E-cigarettes have become the latest tobacco consumer trend with devices attracting popularity and causing the explosive litigation Bentley for which has been at the forefront.
In a Riverside Superior Court trial that lasted six days, a jury awarded Bentley's client $1.9 million after an e-cigarette device exploded while it was being charged in her car. Bentley said that his client and her husband were traveling to the airport for a trip to Brazil and charging her VapCigs "E-Hookah E-Cigarette Starter Kit" when it exploded. Several pieces of shrapnel shot throughout the car and severely injured his client. Ries v. Zolghadr, RIC1306769 (Riverside Super. Ct., filed June 10, 2013).
The trial "received a lot of attention in print and TV news," Bentley said. "We started getting calls. [The explosions] keep happening. We've been contacted by hundreds of people across the state as a result of these defective products. They're playing Russian roulette."
He said he has a client who has lost his eye, several teeth and part of his tongue. "We're handling right now 80 of those cases," Bentley said.
Seeing an influx of these new types of cases, Bentley and three colleagues branched out and began their own firm, Bentley & More LLP in Orange County.
The move had been a decision he had processed with former colleagues at Shernoff Bidart Echeverria LLP in Claremont, where he worked for 10 years. Bentley lives in Orange County and had been wanting a shorter commute.
"I have really enjoyed working with the Shernoff firm," Bentley said. "They're wonderful lawyers and wonderful people."
In the courtroom, Bentley said the art of telling the story is the crucial part in the trial. As an example, "We represent Mr. Jones, who is a father," Bentley said. "He is a jogger, and then we explain how this injury affects this person in each aspect of his or her life."
According to Bentley, if a jury connects with the client and that story, then they will understand how something like an explosion from an e-cigarette affected that person. They will appreciate how the verdict can bring change to an industry. "We're hopeful the industry will start regulating itself and make sure these components are no longer harmful," Bentley said.
"For me, when we handle cases, if we can effectively represent the client to seek full compensation for the harms and losses, then we've done our job," Bentley said. "I want to be in cases where we can bring public change, that'll help public safety...As a lawyer, there's no greater change than the kind that helps others."
— Renee Flannery
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