State Bar of California California Bar Journal
Home Page Official Publication of the State Bar of California September2009
Top Headlines
Opinion
MCLE Self-Study
Discipline
You Need to Know
Contact CBJ
PastIssues

Wage dispute
Award: $4,106,833,878
Corporate executive alleged he was terminated in retaliation for his efforts to obtain all wages and other compensation owed him under the terms of his employment contract (Chester v. iFreedom Communications Inc., Los Angeles County Superior Court, Plaintiff attorney: Scot D. Bernstein).

Construction cave-in
Award: $5,500,000
Two workers were seriously injured, one becoming a paraplegic, when they were trapped in a cave-in at an excavation site resulting from inadequate shoring (Galeano v. Gothelf, San Francisco County Superior Court, Plaintiff attorney: Joseph M. Breall).

Cancer surgery
Award: Defense
Rectal cancer patient alleged the surgery he underwent to treat his condition was negligently performed, resulting in chronic pain and addiction to narcotics (Crawford v. City of Hope National Medical Center, Los Angeles County Superior Court, Defense attorney: Kent T. Brandmeyer).

Egg donations
Award: $4,230,000
Doctors at UCI Center for Reproductive Health were found to have engaged in the misappropriation and nonconsensual transfer of donor eggs, several of which resulted in live births (Beasley v. Regents of the University of California, Orange County Superior Court, Plaintiff attorney: Daniel M. Hodes).

Trip and fall
Award: $115,384
Hospital admissions clerk injured her arm when she tripped and fell on a two-inch raised portion of sidewalk in front of her home (Hinson v. City of Salinas, Monterey County Superior Court, Plaintiff attorney: Kenneth J. Kroopf).

Student stroke
Award: $96,000,000
Student struck on the head by a volleyball thrown by another student in a game of dodgeball suffered a stroke that left him in need of 24-hr LVN care for life (Confidential v. Confidential, Confidential Venue, Plaintiff attorney: Mike Bomberger).

Third-degree burns
Award: $20,000,000
Outside electrician attempting to repair a power outage on a college campus was severely burned and lost an arm as a result of a campus electrician inadvertently energizing a transformer station (Jones v. California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, Los Angeles County Superior Court, Plaintiff attorney: Steven V. Angarella).

Patient suicide
Award: Defense
Psychiatric facility was allegedly responsible for a patient’s suicide for failing to take adequate precautions to protect the patient from harming himself (Gonzalez v. Penn Mar Therapeutic Center, Los Angeles County Superior Court, Defense attorney: Raymond L. Blessey).

Editor's Note: California Bar Journal publishes this abbreviated summary of important trials in California provided by Trials Digest, a Thomson West business. To report your case results, go to west.thomson.com/trialsdigest/form.asp or call 415-344-6000.

Contact Us Site Map Notices Privacy Policy
© 2024 The State Bar of California