Christine D. Spagnoli

For more than 30 years, Spagnoli has been trying cases on behalf of people injured or killed in serious motor vehicle accidents, becoming a respected leader in the field.

For nearly 20 of those years, she has been shepherding a steady drip of lawsuits against Cooper Tire and Rubber Co. over accidents caused by tread separations. That duty finally came to a close this spring.

The cases were coordinated together in 2003, and Spagnoli was appointed as plaintiffs’ liaison counsel. “I was responsible for coordinating and doing all the discovery against Cooper Tire,” she said. “So I managed that litigation for 20 years.” Winston Tire Cases, JCCP4292, (L.A. Super. Ct., coor’d. March 28, 2003).

All told, there were about 120 cases, with approximately 10 to 20 active at any given time, she said.

That is, until several months ago, when the last one settled. “I am actually right now in the process of working out with the Cooper Tire lawyer how to close down a coordinated proceeding because we don’t need it anymore,” she said.

Spagnoli’s primary activity over most of the last year has been participating in a working group of current and former local bar leaders that is helping the Los Angeles Superior Court keep cases moving while courthouses are largely closed.

The group responds to questions from the court and offers suggestions on topics like virtual jury selection. It drafted the FAQs the court posted on its website about the closures.

She also has worked informally with the state Judicial Council to develop, for instance, a way within the rules to conduct depositions without a shorthand reporter physically present.

There is another way Spagnoli regularly assists the state court system. She is a longtime member of the committee that drafts and modifies civil jury instructions.

“That’s been 20 years of my life, too,” she said.

— Don DeBenedictis