 3 to 5 years.
Case verdict after 6-week trial $52,437,366.00.
June-August 2024
Jean Claude Mallein v. Ferguson Enterprises, LLC et al.
Civil Jury Trial
Superior Court of the State of California, In and For the City and County of San Francisco
Hon. Braden C. Woods, Judge Presiding
Trial Type: Career journeyman union plumber (“Frenchy” ) age 80 – colon cancer (after previous asbestosis case) – working a various industrial locations throughout the San Francisco Bay Area between 1960 and 2005.
Case resolved at trial assignment as to all remaining case defendants in excess of $800,000.00.
April-May 2024
Valeri Niskanen v. COSCO Fire Protection, Inc. et al.
Civil Jury Trial
Superior Court of the State of California, City and County of San Francisco
Hon. Mary E. Wiss, Judge Presiding
Trial Type: Wrongful Death of plaintiff’s father Billy Joe McClary – age 85 – from CAP-NIOSH Grade 3 Asbestosis and Pleural Disease - Career insulator working for Western Asbestos Company, Owens-Corning Fiberglas, Plant Insulation Company, J.T. Thorpe & Son Inc., FENCO, ACandS, Inc., Philip Carey Corporation, F. Rodgers Insulation, Inc., from 1953 to 1992 throughout locations in the San Francisco Bay Area including INTEL Corporation, Hewlett Packard Company, Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC), IBM, Raychem Corporation, Pier 38 – San Francisco, Hilton Hotel Union Square – San Francisco, Domtar Gypsum, U.C. Berkeley, PG&E, Union Oil Company, General Motors Company, Shaklee-Hayward, Children’s Hospital-Oakland, Kaiser Hospital-Martinez and Walnut Creek, Veterans Administration Hospital-Livermore, Signetics Company, Oakland International Airport, East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD), Clorox Plant-Pleasanton, Naval Weapons Station – Oakland, Alta Bates Hospital.
Case resolved after pre-trial motions at jury selection as to all case defendants in excess of $4,500,000.00.
April 2024
Diane Thom, Successor-In-Interest and Wrongful Death Heir of Michael Thom, Deceased, et al v. Scott Technologies, Inc. (dba Safway Scaffolding), et al.
Civil Jury Trial
Superior Court of State of California, County of Solano
Hon. Christine Carringer
Trial Type: Wrongful Death – Disputed Mesothelioma/Asbestosis respiratory failure death of Vietnam Veteran US Navy Gunners Mate/Career Pipefitter/Welder at Northwest Refining Co., St Paul, Minnesota; Prairie Island Nuclear Powerhouse, Red Wing, Minnesota; Sherco Powerhouse/Northern States Power, Becker, Minnesota; Koch Refining Co/Pine Bend Refinery, Rosemount, Minnesota; Champion Paper (fka Hoerner Waldorf Paper), St. Paul, Minnesota; Metropolitan Waste Control, Pig Eye Island, St. Paul, Minnesota 1982-1998.
Case resolved as to all case defendants after jury selection at Opening Statements in excess of $2,500,000.00.
February 2024