In Lake Charles, Louisiana, 1929, future California Supreme Court Associate Justice Allen E. Broussard was born. When the Depression hit, his family moved to the Bay Area to seek better opportunity.  To pay his way through San Francisco City College, UC Berkeley and Berkeley Law School, Justice Broussard sold shoes and worked in a canning plant. As a student, he started his lifelong effort to promote equal rights for African Americans in the workplace. In 1964 he became one of California’s first African American judges, and in 1981 Governor Jerry Brown appointed him to the State Supreme Court where he served for 10 years, writing many of the Court’s majority opinions.

Broussard Scholarship Established in 1996

The Allen E. Broussard Scholarship Fund was established in 1996 after Justice Broussard’s death, and was incorporated as the Allen E. Broussard Scholarship Foundation in 1999. The goal of the foundation was to continue Justice Broussard’s work to make sure all minorities are given the opportunity to rise and “take a place at the table,” as he was fond of saying.  In 2008, Steven Kazan of the Kazan, McClain, Satterley & Greenwood, A Professional Corporation, became President of the Broussard Scholarship Foundation, and for the past eight years has awarded scholarships to law students to continue Justice Broussard’s mission to diversify the law profession. 

Kazan Law Foundation Helps Support the Broussard Scholarships

Several of us here at Kazan Law have had the privilege of working with Justice Broussard during our legal careers. We are proud that our Firm’s foundation annually helps support the Allen E. Broussard Scholarship Foundation scholarship awards.  Having served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Allen E. Broussard Law School Scholarship Foundation for over a decade, I am honored each year to present three or more academically qualified students from economically challenged backgrounds with a $5,000 scholarship. This award is the largest private scholarship award for law students attending California Bay Area law schools. Three students received the award this year.

The 2018 Broussard Scholarship Recipients

Chelsea Davis is a second-year student at Berkeley School of Law.  Her interests in law and supporting her local community were significantly influenced by her father, who was a police officer. Chelsea pursued her interest in public service as a 2015-2016 California State Senate Fellow for Representative Holly Mitchell, where she managed four bills, one of which was signed into law. As a Berkeley Law student, she contributes to the Berkeley Journal of African American Law & Policy, and is a member of the Law Students of African Descent, Women of Color Collective, and First Generation Professionals. Chelsea graduated cum laude from UCLA in 2015 with a degree in Political Science and African-American Studies. Chelsea has also served as an intern for the NAACP and Housing & Economics Rights Advocates (HERA).  Chelsea’s application demonstrated academic excellence, interest in public law, and strong roots in the Alameda County community.

Anya Ku is a first-year law student at Berkeley Law School and a proud product of the Oakland public school and Peralta Community College systems. While attending Berkeley City College, Anya co-authored a local, best-selling book, Flavors of Oakland. After community college, Anya transferred to UC Berkeley and graduated in 2017 with a BA in Political Science.  At Berkeley Law, Anya is co-chair of the La Raza Law Students’ Association and an articles editor for the La Raza Law Journal. This summer, Anya will be at the California Attorney General’s Bureau of Children’s Justice doing research and policy advocacy for children in foster care, children that have faced discrimination in education, and victims of trafficking and trauma. This will be a perfect preview for her career goal of representing children in guardianship cases. One day you might even see her on the bench!

Samson Lim is the National Director of Graduate and Fellowship Programs at The Posse Foundation, a college access and youth leadership development program that awards four-year, full-tuition scholarships to high school seniors with extraordinary academic and leadership potential. Previously, Sam founded Scholarship Junkies, scholarship resource program, and led the University of Washington Dream Project, a college access program. Sam was a U.S. Student Fulbright Scholar and Humanity in Action Fellow in Berlin, Germany, where he researched the relationship between access to higher education and social mobility. Sam holds a Master of Arts in Education Policy from Teachers College, Columbia University in New York and a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies (Development) from the University of Washington in Seattle. Sam will pursue his JD at UC Berkeley School of Law, beginning in the fall of 2018.

Kazan, McClain, Satterley & Greenwood, a Professional Law Corporation, has represented thousands of people suffering from the effects of asbestos related illnesses, particularly mesothelioma, since 1974. We are nationally recognized pioneers in asbestos litigation and we are currently interviewing Associate Attorneys to join our Oakland, California based team.

Experienced Associate Attorneys will work in our Case Management department along with other members of an assigned team under the supervision of a senior Attorney or Partner. Qualified applicants with at least 3-4 years’ experience managing complex cases from Intake to Trial Prep are encouraged to apply.  Personal injury and product liability experience preferred.  Asbestos litigation experience a plus.  Bilingual English/Spanish a plus.

California bar admission required.

Competitive salary and excellent benefits.  Send letter of application, resume and writing sample to: HRM@kazanlaw.com.

Military service builds a range of skills that make veterans ideal employees, but employers and vets sometimes need help translating those skills to the civilian workforce. Hiring America, a half-hour television show sponsored by the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), helps veterans navigate the work world after their return to civilian life.

Hiring Veterans: Filling a Need to Connect Veterans to Jobs

Hiring America is currently in its third season. It has recently reached the milestone of being syndicated on close to 200 television stations across the United States.

As Middle East deployments ended and the US Armed Forces downsized, more military personnel, even some who planned to make the military their career, have needed to find jobs in the civilian sector. The mission of the show, according to its website, is “to help veterans and members of the Armed Forces connect with companies that have jobs available and organizations that support the military community.”

Bill Deutch, a media entrepreneur based in New York City, came up with the idea of a television show to connect returning service members with companies interested in hiring veterans several years ago. With support from the VFW, as well as media and business partners, Deutch, who is the executive producer of Hiring America, launched the show in the fall of 2013. Since then, the television show has created and aired over 50 episodes.

Good Jobs for Veterans

Hiring America covers a lot of ground in its mission to connect military personnel looking for employment with companies hiring veterans. Host Lauren Wanko interviews managers from a range of industries to provide insights about the ways that military experience can translate into skills that civilian employers are looking for.

The show also features interviews with veterans about the ways that their service prepared them for the jobs they hold now. On a recent episode, the mayor of Jersey City, New Jersey, discusses how his own military service influences his style of governing and his commitment to help other vets.

The show has featured interviews with companies in all sectors of the economy, from retail to energy to technology to transportation to banking. Employers seek out the talents of veterans to fill jobs as truckers, mechanics, pilots, engineers, administrators, and more.

Many of the companies featured have special programs that promote the hiring of veterans. Companies as diverse as engineering giant Siemens USA and Wells Fargo Bank have instituted initiatives to bring in more veterans as employees. These companies recognize the value that hiring veterans adds to their workforce.

Veterans as Entrepreneurs

Hiring America has also featured interviews with veterans who have created their own startups, talking about their paths to business success. One featured entrepreneur created a junk removal company that only licenses its franchises to other veterans, giving them a leg up in the business world.

The show has provided information about business incubators and boot camps tailored to the special needs and abilities of veterans who want to grow their business ideas into thriving enterprises.

Veteran Advocates

Departments of the United States government have gotten into the act as well. Hiring America has run interviews with personnel from the Department of Veterans Affairs who focus on veteran employment issues. The show provided information on the assistance available to veterans at the VA, to build awareness and help vets take full advantage of the benefits they are due.

Nonprofits that help veterans, such as Afghanistan Veterans of America, have also come on the show to talk about resources they provide to assist veterans in finding success in the work world after they leave military service.

Voices of Veterans

Despite its title, Hiring America doesn’t feature only content about jobs and employment. The show has also included interviews with veterans about their experience serving overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan and how that service has influenced their choices once they return home.

Resources for Hiring Veterans

Hiring America is one of many resources available to help veterans make a smooth and successful transition to civilian employment after they leave the military. More and more, in recent years, individuals and organizations in the business sector and beyond have created projects and programs that recognize the added value that veterans can bring to a wide range of jobs. These individuals and groups believe that hiring veterans should be seen as a benefit that any company would want.

A mesothelioma verdict was recently upheld by the California Court of Appeal, First District (Hellam v. Crane Co. (2015) 239 Cal.App.4th 851).  Our team from Kazan Law successfully defeated a second attempt by Crane Co. to use James Hellam’s mesothelioma settlements to reduce the economic-damages award it must pay.  Mr. Hellam died from mesothelioma he developed from exposure to asbestos in Crane Co.’s products while working at his grandfather’s boiler service when he was a teenager.

Threat to How Mesothelioma Settlements Are Used to Reduce Economic Damages Defeated

In its second thwarted attempt to reduce the Hellam family’s economic-damages award, Crane Co. tried to get the courts to reconfigure the entire way mesothelioma settlement amounts are applied to reduce economic damages in wrongful death and personal injury cases.

In its decision to deny that request, the court characterized Crane Co.’s proposed change to the method of using mesothelioma settlements to calculate the setoff for economic damages as being “completely at odds” with California law.  If it had been successful, the change Crane Co. sought could have significantly reduced, if not completely erased, the jury’s award of $937,882.56 in economic damages to Mr. Hellam.

Hellam affirms California’s long-standing method for allocating pre-verdict mesothelioma settlement proceeds to determine the defendant’s setoff for economic damages.  I see this case as a great example that demonstrates how our current judicial system works.

This decision has a broader impact to plaintiffs, especially those involved in multi-defendant tort actions.  It preserves public policies that are strongly reflected in the law, including encouraging mesothelioma settlements and maximizing the injured plaintiff’s recovery from the at-fault parties.

Kazan Law partners Dianna Lyons and Frank Fernandez, both now retired, tried and won the mesothelioma case against Crane Co.  Kazan Law of counsel Ted Pelletier and associate Ian Rivamonte successfully handled the appeal.

Economic Damages Part of Mesothelioma Verdict Upheld

Crane Co. attempted with this second appeal to increase the amount of a mesothelioma settlement credit the company was entitled to for economic damages. But the appellate court rejected this proposed change.

While Crane Co. tried to base this second appeal on how mesothelioma settlements should be used to reduce economic damages, its first appeal challenged the jury decision over its liability in the case. The appellate court held that evidence supported the finding that Crane’s gaskets and cement were defectively designed because they emitted and exposed Hellam to significant levels of toxic asbestos fibers during ordinary use.

This appellate decision made in April 2014 affirmed the trial court’s award of over $85,000 in litigation costs to Mr. Hellam and the following compensation for damages:

Economic damages = $937,882.56

Non-economic damages = $4,500,000.00

Total = $5,437,882.56

Mesothelioma Verdict Based on Teenage Asbestos Exposure

As a teenager, Mr. Hellam worked for his grandfather’s one man boiler service operation, over the course of five summers between 1962 and 1966.  Mr. Hellam’s grandfather purchased Cranite gaskets and a dry powdered cement product from Crane Co’s wholesale outlet in Salinas, California.  When Mr. Hellam mixed that powdered material with water to form a slurry in the process of refurbishing boilers, and cut sheet gasket material in the refurbishing process, he inadvertently inhaled asbestos dust.

Because the products carried no warnings, Mr. Hellam’s grandfather did not know to take precautions for himself and his grandson in handling the Crane Co. products or to choose a substitute product that did not contain asbestos. Mr. Hellam had no asbestos exposure during the rest of his career. He was a San Jose, California police officer for 13 years before becoming a motivational speaker for the next 31 years of his life.

A Hall of Fame softball player, Hellam had taken pride in coaching both of his sons in softball and had eagerly anticipated teaching his grandsons how to play. He also was looking forward to continuing his career in worldwide motivational speaking which allowed him to travel around the globe.

Then suddenly, his once rich and full life came to a halt.  Instead of doing the things he loved, he was forced to focus his dwindling energy on battling malignant mesothelioma – a battle he sadly lost.

Now with this second appeal upholding the full $5.4 million mesothelioma verdict we won for him, we hope Mr. Hellam’s family can find some peace and that this tragic case now can be closed.

Workplace safety is something we take for granted. We just assume that when we go to work the elevators in the building will run properly, that the electrical outlets are grounded and safe and that the air we breathe is clean and healthy. But for many people, even here in socially conscious California, the workplace can be full of dangers; some even fatal. And all because the decision makers decided to try to squeeze out some extra profit at the expense of workplace safety by cutting corners.

Workplace Safety Lapses Cataloged by Watchdog Group

Workplace safety is supposed to be the province of the state government’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health, better known as Cal/OSHA. Cal/OSHA’s mission is to protect workers from health and safety hazards on the job in the workplace in California through its research and standards, enforcement, and consultation programs. But Cal/OSHA is not popular with the big business interests that donate heavily to political campaigns. So Cal/OSHA is woefully underfunded and understaffed.

To counter the lapses in workplace safety accountability here, my colleague Fran Schreiberg, partner Denise Abrams and others started a watchdog group called WorkSafe. Fran, who is Kazan Law of Counsel, represents us at WorkSafe. She recently told us that WorkSafe’s annual report, called “Dying at Work”, cataloging California workplace fatalities and injuries, has just been published. Because of the difficulty of obtaining data about laborers, especially undocumented laborers, who were killed or injured on the job, there is a necessary time lag in WorkSafe’s annual report. This year’s report presents final statistics for 2013 and some data for 2014.

Every year, the release of this report is a sobering reminder of the real consequences of unabated hazards and employer defiance, of the prioritizing of profit over the people whose labor makes it possible.

Workplace Safety Report Fatality Findings

The following list are some of the shocking findings and workplace safety problems facing California:

• A total of 396 California workers died on the job in 2013. This is believed to be an undercount because it does not include undocumented workers and those who will die years later from workplace exposure to hazards like asbestos
• Transportation incidents account for the largest number of fatalities at 35%
• Exposure to harmful substances accounts for 10%
• Falls, slips and trips account for 16%
• Men account for 92% and women 8% of all fatalities
• Workers between the ages of 35 and 54 account for about 50% of all fatalities
• Workers identified as Hispanic were 49% of the total, white made up 41% of those killed on the job, while those identified as black constituted 4% and those identified as Asian comprised 5%

Workplace Safety Problems Underreported

Workplace safety often is underreported according to a new UCLA labor study. The research found that while 75% of workers sought medical treatment for their injuries, only 8% filed a workers compensation claim. Reasons for not filing a claim included:

• Workers were afraid of losing their jobs
• Workers did not want to miss work
• Employers reacted negatively when they learned about workers’ injuries
• Employers did not provide workers’ compensation forms
• Workplace Safety Report Features Mesothelioma Survivor

Workplace safety neglect resulted in the asbestos exposure of Kazan Law client Paul Zygielbaum. Paul was diagnosed with mesothelioma, a fatal cancer of cells lining vital organs resulting from asbestos exposure. Miraculously, he has survived 12 years and is still going strong. Most mesothelioma patients usually live only for one to two years following diagnosis. Paul is using his time now as an activist advocating for workplace safety and fighting the industry that caused his disease. We are pleased that his story was featured in the new workplace safety report.

When it comes to protecting yourself and your loved ones from harm, asbestos fibers pose a challenging and very lethal threat.

If there’s a flame under a pot on the stove, you avoid putting your hand in that flame. If you are chopping vegetables with a sharp knife, you keep the sharp edge away from your fingers. When you are crossing a street, you wait for the walk sign and if a small child is with you, you hold their hand while you cross to protect them from possibly getting hit by a car.

But what do you do if there is a threat that you cannot see, feel, taste or smell? How do you protect yourself? How do you protect your family? You can’t. It’s impossible. That is the frightening truth about asbestos fibers.

Asbestos fibers can be 700 times smaller than a human hair, according to a Princeton University asbestos fact sheet. Some asbestos can be seen as dust but asbestos fibers can also be invisible to the human eye. You can’t see it. What’s more, it is odorless, tasteless and indestructible.

Asbestos fibers do not evaporate into air or dissolve in water, the US Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry reports. Small diameter fibers and particles may remain suspended in the air for a long time and be carried long distances by wind or water before settling down. Larger diameter fibers and particles tend to settle more quickly.

Asbestos fibers generally do not break down to other compounds and will remain virtually unchanged over long periods.

The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the EPA have determined that asbestos is a human carcinogen and there is no safe level of exposure. Yet asbestos remains legal in the United States, tragically impacting families. An estimated 10,000 Americans die every year from preventable asbestos-caused diseases. “Without adequate regulations, Americans cannot determine or manage consumer, environmental and occupational asbestos risk,” states the Environmental Working Group, an organization that monitors the safety of U.S. products.

If you can’t see or smell or taste asbestos, how do you know if it is in a product you are working with? You don’t. Only the people who put it there know. In many cases we have handled, product manufacturers and distributors knew of asbestos contamination and withheld that information with tragic results. Workers and their family members, who were contaminated by secondary asbestos exposure, have been diagnosed with fatal asbestos-caused diseases. Let us know if this has happened to you.

Asbestos settlements and lawsuits are two of the most common ways that victims who have been harmed by the exposure they endured to the carcinogenic material can gain compensation to help themselves and their families. Recently, there was some major asbestos litigation – both in the U.S. and in the UK – that could have a serious impact on those who have contracted asbestos-related diseases, such as malignant mesothelioma, asbestosis and lung cancer.

The town of Libby, Montana, was home to the W.R. Grace & Co./Zonolite Mining Co. vermiculite mine and during mining operations there, which didn’t end until 1990, a great deal of asbestos was brought to the surface, resulting in hundreds of people dying from diseases such as mesothelioma and asbestosis and around 1,500 others becoming sick from such illnesses, according to The Associated Press. The situation became so dire that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency declared the Libby area a health emergency in 2009. Continue reading →