Brian J. Panish

Sheltering at home has been tough on Panish, a veteran litigator and name partner at Panish Shea & Boyle. Until the coronavirus pandemic closed courtrooms there were hearings. Since then there have been motions and depositions and other Zoom-enabled lawyerly acts.

"But this could be the first year in my 35-year career that I didn't try a case," Panish lamented. "I'm a man without a trial."

Largely on ice for now are the massive wildfire cases. Panish serves as co-lead counsel for individual plaintiffs in the coordinated Woolsey Fire litigation stemming from the November 2018 blaze in Los Angeles and Ventura counties that caused three deaths and burned 1,643 homes and structures. And he is in a similar role for plaintiffs in the Thomas Fire and Montecito Debris Flow cases, where he represents more than 1,500 individuals suing Southern California Edison for losses from fires in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties and subsequent flooding damage.

"Our June trial date in the Thomas fire is not happening," Panish said.

However, work proceeds on the Porter Ranch gas leak litigation, Panish said, where he is plaintiffs' co-lead trial counsel. In February, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Carolyn B. Kuhl issued $525,000 in sanctions against Southern California Gas and its attorneys from Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP for discovery abuses. She ordered another $46,800 in sanctions in March. "They improperly asserted privilege objections to improperly withhold documents," Panish said. "The judge gave them chance after chance, but they acted in bad faith throughout, and there are going to be more sanctions to come."

The defense appealed and lost and have paid the money, Panish said. "The documents relate to their knowledge of the probability of leaks and their failure to take action. The failures go all the way to the board of directors level. Now we have documents that we strongly believe will support a punitive damages claim. The company could have prevented the whole thing, but they didn't want to spend the money."

The 2015 gas well blowout at the Aliso Canyon storage facility has been recognized as the worst single natural gas leak in U.S. history. It continued for nearly four months, forcing thousands of families to spend months away from their homes. Southern California Gas Leak Cases, JCCP 4861 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed Feb. 2, 2016).

From the defense view, the effort to hide documents made sense, Panish said. "They're facing billions of dollars in exposure, so this is peanuts to them in a world of elephants. In their minds they're winning, and they're fighting hard as heck. I can't wait to get back in court so the judge can push this to trial."

-- John Roemer