Local Civil Jury Verdicts

By Matthew Guichard

In a recent stroll around the third floor of our classic courthouse, I noted jurors waiting outside each of the five civil courtrooms. Civil jury trials are taking place in our Superior Court with regularity. Why, then, do we get so few reports on our local jury verdicts? It remains a puzzle.

I do know that lawyers on the losing end of a verdict seldom wish to report the result. To those lawyers, I will say I was on the losing end of a $19,000,000 trial in San Francisco one year, and it actually helped my reputation. At least that is what my mother told me. Report those verdicts either way, so that we can let our readers know you’re a willing trial lawyer.

Out-of-town lawyers seldom report their local verdicts to me. However, if I know the name of a case, I can read about it in other trial reports and report in our magazine. I am attempting to enlist the help of local court staff to give me a heads up when a case goes to verdict in our civil courtrooms.

In spite of the dearth of local civil jury reports lately, I still plan to plod along with the “Local Civil Jury Verdicts” column until my pen runs out of ink. And of course remember, we will write about interesting settlements, out-of-county verdicts, court trial results, arbitration awards, baseball scores and swim meet successes.

Although we no longer get the trial statistics from the Courts, we are still reporting on individual cases. I just do not get the statistics to give you the year by year comparisons.

Let’s start our case reporting with Ceballas v. Mt. Diablo Unified School District, et al., Case No. MSC06-02315. The case was heard before the Honorable Barbara Zuniga. Patrice R. Labell of Walnut Creek represented the Plaintiffs. Timothy Murphy of Pleasant Hill represented some Defendants, and Margot Rosenberg of Oakland represented other Defendants.

The case involved claims of race discrimination, national origin discrimination and race-based harassment. The Plaintiffs, a husband and wife, worked at Westwood Elementary School in Concord. Plaintiff Edgar Ceballas worked as a night custodian. Plaintiffs were dissatisfied with their respective work performance evaluations. Edgar Ceballas became ill and medically retired from the District. His wife was involuntarily transferred to another elementary school, where she held the same position at a higher rate of pay. Both Plaintiffs claimed severe emotional distress as a result of the mistreatment.

At trial, Plaintiffs requested an award of $2.5 million in special damages, and $25 million for their emotional distress. And based on their civil rights claims, they asserted a right to recover attorney’s fees.

A year before trial, Plaintiffs had demanded $200,000 in full and final settlement of their claims. Just prior to trial Plaintiffs offered to accept $2.58 million. Defendants offered $10,000, with an indication of $25,000 should the matter resolve prior to actual commencement of trial. That offer was not accepted.

The jury returned a complete defense verdict.

The case of Godoy v. Wadsworth et al. was tried in U.S. District Court, Case No. C05-2913 NJV. U.S. Magistrate Judge Nandor J. Vadas presided at the jury trial. Herman Franck of Sacramento represented Plaintiff. Timothy Murphy and Lori Donohoe of Pleasant Hill represented Defendants (16 employees of the California Department of Corrections).

Plaintiff, a prison inmate at Pelican Bay State Prison, claimed civil rights violations, excessive force violations, denial of due process and deliberate indifference. Specifically, Plaintiff protested a search of his cell while he was in the dining hall. A fight ensued during his protest, involving numerous inmates and corrections officers. Plaintiff suffered serious injuries in the fight, including the loss of an eye.

No meaningful settlement discussions occurred prior to the trial. At trial, the Plaintiff requested $1,000,000 to compensate him for his physical injuries and the loss of his eye.

The jury returned a defense verdict.

Occasionally we get an interesting report on a matter involving a “Contest of Wills.” Usually that report comes from Stan Pedder of Pedder, Hesseltine, Walker & Toth of Lafayette. This latest matter reported went to trial before the Honorable Charles Burch. The case was entitled Estate of Schmidt. The Pedder firm represented the proponent of a 2001 Will (P). M. Minger of Oakland represented the proponent of a 2007 Will (L).

P contended the 2001 Will should be allowed into probate because the 2007 Will was a forgery. P presented evidence that the Decedent would not have done the 2007 Will because of an array of personal grievances against L.

In a battle of handwriting experts, P’s expert stated the 2007 Will was a forgery, and as one might expect, L’s expert stated the 2007 Will was absolutely signed by the Decedent (hopefully before he died).

Early in the case, P made a settlement offer. It was rejected. After a three day trial with 11 witnesses, the case was submitted for decision. Just before the case was submitted, Judge Burch commented to the attorneys that it was a close case. After submission, but prior to the decision, the attorneys asked the Judge to postpone his decision while they pondered settlement. And guess what? The case settled. Justice prevailed, as it should.

Thomas v. Global Vision Products was tried in Alameda County before the Honorable Robert Freedman. Plaintiff’s trial counsel were Scott A. Bursor of New York and Timothy Fisher of the Bramson firm in Walnut Creek.

The case involved a class action on behalf of California consumers who purchased Avacor, a hair loss remedy. Plaintiffs contended Avacor’s marketing was misleading.

The jury returned a verdict of $50,024,611.

In an earlier trial involving the same case, a jury returned a verdict of $36,979,373 against certain other Defendants. Messrs. Bursor and Fisher also represented Plaintiffs in that trial. In that case, the Court also found for the Plaintiff Class on certain claims tried to the bench and awarded $40,000,000 in restitution.

Tanner et al. v. Colonial Healthcare Inc., et al., Sacramento Superior Case No. 06AS04261, was tried before the Honorable Roland L. Candee. Jay P. Renneisen of Walnut Creek represented Plaintiffs. Michael J. LeVangie, Eric S. Emanuels, and Kim M. Wells of Sacramento represented the Defendants.

The case involved allegations of wrongful death and elder abuse at a nursing home.

Plaintiffs’ last settlement demand prior to trial was $650,000. Defendants’ final pre-trial offer was $30,000.

The jury awarded $1,100,000 in compensatory damages, plus $28,000,000 in punitive damages. Statutory attorneys’ fees were also awarded.