Major Firm to File Claim in Farmers Market Tragedy

By Jorge Casuso

Jan. 8 -- One of the nation’s top plaintiff law firms is expected to file a claim against the City next week on behalf of nine victims who were injured or killed when an elderly driver barreled through the Downtown farmers market last July.

Expected to be filed on Wednesday by Greene, Broillet, Panish & Wheeler, LLP -- the Santa Monica firm that won the highest product liability verdict in history at $4.9 billion -- the claim is the first step toward a lawsuit.

The claim would be filed two days before a statute of limitations kicks in on January 16, six months after George Russell Weller, 87, killed ten and injured 63 when his runaway car sped through a crowded farmers market.

“The City will reject it fairly quickly,” predicted Kathy Pinckert, director of marketing and media relations for the firm, which has a 98 percent success rate. “Then we will file a civil lawsuit.”

Pinckert declined to comment on the charges, which will be disclosed at a press conference in front of City Hall after the claim is filed Wednesday morning.

“We’ll make the allegations in the government claim,” she said.

The firm, Pinckert said, would likely not place a monetary amount on the claim. “I don’t know whether we’re going to elect to do that,” Pinckert said. “Usually we don’t put in dollars.”

The Government Claims for Damages will be filed on behalf of injury victims, including Benny Gong, Ilona Lettrich, Dina Richter, Holley Hankinson, Olivia Wun and Sandra Ellen Bacal.

Claims will also be filed on behalf of the Estate of Diana Gong McCarthy, the Estate of Kevin McCarthy and the Estate of Leroy Lattier, three of the ten victims killed in the accident.

Greene, Broillet, Panish & Wheeler made headlines recently when it won a $33 million verdict against Budget Rent-A-Car and the City of Los Angeles and its police department.

The jury found that Budget switched license plates, leading to a traffic stop and subsequent police misconduct that caused permanent injuries to a Miami surgeon.

The firm also won a $3.3 billion settlement in a tobacco industry case, a confidential settlement for eight figures in the crash of Alaska Airlines flight 261 (the first time a major airplane manufacturer admitted defective design) and seven other verdicts or settlements for more than $10 million each.

The firm’s biggest award came in 1999 against General Motors after six burn victims were disfigured when the car they were riding burst into flames.