Collins v. Diamond Generating Corp.

Dollar Amount: $150 million

Case Name: Collins v. Diamond Generating Corp.

Type of Case: Wrongful death

Court: Riverside County

Judge(s): Superior Court Judge Manuel Bustamante

Plaintiff Lawyers: The Basile Law Firm, J. Jude Basile; Sullivan, Rivera, Osuna & Sullivan, David C. Sullivan

Defense Lawyers: Schumann Rosenberg & Arevalo LLP, Kim Schumann, David P. Reid

The facts were horrific: as Daniel Collins was removing bolts from the lid of a highly-pressurized natural gas fuel filter tank at a power generating plant in Palm Desert in March 2017, an explosion blew him apart. Collins, a 46-year-old navy veteran, left his wife of 35 years and an adult son.

The result of the survivors' wrongful death suit was a $150 million jury award. Defense lawyers have appealed but did not comment on the verdict.

David C. Sullivan heard about the case from another lawyer who knew the widow's brother. "I did a pre-litigation inspection of the plant in 2018 and found a missing safety feature," Sullivan said. His suit against the plant's owner, Sentinel Energy, led to discovery, the production of some 40,000 documents -- and the revelation that Collins' death was likely caused not by the missing feature, but by a lack of safety training and oversight and a lack of appropriate safety protocols on the job.

"We settled with the original defendants and refiled against the company in charge of safety," said Sullivan, a founding partner at San Diego's Sullivan, Rivera, Osuna & Sullivan. He asked a colleague, Cambria sole practitioner J. Jude Basile, to try the case.

"Two prominent L.A. firms turned this case down," Basile said. "Dave Sullivan asked me to develop the story and themes, and we discovered that Diamond Corporation had been hiding information critical to our case."

Among the paperwork was documentation of a meeting at the defendant's corporate headquarters about six weeks before Collins' death in which changes in safety procedures were discussed and questions were asked about informing workers. "We learned that the workers were never informed," Sullivan said. "That clearly impressed the jury."

Even before then, Basile said, there was a strong hint that jurors might be sympathetic. "During voir dire, several potential jurors themselves raised the question of safety oversight by corporations. I felt then that they'd get it." Also key was Basile's cross-examination of a Diamond executive who admitted, despite all previous denials, that Diamond was responsible for workers' safety at the plant.

Indeed, despite defense efforts to pin the blame on Collins, the panel -- after deliberating for just three hours -- held Diamond Corp. 97% responsible for Collins' death. On the damages question, Basile said he felt he was making positive progress when a witness who knew Collins well described him by saying, "he loved out loud," explaining that "he brought joy to life."

"At first, the case was sent to mediation and they offered us $35,000," Basile said. In a post-trial order the judge reduced the jury award to $104 million. The defense has filed an appeal. The case is Collins v. Diamond Generating Corp., PSC1901096 (Riverside Co. Super. Ct., filed Feb. 6, 2019).

--John Roemer