Here’s no ordinary “slip and fall” dispute.
In a case involving Unocal Corp., the California Supreme Court is expected to decide whether companies may be held liable when employees of independent contractors are hurt because of a dangerous condition caused on their property.
The origins of the case go back near half a century.
Several of California’s largest employers joined El Segundo-based Unocal this month in arguing before the Supreme Court that companies should be exempted from such liability since those injuries are paid through workers compensation provided by the independent contractors.
Among Unocal’s supporters in the case are Lockheed Martin Corp., Farmers Insurance Exchange, the American Chemistry Council and Lennar Corp. The case also could impact homeowners who hire independent contractors.
The court has 90 days to make a decision.
If the ruling goes against Unocal, “there could be more litigation and ultimately someone would have to pay for all those judgments in that litigation,” said Stephen Norris, a partner at Horvitz & Levy who represents the oil company. “So there’s a tremendous amount that’s at stake.”
The case began in the 1950s with a carpenter who worked for a general contractor called Burke & Reynolds, which provided maintenance services at Unocal’s oil refinery in Wilmington. The carpenter, Ray Kinsman, assembled and dismantled scaffolding for other workers who replaced insulation that contained asbestos. By 1999, his exposure to asbestos caused him to contract mesothelioma, a type of lung cancer caused by asbestos, according to his lawyers in court papers.
In a case Kinsman filed against Unocal, a San Francisco jury awarded him $3 million in damages after finding the oil company partially liable for contributing to his disease. In 2003, an appellate court reversed that decision, finding that Kinsman could not prove Unocal directly caused his injuries or concealed information that would have prevented them.
Kinsman died last year and his widow has replaced him as plaintiff in the case.
In its brief to the Supreme Court, Unocal argued that Kinsman did not prove that the oil company concealed information or contributed to his disease directly. Simply knowing of the health risks of asbestos and failing to prevent that exposure is not enough to accuse Unocal of premises liability, the brief states.
Unocal, now owned by Chevron Corp., is seeking a new trial.
Daniel Smith, a lawyer for Kinsman, did not return calls.
Stopping SLAPPs
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed into law a bill that makes it easier for victims of SLAPP litigation to get damages.
A SLAPP, or Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation, is a suit filed solely for the purpose of chilling free speech. The suits are frequently filed against media organizations by individuals claiming libel or by real estate developers against citizens or neighborhood groups that are protesting projects.
Under state law, victims of a meritless SLAPP action will receive reimbursement for attorney’s fees and may file a malicious prosecution suit in order to obtain further damages. In 2002, the California Supreme Court reduced their ability to obtain such damages by specifying that only those who get a case dismissed in trial court, not on appeal, may seek malicious prosecution claims.
The recent bill, authored by Assemblywoman Sally Lieber, D-San Jose, would eliminate those restrictions and allow more people to seek damages by filing malicious prosecution claims.
“You never know when you want to exercise your First Amendment rights, and when you do, you don’t want the sky to cave in on you,” said Mark Goldowitz, director of the California Anti-SLAPP Project, which lobbied heavily for the bill, along with the California Medical Association, the California Newspaper Publishers Association, the California Broadcasters Association and the Golden State Manufactured Homeowners League. “This makes it easier to recover damages in that situation and maybe it’ll have a deterrent effect on SLAPPs.”
Comings & Goings
The executive who started independent film production firm Stone Stanley Entertainment, David Stanley, has joined Greenberg Glusker Fields Claman Machtinger & Kinsella LLP’s entertainment practice of counsel to the firm. Stanley had worked as a lawyer at the former Armstrong Hirsch (now Jackoway Tyerman Wertheimer Austen Mandelbaum & Morris PC). He also handled legal affairs at NBC and Warner Bros. during the 1980s, and was most recently executive producer of Telepictures Productions Inc. .Brett Hayes, former real estate group leader at Holland & Knight’s Los Angeles office, has joined Seyfarth Shaw’s real estate practice group as a partner.
*Staff reporter Amanda Bronstad can be reached at (323) 549-5225, ext. 225, or at
[email protected]
.
