Johanna Schiavoni and Melanie Gold, working with trial counsel Pat Swan of Jones Day and Stefanie Warren of Trails Law Group, have won two appeals brought by a well-known Los Angeles plaintiff’s attorney against CALG’s client, a petroleum investment firm.
The appeals arose out of two lawsuits involving products liability and personal injury claims that alleged mineral spirits were mixed into cleaning products. The centerpiece of the lawsuits relied on deposition testimony taken in 1998 in a different lawsuit against different parties. The plaintiffs contented that that testimony was not “plaintiff-specific” or “case-specific,” and sought to use it as affirmative evidence against numerous companies, including CALG’s client.
CALG’s client moved in limine in both suits to exclude the deposition testimony as hearsay not subject to any exception. Both trial courts granted the motions, which effectively terminated the suits. The plaintiffs appealed both rulings.
In the first appeal, to the California Court of Appeal’s Second Appellate District, the plaintiffs contended the deposition testimony was admissible under the “former testimony” exception to the hearsay rule, as well as several other statutory exceptions to the bar. The court agreed with CALG’s arguments as to why no exceptions to the hearsay rule applied and affirmed.
In the second appeal, to the California Court of Appeal’s Fourth Appellate District, the court agreed with CALG’s arguments that the plaintiffs forfeited all their appellate contentions concerning CALG’s client because their opening brief failed to argue any relevant facts and law relating specifically to CALG’s client. The court thus affirmed as to CALG’s client.
All told, it was a clean sweep for CALG and its client.
The Second District’s opinion in Breuning, et al. v. Safety-Kleen Systems, et al. is available here.
The Fourth District’s opinion in Torres v. Petro Source Investments, Inc., et al. is available here.