Recent News

On Monday, September 14, 2020, Judge Christina A. Snyder of the U.S. District Court, Central District, granted class certification to over 30,000 session musicians and vocalists in an action against SAG-AFTRA and AFM, and its Trustees, for draining in excess of $9,000,000 from an artists’ Fund set up by Congress. The Fund is charged by Congress to collect and distribute royalties received from sources around the world. Instead of holding these funds in trust and working to distribute as much money as possible to the beneficiaries it was responsible for representing, the Fund’s Trustees, officers of the two artist Unions,... Read More

We want to assure you that Kiesel Law LLP is here to assist you with your case. To our existing clients: We continue to work on your case and have complete remote access to our firm’s resources.  Please reach out to any of our attorneys with questions or concerns. You will find their email addresses on our firm attorney page here or you can call 310-854-4444. Potential new clients: Because of the precautions made necessary by the Coronavirus (COVID-19), we are not currently conducting in person meetings, but you can let us know about your potential case by filling out our contact form... Read More

First  trial on behalf of 36,000+ plaintiffs The first bellwether trial on behalf of 36,000+ plaintiffs living in the Porter Ranch area is set to go to trial this Fall. The trial will determine whether SoCalGas and its parent company, Sempra Energy, are liable for punitive damages in their shoddy maintenance and haphazard handling of the SS-25 well blowout that occurred in October 2015. Kiesel Law has been at the center of the effort to get to the bottom of the cause of the blowout , its effects on the health of the residents, and the effects on the values... Read More

Paul Kiesel, of Kiesel Law LLP, has been named Lead Counsel for the Plaintiffs in the California JUUL Litigation based in downtown Los Angeles. It is anticipated that the JUUL litigation will include thousands of individual plaintiffs, school districts, and other government entities. JUUL’s e-cigarettes have become so popular with youth, that the FDA has called “vaping” a teen health epidemic. The reported injuries range from lung damage, seizures, pneumonia, nicotine addiction, among others. It is now reported that JUUL usage and lung damage could make JUUL users more susceptible to COVID-19. Paul Kiesel, in a nationally broadcast interview on... Read More

$6 .18 Million Awarded by Burbank Jury Attorney Paul Kiesel, of Kiesel Law LLP, concluded a 4 week jury trial regarding a defective product which catastrophically failed, leading to Michael Hazard having to undergo numerous limb salvage surgeries to save his left leg. The automotive part in question was a flywheel, a product which was produced in China for ATP, a company which falsely claimed in their advertising that the product was manufactured to meet or exceed original equipment specifications.  In cross examination, Paul Kiesel was able to have the the former CEO of ATP, Roy Lipner, admit that the... Read More

 Historic verdict on behalf of women against Johnson & Johnson By Daniel Siegal Law360, Los Angeles — The first California state jury to evaluate the possible link between Johnson & Johnson’s talcum powder products and ovarian cancer set a high-water mark on Monday with a $417 million verdict for the company’s role in causing a woman’s terminal cancer, surpassing large awards from earlier trials in Missouri. After two days of deliberations following the four-week trial in Los Angeles, the jury found for plaintiff Eva Echeverria, finding that J&J had failed to warn consumers about the increased risk of ovarian cancer caused by... Read More

$676,000 Awarded by Los Angeles Jury “The insurance company says they take full responsibility for the accident, yet refuse to  compensate the plaintiff for the injuries received.”  This opening given by attorney Bryan Garcia of Kiesel Law LLP explained to the Los Angeles Superior Court jury why the matter had reached the trial stage.  With $21,000 in medical treatment and pain that continues to this day for our client, Mercury Insurance Company was only willing to offer $55,000 to settle the case.  Our firm demand was $200,000. Attorney Ashley Conlogue did the direct examination of Dr. David Fish MD, the... Read More

Kiesel Law Congratulates Former Partner Helen Zukin on her Appointment as Judge for the Superior Court of California Pictured L to R: Paul Kiesel, Presiding Justice Elwood Lui, Justice Arthur Gilbert, Judge Helen Zukin, Federal Judge Dolly Gee and Attorney General Xavier Becerra   At the Swearing-In Ceremony, Paul Kiesel remarked, “On behalf of Steven Archer, Jeff Koncius and myself, your former partners celebrate with you Judge Zukin.”

CVN’s Top 10 Most Impressive Plaintiff Verdicts of 2017 #3:  Hilario Cruz, et al. v. Nissan North America $25 million verdict over faulty brakes that caused wrongful manslaughter charge   Why it made the list: When plaintiff Hilario Cruz first filed a lawsuit over the vehicular collision that took the life of his two children and their mother, he sued the driver of the Infiniti SUV that slammed into their car, 74-year-old Solomon Mathenge. Mathenge was later charged with vehicular manslaughter. Mathenge maintained that the brakes on his vehicle failed, and after prosecutors learned that the same defect Mathenge alleged also... Read More

Kiesel Law LLP, along with other members of the leadership counsel, is proud to announce the successful negotiation of a settlement program to resolve all remaining eligible metal-on-metal claims pending against Wright Medical. This settlement program will involve over 600 eligible metal-on-metal revised hip claims currently pending in the MDL, in the JCCP, and on tolling agreements. This follows the first phase of 1,300 claims settled against Wright Medical regarding metal-on-metal hip implant patient-claimants in 2016. Due to Wright’s financial situation, values will be discounted from the first settlement but will include standard awards as well as an Enhanced Injury... Read More

Kiesel Law LLP wins California Supreme Court victory for consumers of organic foods “To buyers and sellers alike, labels matter.”   Today, the CA Supreme Court held that state law claims which alleged that produce distributed and sold by Herb Thyme was being intentionally mislabeled as organic is not preempted by federal law. The Court further stated that lawsuits alleging intentional mislabeling of organic produce promote, rather than hinder, Congress’s purposes and objectives. The class action filed by Kiesel Law LLP alleging false advertising and unfair competition, can now proceed. Kiesel Law LLP is proud of this victory for consumers... Read More

Kiesel Law LLP retained by the Villanueva family after their unarmed son Pedro was shot and killed by CHP officers On the evening of July 3, 2016, Villanueva, a 19-year-old student, was shot to death by undercover officers with the California Highway Patrol in Fullerton, California. The officers also shot and injured passenger Francisco Orozco. The officers began following Villanueva’s vehicle because Villanueva had attended a sideshow, which is an informal gathering of young adults and their vehicles in parking lots.  “The only basis the undercover officers had for following Villanueva was that he attended the sideshow”, said attorney Paul R.... Read More

“And now you know why we are here” were the words that attorney Paul R. Kiesel used at the close of a ten day trial on behalf of the victim of a Truck collision. Paul was reminding the jury of the defense lawyer’s opening statement two weeks earlier when the Defendant trucking company admitted full responsibility for the crash and it’s lawyer said “We want to make it right”. This personal injury trial focused on injuries that the Plaintiff sustained when his stopped pickup truck was rear-ended by the Defendant’s 45,000 pound Tractor-Trailer that was traveling at 45 miles per... Read More

A multi-million dollar settlement has been obtained by Paul Kiesel on behalf of clients Nathaniel T. and Gary R. after a jury verdict shattered a decade’s old practice of magazine clearing houses classifying salespeople as independent contractors in order to escape liability.  The 12 person jury unanimously decided that the magazine clearing house, Atlantic Circulation Inc., was the employer of Nathaniel and Gary, who traveled from town to town knocking on doors selling magazines for the exclusive benefit of the magazine clearing house.  Prior to this trial, magazine clearing houses in California and across the country enjoyed the benefits of... Read More

The New York Times reached out to Mr. Kiesel as part of its continuing news coverage of the tragic Amtrak train crash.  Mr. Kiesel, who was liaison counsel for the litigation that arose from the 2008 Metrolink train crash in Chatsworth, spoke about both the Congressionally imposed cap on damages and the technology that could have prevented the crash.  The most recent article stated: With eight people killed and scores injured, the claims could easily exceed $200 million. Paul R. Kiesel, a lawyer who represented victims in the 2008 Metrolink crash in California, said the money would not go far enough to compensate... Read More

Jury Awards 11 Million Dollars In the first trial against Wright Medical regarding the company’s metal-on-metal Conserve Hip device, an Atlanta, Georgia jury unanimously awarded $11 million in damages. The jury found that Wright defectively designed the Conserve model hip device and negligently misrepresented the design features, resulting in Ms. Christiansen’s harm. Congratulations to Kiesel Law’s own Helen Zukin and Cherisse Cleofe, as well as Ray Boucher, Michael McGlamry and Kirk Pope for their excellent and hard work during this two week trial.