Brian S. Kabateck

Aside from the big cases, Kabateck doesn’t mind litigating ones that may only result in a couple million dollars.

“Everybody deserves justice,” he said. “These are types of cases where if lawyers don’t take them and go after them nobody is going to go after them. I don’t mean there aren’t good quality lawyers out there. It’s because you gotta take cases because it’s the right thing to do. People have to get out there and be represented.”

Recently Kabateck helped secure $1 million for a student after settling claims of sexual abuse at the hands of a convicted pedophile working for the Napa Valley Unified School District, $3 million from Union Pacific Railroad for installing an illegal I beam in front of a railroad crossing where a man later died, and $1.3 million in an insurance bad faith case involving Ameriprise Financial Inc. Lopez v. IDS Ameriprise, BC605264 (L.A. Super Ct., filed Dec. 28, 2015). He also achieved a $4 million settlement with the Monson-Sultana Joint Union Elementary School District and the Tulare County Board of Education, accused of failing to report occurrences of child abuse.

Kabateck is especially proud of a $2.2 million settlement against the Tulare County Board of Supervisors in which plaintiffs claimed they endured groping and illicit pat-downs by ex-deputy William Nulick while on the job. Alma M. vs. Nulick, Tulare County Sheriff 1:15-CV-01386---SAB (E.D. Cal. March 15, 2017).

Then there’s the Uber Technologies Inc. case, which will have broad implications on worker classification and is maybe the most important California labor case in history, Kabateck said. He has consistently objected to settlements on behalf of state Uber drivers, arguing they have been financially robbed.

He also wears many hats outside of court, including being tasked with cleaning up the Los Angeles County Bar Association as its new president. He worked on the recently approved Senate Bill 33, which was passed in order to protect consumers of identity theft in the wake of the Wells Fargo scandal in which millions of customer accounts were fraudulently opened.

“I like the diversity. I don’t just do PI or insurance mass torts. I like being the guy who does offbeat stuff,” Kabateck said.

— Justin Kloczko