Elise R. Sanguinetti

After working for years as a civil litigator at various firms and as a sole practitioner, Elise R. Sanguinetti and three friends in 2015 co-founded her current shop to focus on cases involving serious injury, wrongful death, civil appeals and legal malpractice: Arias Sanguinetti Wang & Torrijos LLP.

"At this point in my career, I wanted to work with people who have the same mission, to do good for our clients while creating a family atmosphere," Sanguinetti said. Teaming up with managing partner Mickel M. "Mike" Arias, Arnold C. Wang and Alfredo Torrijos was key to that wish, she added. "We enjoy being around each other."

Her small firm has a big target in Tesla, Inc. In her most recent case Sanguinetti filed a catastrophic injury and wrongful death suit against the electric automaker for the surviving spouse of a woman killed while on a freeway in a Tesla Model 3. Tesla's autopilot system including its autosteer and traffic aware cruise control features were allegedly engaged when the car crashed into a firetruck. Monet v. Tesla Inc., 5:22-cv-00681 (N.D. Cal., filed Feb. 2, 2022).

In another matter, Sanguinetti represents the family of a man killed as the passenger in a Tesla Model S when the driver lost control and struck a tree, allegedly due to an un-commanded acceleration defect. McCarthy v. Tesla Inc., 19CV358560 (S. Clara Co. Super. Ct., filed Oct. 4. 2019).

"There's just a small handful of plaintiff lawyers litigating these Tesla cases," Sanguinetti said. "There's a special level of fight in these cases because Elon Musk is especially protective of the technology at issue. That presents significant challenges." In addition, Tesla now has arbitration agreements and jury trial waivers built into its sales contracts. And the company's headquarters relocation to Austin, Texas, presents jurisdiction issues, she said.

"These cases will be long and hard-fought before we can get them in front of juries," she predicted.

Sanguinetti obtained a major result last April with the largest prisoner suicide case settlement in Alameda County history--$2.375 million--for the family of a man who hanged himself while under suicide watch at Santa Rita Jail. Masterson et al. v. County of Alameda, 3:19-cv-01625 (N.D. Cal., filed March 28, 2019).

That outcome followed a $1.37 million jury award in 2020 to a Sanguinetti client who suffered serious injuries from a friend's negligence. DeWitt v. Jimeniz, RG18909665 (Alameda Co. Super. Ct., filed June 20, 2018).

- John Roemer