Khaldoun A. Baghdadi, Justin Chou and Jade Smith-Williams obtained a seven-figure confidential settlement on behalf of a man who developed terminal kidney cancer after breathing tetrachloroethylene contaminated air in the workplace. Plaintiff, employed at a warehouse for 15 years, was unaware that it had been constructed above a known groundwater plume of tetrachloroethylene. The owner hired an environmental consulting firm to manage and remediate the contamination, but rather than remediate, the consultant’s efforts instead introduced the toxin to the indoor air of the warehouse.
After the defendant consulting firm was terminated from its remediation contract, a new consulting firm discovered troubling levels of tetrachloroethylene in the indoor air of the building where many people worked each day. As plaintiff suffered with his late-stage cancer, Baghdadi, Chou, and Smith-Williams moved for trial preference and over the course of just three months fought through three motions to compel and 15 depositions. Ultimately, the Walkup team was successful in negotiating a seven-figure settlement for our client prior to his death.
