Courtroom View Network covers civil trials throughout the United States, but one of the states we’ve focused on the most in recent years is California. The depth and breadth of the California legal community and the volume of litigation just in venues like the Los Angeles County Superior Court system alone make The Golden State one of the most active jurisdictions for civil jury trials anywhere in the country.
CVN’s one-of-a-kind trial video archive includes dozens of gavel-to-gavel civil jury trials in California, many featuring some of the top attorneys in the state arguing cases ranging from slip-and-falls to bellwether product liability matters. Subscribers to CVN’s video library get unlimited gavel-to-gavel access to hundreds of hours of real civil trial footage from California courtrooms.
Below are our picks for 10 “Must Watch” California plaintiff verdicts in CVN’s video library. This is a small fraction of the California cases in the archive, and an even smaller fraction of trials in the archive overall, but it gives a good sense of the quality of attorneys and wide range of trials you get access to with a subscription for just $99/month or less.
Stay tuned for our top 10 California defense verdict picks coming soon! Also don't forget to register for CVN's free webinar on Friday, October 23 featuring two of the attorneys included on this list, Steve Vartazarian and Arash Homampour.
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1. Maria Francisco v. Alameda Contra Costa Transit District (Alameda County)
$15.3 million awarded to injured bus passenger
Plaintiff counsel: Brian Panish, Lucas Spencer (Panish Shea & Boyle LLP)
Link to gavel-to-gavel video with full attorney and witness information:
Why you should watch: “Panish Shea & Boyle’s Brian Panish and Spencer Lucas delivered a $15.3 million win in a damages-only trial over a back injury the woman suffered when the bus on which she was traveling drove over a speed bump too fast, sending her airborne before dropping her back onto the hard plastic seat.
The defense, led by Lewis Brisbois attorneys Dana Fox and Shawn Toliver, had countered that the injuries were not as severe as claimed.”
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2. Echeverria v. Johnson & Johnson (Los Angeles County)
$417 million verdict in bellwether talc powder/ovarian cancer case
Plaintiff counsel: Mark Robinson, Scott Wilson (Robinson Calcagnie Inc.), Allen Smith (The Smith Law Firm PLLC), David Dearing (Beasley Allen law Firm), Michelle Parfitt (Ashcraft & Gerel LLP)
Link to gavel-to-gavel video with full attorney and witness information:
https://cvn.com/proceedings/johnson-johnson-talcum-powder-cases-trial-2017-07-10
Why you should watch: “A California state court jury slammed Johnson & Johnson with a $417 million verdict in 2017, including $347 million in punitive damages, at the first trial in California over claims that popular talc-based hygiene products like Johnson's Baby Powder can cause ovarian cancer.”
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3. Cleveland v. Taft Unified School District (Kern County)
$3.8 million verdict in 1st school shooting civil trial in 25 years
Plaintiff counsel: Daniel Rodriguez, Chantal Trujillo, Danay Gonzalez (Rodriguez & Ssociates), John Tello (Law Office of John Tello)
Link to gavel-to-gavel video with full attorney and witness information:
https://cvn.com/proceedings/bowe-cleveland-v-taft-union-high-school-district-trial-2019-06-17
Why you should watch: “A California state court jury in 2019 awarded $3.8 million to a former high school student who blamed inadequate security policies for the serious injuries he suffered in a 2013 school shooting, in the first such case of its kind to go to trial in nearly 25 years.
Plaintiff Bowe Cleveland was shot in the chest with a shotgun by fellow Taft Union High School student Bryan Oliver. Cleveland accused school administrators of failing to prevent the shooting by not acting on a pattern of troubling behavior from Oliver, including making threats to other classmates and disturbing drawings.”
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4. Cruz v. Nissan North America, et al. (Los Angeles County)
$25 million verdict over fatal brake failure that led to manslaughter charge
Plaintiff counsel: Brett Turnbull, Ryan Lutz, Jerome Tapley (Cory Watson Attorneys), Paul Kiesel (Kiesel Law LLP), Kirk Wolden (Carter Wolden Curtis LLP)
Link to gavel-to-gavel video with full attorney and witness information:
https://cvn.com/proceedings/araceli-mendez-et-al-v-nissan-north-america-et-al-trial-2017-06-20
Why you should watch: “A California state court jury slammed Nissan with a $25 million verdict in 2017 after determining that an SUV’s defective brakes caused an accident that killed three people and resulted in an elderly driver being wrongfully charged with vehicular manslaughter.
The jury returned a 10-2 verdict at the end of a trial that began on June 26. The panel agreed that a faulty software component in a 2004 model Infiniti QX56 SUV caused the vehicle to slam into another car carrying a mother and her two daughters in 2012.”
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5. Alechman v. City of Redlands (San Bernardino County)
$1.3 million awarded over deadly single-vehicle rollover accident
Plaintiff counsel: William “Bill” Shapiro (Law Offices of William D. Shapiro)
Link to gavel-to-gavel video with full attorney and witness information:
https://cvn.com/proceedings/sheldon-alechman-v-city-of-redlands-trial-2015-09-28
Why you should watch: “A California state court jury awarded $1.3 million in 2015 to the husband of a woman who died in a rollover accident after her car struck a roadside cement box, finding the City of Redlands to be responsible for unsafe road conditions that caused her death.”
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6. Garcia v. Tri-Modal Distribution Services Inc. (Los Angeles County)
$11 million+ wrongful death verdict over illegally parked big rig truck
Plaintiff counsel: Steve Vartazarian, Matthew Whibley (The Vartazarian Law Firm)
Link to gavel-to-gavel video with full attorney and witness information:
Why you should watch: “A California state court jury awarded over $11 million on in 2019 to the widow of a man who died after slamming into the back of a big rig truck whose driver illegally parked on the side of a freeway to urinate.”
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7. Vinolo v. City of San Diego (San Diego County)
Jury sides with paralyzed cyclist over unsafe road condition
Plaintiff counsel: Arash Homampour (The Homampour Law Firm), Pejman Ben Cohen (Carpenter Zuckerman & Rowley)
Link to gavel-to-gavel video with full attorney and witness information:
https://cvn.com/proceedings/vinolo-v-city-of-san-diego-trial-2019-11-18/
Why you should watch: “A California state court jury in 2019 blamed the City of San Diego for a collision between a cyclist and a driver high on meth in a city park, teeing up a second trial to determine damages potentially in excess of $60 million.”
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8. Bartholomew v. Ralphs Grocery Co. (San Diego County)
Nurse awarded $1.4 million in grocery store slip-and-fall
Plaintiff counsel: Dave Fox (Fox Law APC)
Link to gavel-to-gavel video with full attorney and witness information:
https://cvn.com/proceedings/vicki-bartholomew-v-the-kroger-co-trial-2018-10-29
Why you should watch: ”Jurors in 2018 awarded a California nurse more than $1.4 million for the severe shoulder injury she suffered in a 2015 fall at a Ralphs grocery store.
The award, following a four-day trial limited to damages, includes more than $270,000 in Vicki Bartholomew’s medical expenses and $1.1 million in pain and suffering.”
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9. Carter v. Kern County High School District (Kern County)
$10.5 million settlement following liability phase in traumatic brain injury case
Plaintiff counsel: Nick Rowley (Carpenter Zuckerman & Rowley LLP), Joseph Low (The Law Firm of Joseph H. Low IV)
Link to gavel-to-gavel video with full attorney and witness information:
https://cvn.com/proceedings/carter-v-kern-high-school-district-trial-2016-06-13
Why you should watch: “The Kern County School District reached a $10.5 million settlement in 2016 with a student who suffered a traumatic brain injury at a rowdy football rally during the second day of a damages trial after jurors found the school district 100 percent liable for the student’s injuries.”
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10. Leavitt v. Johnson & Johnson (Alameda County)
$29 million+ verdict in 1st Alameda County J&J talc/mesothelioma trial
Plaintiff counsel: Joseph Satterley, Denyse Clancy (Kazan McClain Satterley & Greenwood), Moshe Maimon (Levy Konigsburg LLP)
Link to gavel-to-gavel video with full attorney and witness information:
https://cvn.com/proceedings/leavitt-v-johnson-johnson-trial-2018-12-10
Why you should watch: “A California state court jury returned a $29.4 million verdict in 2019 in a trial involving asbestos allegedly present in Johnson & Johnson’s cosmetic talc products. The trial marked the first J&J talc verdict of 2019 and the first such verdict in the key asbestos hub of Alameda County.”
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Know about any upcoming trials CVN should monitor? Email us at dsiegel@cvn.com