Christopher B. Dolan

San Francisco

Plaintiffs' Tort Litigation

Christopher B. Dolan is the founder and chief legal counsel of The Dolan Law Firm, which he established in 1995 and has grown into a 14-lawyer plaintiff-side civil rights and personal injury litigation shop with additional offices in Los Angeles, Redondo Beach and Torrance.

Tough cases interest Dolan, and he does a lot of them. He recently concluded another in a long series of motorcycle crash matters. A chief concern is juror prejudice.

"Motorcycle cases are not for the meek," he said. "The negative perception of motorcyclists by jurors is severe. They think people on bikes are risk-takers. Vehicle drivers don't like lane-splitters, and almost everyone thinks motorcyclists should be extra-cautious."

In the recent case, Dolan's client was a woman on a bike whose knee was injured in a collision with a car in Santa Monica. "We won the case and got a couple of hundred thousand dollars, but the jury would not compensate my client, a triathlete, for the impact on her ability to compete," Dolan said. "Jurors told us later that she should have been extra careful because she was riding a motorcycle."

Berkebile v. Cameron Barrett, 19STCV25164 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed July 17, 2019).

In post-trial proceedings, Dolan is seeking about $800,000 in fees and costs. A feature of the case was what Dolan said he learned in jury selection.

"The trial was this year, but I wore a mask and so did my client. We think COVID is past, but its impact remains." Dolan asked jurors whether the masks would be an issue, especially since his opposing counsel would not be wearing one. It led to extensive discussion.

"There were serious negative reactions. It astounded me. 'Masked people are whiners.' 'COVID's a scam.' 'If we can't see your faces, we don't know if you're telling the truth.' I let 30 to 40 people go who said they couldn't give us a fair trial."

The experience was valuable, Dolan thinks. "It was an empathy test, a compassion test."

In a motorcycle case last year, which Dolan tried before a judge, the award was $12 million. "There was no jury anti-motorcycle prejudice to deal with, though the cop who investigated found my client at fault. And he was a motorcycle cop. I got him to admit, 'I find 'em all at fault.' I pointed out that the rules give motorcycles the same rights as vehicles. 'Not my rules,' he said." Gonzalez v. Smith et al., CGC-20-582006 (S.F. Super. Ct., filed Jan. 6, 2021).

Dolan said he's tried more than 40 motorcycle cases over the years. "Once, I had a surgeon on the jury panel. He said he loved motorcyclists. I asked him why. 'We call them PODs, portable organ donors,' he said."

--John Roemer