Figueroa v. AT&T Corp. et al

CASE NAME: Figueroa v. AT&T Corp. et al.

TYPE OF CASE: Wrongful death

COURT: Los Angeles County Superior Court

JUDGE(S): Daniel S. Murphy

DEFENSE LAWYERS: Ford, Walker, Haggerty & Behar LLP, Jeffrey S. Behar; Long & Delis, John Delis and Warren Campbell

PLAINTIFF LAWYERS: Sandoval Law APC, Abraham Sandoval

The relatives of two brothers who operated an unattended boom lift at night without permission and accidentally elevated the device's platform into 34,000-volt power lines, killing one and injuring the other, sued over the deadly incident.

But their effort to hold accountable the owner of the cell tower that the lift was repairing, the owner and operator of the lift, and others failed when defense lawyers obtained a 10-2 jury verdict absolving their clients of liability. Figueroa et al. v. At&T Corp. et al., BC701989 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed Apr. 12, 2019).

Compounding the uphill task for the defense was a stark and horrific video of the incident. The jury saw multiple explosions as the boom repeatedly bounced into the wires; the unconscious, dying victim on fire; a view of the other youth leaping to the ground, fracturing his legs; and the victims' father arriving on the scene.

Jeffrey S. Behar, a founding partner of Ford, Walker, Haggerty & Behar LLP, led the defense. "To overcome the jurors' natural feeling of sympathy for the plaintiffs made this one of the most challenging cases of my career," he said. Behar, who has been a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates since 1982, called it "Truly a David versus Goliath situation because my client is one of the largest corporations in America."

To humanize his client, Behar put on the stand three on-site laborers who used the boom lift as they worked for the contractor AT&T had hired to service the tower. "They were salt-of-the-earth types who put a human face on the defense."

Behar's basic argument was that the brothers had no right or permission to use the boom lift. Essentially, they stole it, and they were unqualified and untrained to use the 26,000-pound piece of sophisticated machinery.

"Clearly, it was a sad case, but these victims used poor judgment at night without supervision," Behar said.

Lead plaintiff lawyer Abraham Sandoval of Sandoval Law APC emailed, "As echoed in my closing statement, it is not every day that an average person can go toe-to-toe with some of the largest corporations in the country. Nevertheless, we were able to do just that. The outcome signifies that we still have a long way to go to achieve transparency and change, but the trial exemplifies that it is possible. I remain of the conviction that our years of work in this case, will spark new initiatives to make the industry a safer place."

--John Roemer