Niall P. McCarthy

Niall P. McCarthy has major trials scheduled in cases concerning the 2017 Oroville Dam spillway failure and the tilting of San Francisco's Millennium Tower. Last year as lead plaintiffs' attorney he settled for $117 million a whistleblower suit accusing BP American Production Co.--the former British Petroleum--of massive overcharges in delivering natural gas to California cities, counties, universities and government agencies. $102 million went to taxpayers; he and co-counsel shared the rest. State of California ex re. v. BP American Production Co., CGC-12-522063 (S.F. Super. Ct., filed July 3, 2012).

He foresees more qui tam cases to come. "As Trump cuts regulations, he leaves the vault door wide open to fraudsters with no security guards in sight," McCarthy said. He said he has several cases still under seal that he cannot yet discuss.

In the Oroville Dam litigation, he represents the City of Oroville, farmers and business owners in a dangerous condition and nuisance case. The spillway failure resulted in massive property damages and led to the evacuation of nearly 200,000 residents of Butte, Yuba and Sutter counties. Damages are expected to be in the tens of millions of dollars. City of Oroville v. California Department of Water Resources, 18cv00163 (Butte County. Super. Ct., filed Jan. 17, 2018).

"A lot of farmers lost crops and land," McCarthy said. "The state says it was a natural disaster so they're not at fault, but there are independent reports saying otherwise. They didn't test things. It was the ostrich approach to dam safety." Trial is set for June 2020.

At The Millennial Tower, his clients are tenants alleging concealment, intentional misrepresentation and nuisance stemming from the 645-foot skyscraper's sinking into the soil below and leaning sideways. McCarthy said the developer sold the building's 419 units to unsuspecting buyers without disclosing the problem. Trial is set for February 2020, with hundreds of millions of dollars on the line. Pamela Buttery, Trustee of the Pamela Buttery 1990 Trust v. Millennium Partners Management LLC, CGC-17-556292 (S.F. Super. Ct., filed Feb. 10, 2017).

"We get to go to court and watch as the defendant and cross-defendant point fingers at one another," McCarthy said. The cross-defendant, the government agency that developed the Transbay Transit Center next door, worsened the tower's tilt and sink by pumping out groundwater, he said. "There'll be crossfire at the defense table, and it will be enjoyable to watch. But the party without fault is the plaintiffs." He said he has emails from the developer declining to disclose to purchasers that the tilting was on the increase.

"That's what civil litigation is for," McCarthy said. "Exposing those at fault behind major problems."

-- John Roemer