Gregory L. Bentley

As 2017 president of Consumer Attorneys of California, Bentley works the Sacramento halls of the Legislature as well as the plaintiff table in the courtroom to promote the rights of all litigants and his own clients.

He has met with the chief justice and the Judicial Council to work on legislation dealing with the issue of judges rushing or limiting jury selection. SB 658 could be an important stride in solving that problem, Bentley said. "It's now in the Assembly Judiciary Committee. Some judges are placing arbitrary and unreasonable time limits on jury selection. Every case and every party has the right to an unbiased jury, and lawyers should not be limited in their ability to ask questions."

Bentley and his allies have gotten some pushback from the California Judges Association. Speaking for that group, Los Angeles County Superior Court Presiding Judge Daniel J. Buckley said his group is worried about new rules that could further clog already overburdened courts. With a nod to Bentley's trial skills, Buckley said, "We do face the talent of Mr. Bentley in many lawyers, but we also face too many lawyers who have never tried a case before."

In rebuttal Bentley said, "We do understand courtroom time constraints, but that can't be solved at the expense of picking a fair jury."

Bentley in late 2015 won $1.885 million for a Riverside woman after an e-cigarette product's battery exploded while charging in a car, causing several pieces of hot metal shrapnel to disperse throughout the vehicle. The blast ignited Jennifer Ries' dress, burning her buttocks and legs, and spilled corrosive materials into her lap. She sustained painful second-degree burns. In a first-of-its-kind trial over six days, Bentley persuaded Riverside County jurors to hold VapCigs, the manufacturer of the e-hookah e-cigarette starter kit, liable for a defective product. Ries v. Zolghadr, RIC1306769 (Riverside Super. Ct., filed June 1, 2013).

"That was the vanguard case," said Bentley, who has gone on to become a nationally recognized leader in e-cigarette litigation. He now serves as lead counsel on more than 80 lawsuits involving malfunctioning e-cigarette products. He frequently comments on the unregulated industry and equips other lawyers to take on the industry by presenting seminars on the intricacies of e-cigarette litigation.

Bentley's clients include a man who had an e-cigarette explode in his pocket while in a Las Vegas casino; a young man who lost a finger, part of his tongue and some teeth when his e-cigarette exploded in his mouth; a man wno lost his eye when his e-cigarette exploded while placed on his desk; and many others.

"It's shocking to me how such a burgeoning industry has no restrictions in the wild, Wild West," he said. "Products are on the market exploding - yet no one so far is doing anything about regulating it." Until that happens, he said, litigation will replace legislation. "Until the extent of harm is known, there's no way we will get regulation."

— John Roemer