Brian S. Kabateck

En route to meet families of victims of a plane crash, Kabateck received news that a second crash of the same model of plane had just occurred.

"Eerily, that crash occurred in Ethiopia while I was over the Pacific flying to Jakarta," Kabateck said.

The matter he was handling at the time involved Lion Air Flight 610, operated by an Indonesian airline, which crashed on Oct. 28, 2018, on its way from Jakarta to Pangkal Pinang. The Boeing 737 MAX crashed into the Java Sea 13 minutes after takeoff, killing all 189 passengers and crew, according to court documents.

Families of victims, represented by Kabateck, sued for wrongful death alleging the crash was caused by a defective anti-stall system and Boeing's defective flight manual and operating procedures. In re: Lion Air Flight JT 610 Crash 1:18-cv-07686 (N. D. Ill., filed Nov. 19, 2018).

Boeing sought to have the matter tried in Indonesia where victims have significantly fewer rights, including the lack of a jury trial, but Kabateck and others persuaded the judge to keep the case in U.S. District Court. The case settled in February under confidential terms.

"We've received settlements for all of them at this point. At least Boeing did the right thing. They still haven't got that plane up in the air, but they did the right thing." he said.

Kabateck said people sometimes get injured when a new technology is rushed to the market, so lawsuits are the only way to hold companies accountable and ensure the safety of consumers.

"That's sort of our 200-year history of the Industrial Age getting to where we are today," he said. "You're going to see a lot of this. Unfortunately, I think you're going to see the same thing with driverless cars."

Residents of a mobile home park built on a former landfill called on Kabateck for counsel when they ran out of other options. The residents alleged the management of Friendly Village Mobile Home Park were not fulfilling their duties to keep the park in habitable condition. Acosta v. KSFG/Sierra Corporate Management, BC591412 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed Aug. 13, 2015).

In 2018, after an11-week jury trial, Kabateck obtained a $39.7 million verdict on behalf of 31 families living in the park. He did this while serving as president of the Los Angeles County Bar Association.

In 2019, the verdict led to Kabateck negotiating a global settlement valued at over $57 million for all residents of the park. "These were working-class people and seniors looking for affordable housing in a big city with a housing crisis." Kabateck said. "Because the property was built on a trash dump the ground was volatile. It undulated and there was methane coming up. But the park wasn't doing anything to fix it."

-- Nick Kipley