In a Kazan, McClain, Satterley & Greenwood asbestos case against Ford Motor Company, an Alameda County Superior Court judge on June 1, 2012 denied Ford’s motion to transfer the trial of dying mesothelioma plaintiff Patrick Scott’s case to Napa County. The judge found that maintaining the trial of this case in Alameda County will promote the ends of justice.
In an effort to delay Mr. Scott’s attempt to seek justice for his family while he is still alive, Ford moved to transfer the case to Napa County by inaccurately claiming that numerous Napa County witnesses would be inconvenienced. The Court denied Ford’s motion, holding that the ends of justice require that Mr. Scott’s case remain in Alameda County in order for him to promptly have his case tried while he is still alive. The Court also found that Ford failed to show that transferring the trial to Napa County would promote witnesses’ convenience.
Plaintiffs Patrick and Sharon Scott allege that Ford exposed Mr. Scott to asbestos while he worked on and around Ford vehicles during the 1960s through the 1990s, a period when Ford was well aware of asbestos related health hazards. As early as the mid 1930s, Ford’s operations in Germany were subjected to the Nazi regime’s workers’ compensation rules, which specified that workers’ asbestos related injuries were compensable.
Kazan Law associates Ian Rivamonte and Mark Swanson, together with partner Jim Oberman, prepared the briefing and made the oral arguments to the Court that produced this triumph for the Scott family