Casey Gerry Attorney Helps Injured Worker Get $880K Out of Forklift Company
As state voters prepare to decide the fate of Proposition 38, the school voucher initiative on the November ballot, the Thomas Jefferson School of Law tackled the legal implications of such programs.
Jesse Choper, the Earl Warren Professor of Public Law at UC Berkeley, was the keynote speaker during last week’s “Religion in Our Schools” conference. Choper addressed the conference in a presentation titled, “Vouchers and Other School Programs: The Establishment Cause and Other Constitutional Provisions.”
Choper, author of numerous legal casebooks and articles on religion and the state, is a member of the American Law Institute, and was a national president of the Order of the Coif. He served as the dean of Boalt Hall at UC Berkeley’s School of Law from 1982-’92, and as a law clerk to former Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren. He has taught at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard Law School, and has been at Boalt Hall since 1965.
In addition to Choper’s keynote address, two panel discussions were held on topics that included the constitutionality of government aid to private religious institutions and the right of students to bring their own religious practices into their schools.
Panelists included Kurt Lash of Loyola Law School, Lawrence Alexander of the University of San Diego, Leslie Griffin of Santa Clara Law School, Matthew Ritter of California Western School of Law and Charles Bird, president of the San Diego chapter of the ACLU.
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Injury Award: A jury recently awarded $880,000 to local Home Depot worker Larry Cundieff, who was seriously injured by an electric forklift.
The case was against W.T. Billard Inc., a distributor and maintenance and repair company based in Santa Fe Springs. Cundieff was an employee of the Home Depot on Carmel Mountain Road when the accident occurred.
Michael Montgomery, an attorney with Casey Gerry Reed & Shenk who represented Cundieff, said Cundieff was injured while working on a Raymond Order Picker, which is exclusively distributed by W.T. Billard.
Montgomery said Home Depot was also a party to the lawsuit , joining in the lawsuit to recoup the $30,000 that was expended for Cundieff’s medical care, plus disability payments.
On The Move: A former top federal prosecutor and three San Diego construction attorneys have joined the law firm of McKenna & Cuneo.
Former U.S. Attorney Charles G. La Bella, who rose to prominence investigating campaign finance issues of the last presidential election, has joined the firm’s criminal defense practice.
Attorney General Janet Reno selected La Bella in 1997 to take the lead in the investigation into campaign finance in the 1996 election. As head of a special task force, he produced several indictments and appeared before House and Senate committees.
His work was recognized with the FBI Director’s Award for Distinguished Service to Law Enforcement.
Construction attorneys Peter J. Ippolito, Mark G. Budwig and Steven G. Owen joined McKenna & Cuneo from Hillyer & Irwin.
Ippolito has more than 25 years of experience representing owners, developers, contractors, public agencies and design professionals. He received a juris doctorate from the University of Notre Dame, a master’s degree in taxation from the George Washington University and a B.A. from Virginia Military Institute.
Budwig has more than 14 years of law experience representing design professionals, contractors and owners. He received a J.D. from the University of California Hastings College of Law, an M.S. in construction engineering and management from Stanford University and a B.S. in civil engineering from the University of Colorado.
Owen has more than nine years of experience representing companies in complex contract matters, construction projects, competition claims, unfair business practices and trade name litigation. He received a J.D. from the UC Davis, attended Harvard University and received a B.A. from UC Berkeley.
Send legal news items to Ward at dward@sdbj.com.
