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A man injured in an October 2012 industrial accident has been awarded $14.27 million by a Kern County Superior Court jury.
A jury ruled against Live Oak Cogen of Oildale and a number of other businesses on June 17 in favor of Gabriel Escalera, said Escalera’s attorney John C. Hall.
Escalera was injured, Hall said, at the cogeneration power plant north of Bakersfield after he and a second man — Barry Snelson of Oildale — used high pressure air to test the bottom of a water storage tank at the plant for leaks.
The pressurized air caused the tank bottom to fail, Hall said, and set off a chain reaction that threw the two men up into the air, killing Snelson, 54, and injuring Escalera.
Hall said Escalera will likely receive about $4 million of the judgment after reductions to the party’s liability are discussed and finalized.
Snelson’s case was settled earlier. The terms were not disclosed.
The tank is part of a 46 megawatt, natural gas-fired power plant located in an oil field about 1 1/2 miles west of South Granite Road.
In addition to generating electricity, the facility sells steam for heavy oil production nearby.

A Kern County jury in what Bakersfield attorney John Hall described as a rare occurrence recently awarded a Bakersfield man $1 million in punitive damages.
The same jury already had awarded Michael Lenk $260,320 in compensatory damages after they found Total-Western Inc. had breached its contract with Lenk.
“The juries don’t see many of these cases,” Hall said. “I don’t think many of them get to court due to an employee thinking he doesn’t stand a chance.”
Thomas Anton, who represented Total-Western, couldn’t be reached for coment.
The case centered on an area of employment law called fraudulent inducement, a topic getting lots of attention of late, Hall said.
Lenk was working as corporate purchasing agent for ARB Inc., a construction company, in 1996 when Total-Western officials approached Lenk and offered him a job.
After negotiations, Lenk accepted the job.
But five months later, Lenk was fired for what was described as “economic reasons.”
Hall contended Total-Western never met promises made to Lenk when he was hired.

A 30-year-old Bakersfield man who was injured in a cement-truck accident two years ago has won a $428,500 verdict against the truck company.
A Superior Court jury found RMC/Lonestar and its driver, David frank, were entirely at fault for the Aug.26, 1993, accident that injured the hip of George Edward Wright and rendered him disabled from an occupation he had worked since he was 14 years old.
Wright, who was represented by attorney John C. Hall in a 10-day trail, was a “chute man” whose job was to direct the flow of concrete as it came out of the truck. The accident occurred at the apartment construction site at Mondavi and Brimhall roads in northwest Bakersfield.
Wright contended that as Frank was backing up the truck with the chute extended, Frank released the chute brake, causing the chute to swing away from him.
Wright testified that he gave frank no signal to release the brake, although frank testified the way Wright was reaching for the chute indicated Wright wanted the brake to be released.
Wright moved toward the chute as it swung from him and at that point Frank engaged the brake, causing the chute to swing back toward Wright, striking him in the left hip. He suffered severe injuries.
Wright underwent major surgery in February 1994 and has since been unable to return to work as a concrete finisher. Wright now has a night desk job at a motel.
RMC/Lonestar was represented by attorney Robert D. Harding, who said a motion for a new trial will be made on the grounds the award was excessive.

A man who lost one hand and nearly lost the other in a construction accident has agreed to an out-of-court settlement that will pay more than $9 million during his lifetime.
Donald Lewis McDaniels, 21, will receive yearly payments that will begin at $70,749 and increase 3 percent per year.
Pacific Gas and Electric Co., Ken Dunbar electric and D.H. Williams Co. were named as defendants in the suit.
The settlement was negotiated by McDaniels’ attorney, John C. Hall of Bakersfield.
McDaniels was 18 and an employee of Dunbar Electric on Dec. 21, 1983, when he was injured.
He had been on the job_his first since graduating from high school_ only four months when he was disabled for the rest of his life.
He was a laborer and part of a crew erecting a warehouse in the 900 block of 24th Street when he received a nearly fatal electrical shock.
McDaniels was on the ground, guiding a load of metal roofing material that was being lowered by a 24-foot crane like boom truck.
The boom touched an uninsulated 12,000-volt overhead wire, sending the electricity into McDaniels.
McDaniels immediately was knocked to the ground; his heart and breathing stopped.
But Connie Hughes, a passer-by, stopped and administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation until the Fire Department and an ambulance arrived.
McDaniels was admitted to San Joaquin Hospital in critical condition and remained in a coma for a month.
His right hand had to be amputated, and his left hand was rendered 90 percent disabled by the accident.
The suit alleged that the power lines were located in an unsafe area. Dunbar Electirc and the Williams Co. – who were developing the property, should have made the area safe for workers, the suit claimed.
PG&E was named as a defendant because company workers who visited the construction site should have noticed the dangerous wire and taken steps to make the area safer, the suit alleged.
Hall’s suit alleged that a similar but less serious accident, in which a dump truck touched a lower set of overhead wires, should have served to warn the contractors and PG&E.
All of the defendants denied responsibility for the accident. The settlement was reached with none of them admitting liability.
The settlement was reached when the defendants agreed to purchase an annuity which will make monthly payments to McDaniels for as long as he lives.
He will receive an immediate payment of $1 million to cover legal and medical fees and other expenses.
His monthly payments begin immediately. If he lives to his normal life expectancy of 51 more years, the payments come to $9.28 million.

A Bakersfield attorney has won a $2.8 million verdict in a San Diego accident case that involved a painter falling 45 feet during the construction of an apartment complex.
The verdict on behalf of Joseph L. Hefner, who was 24 years old at the time of the Jan. 3, 1986 accident, was obtained after a San Diego County Superior Court trial in which Hefner was represented by attorney John C. Hall of Bakersfield.
Hall explained Saturday that Hefner became his client while he was being treated a the Centre for Neuro Skills in Bakersfield. Hefner suffered brain damage causing difficulty in controlling his behavior, memory and speech.
The defendants in the trial were Crow-Western Co., which does construction in the western United States, and Tone Framing Inc. of San Diego. Although a jury reached its verdict in November, further judgments in the case have and are continuing to be made, Hall said.
The following account is taken from a settlement conference statement:
Hefner was painting the eaves of one of the three-story buildings in a construction project known as The Mirada at La Jolla Colony in San Diego. He was standing on a balcony landing that had no guard rails.
Although there were no witnesses to the accident, and Hefner has no memory of it, it appears from physical evidence and the testimony of witnesses who last saw Hefner that as he was painting the eaves, he stumbled on debris on the landing.
Hefner’s supervisor asked the construction superintendent for scaffolding before the accident, but the request was denied. There also were reports that guardrails were requested for the balcony landing, but the superintendent denied being aware of such requests.
Hall said jurors believed the defendants tried to cut safety costs and that formed basis of their verdict.
The defendants argued that Hefner was not wearing a safety belt and should not have been painting in a dangerous situation. Hall replied Hefner was ordered to do a job and was doing it the best he could.
Hefner has already encountered $360,000 worth of medical bills in connection with the accident. Although the verdict was for $2.8 million, a pretrial settlement agreement reduced the amount to $2.7 million – $2.3 million plus $430,000 in workers’ compensation benefits used for medical expenses, Hall said.
The attorney fees were about $805,000, which is 35 percent of the $2.3 million settlement.
Hefner moved to Springfield, Mo., where he lives on a horse ranch along with his parents in separate residences. Hall said Hefner’s father is the conservator for the money for him. Hall said the accident has left Hefner in a condition where he needs limited supervision.

Robert Courtney was a dangerous man, and the district attorney’s office knew it.
But the county failed to warn Ken and Cindy Volpe about just how dangerous Courtney was and the couple paid with their lives, according to a lawsuit filed by attorney John Hall on behalf of the Volpe children.
The county disagrees it had a duty to give the Volpes special warning and will try to have the suit dismissed in a hearing set for Feb. 3, according to court records.
‘This is the horse race part of the case,” Hall said.
Attorneys for the county refused to comment on any portion of the case before the hearing.
Hall said California case law clearly states if a governmental entity enters into a special relationship with a victim or witness it takes on a burden to protect that person.
He contends the county entered into that kind of relationship with Cindy Volpe when she agreed to testify against Courtney for beating her in the summer of 1991.
Cindy Volpe was a housing inspector for the Environmental Health Department and had cited an apartment complex Courtney owned. Courtney, a multimillionaire, apparently beat her until she pretended to black out. Police charged Courtney with assault and the case went to jury trial.
A year later on Aug. 18, 1992 – the day the jury was scheduled to deliver a verdict in the assault case – Courtney sneaked into the Volpe home. He gunned down Ken and Cindy Volpe and Cindy’s mother, Betty Reed, as the Volpe children, Keith, then 14, and Andrea, then 9, watched. Courtney escaped, but police gunned him dwon the following day after a high-speed chase on Highway 58.
In the suit, Hall says district attorney’s office knew that Courtney had the potential to harm the Volpes and did nothing in advance of the killings.
Police and prosecutors had received complaints about Courtney threatening people before, but no criminal charges had been filed against him until assault on Volpe, Hall said.
The Californian later learned Courtney shot to death his mother, a sister and a brother in Alaska when he was 13. Although that information isn’t part of the case, it was the basis for a bill by Assemblyman Trice Harvey, R-Bakersfield, making its way through the state Legislature.
‘They had a duty to protect the Volpes and it could have been as simple as telling them to watch their backs or change their living habits while the trial was ongoing, none of which occurred,” Hall said. “In fact, the opposite appears to be true. They were reassured any risk was remote.”
“My brother and his wife were naïve about the system,” said Louann Matthias, Ken Volpe’s sister. “They believed that they were told by the D.A.”
This is just one of several lawsuits involving either the Volpes or Courtney.
In on case, the Volpe children are suing Courtney’s estate for wrongful death. That suit goes to court on March 14, coincidentally, Ken Volpe’s birthday.
Matthias said the Volpe children, now living in Madera with their paternal grandparents, are still in therapy.

Two wrongful death lawsuits brought against Kern County on behalf of Ken and Cindy Volpe’s heirs faced a three-pronged attack Thursday.
The suits allege the county was negligent because the two deputy district attorneys who prosecuted Robert Courtney for savagely beating Cindy Volpe in 1991 did not warn the Volpes that Courtney was dangerous.
On the day the jury was to come back with a verdict in the beating case – Aug. 18, 1992 – Courtney sneaked into the Volpe home and gunned down Cindy and Ken Volpe and Cindy’s mother, Betty Reed. The Volpe children, Keith, then 14, and Andrea, then 9, were in the house at the time of the killings.
Courtney was killed the next day after he led law enforcement officers on a high-speed chase along Highway 58 east of Bakersfield.
In a motion to have the cases dismissed, attorneys for the county said Kern had no special duty to protect the Volpes, that prosecutors are immune from such liability and that the Volpe heirs have no right to sue since they already are receiving death benefits from workers’ compensation.
The Volpe children have been paid $26,000 to $190,000 in death benefits from worker’s compensation. The county has put a claim against both the Volpe and Courtney estates to be reimbursed for those benefits.
Superior Court Judge Arthur Wallace heard arguments from all sides Thursday and will issue a ruling in with to 10 days.
“The judge could rule in favor of the entire motion or against it all or do something in between,” said John Hall, the attorney representing the Volpe heirs. The second wrongful death suit was brought by Betty Reed’s heirs and is being handled by Nevada attorney Brian Sandoval.
Hall wouldn’t say whether he plans to appeal if the judge sides with the county. This case, along with the Volpe heirs’ wrongful death against Courtney’s estate, are scheduled to begin trial on March 14. Coincidentally, that also was Ken Volpe’s birthday.
Charles Collins, deputy county counsel, said Courtney never made any direct threats against the Volpes, so prosecutors had no reason to warn them of potential risks. The Volpes had Courtney’s extensive criminal record, saw his outbursts in court and knew he carried a knife in plain view, Collins added.
“If you find the District Attorney’s Office had a special obligation to the Volpes and the Reeds, there would be no end to the possible liability,” Collins said.
District Attorney Ed Jagels observed the hearing and agreed with Collins.
“If we have to protect or warn every witness in the thousands of cases we handle, I’d need to double my staff and prosecutors would be too terrified to do their job,” Jagels said.
Jagels predicted the case would change state law, But Hall disagreed.
“They should be thinking about the other way around,” Hall said. “Their concern should be that witnesses are not coming forward because they know prosecutors aren’t doing anything to protect them”.
But this case wouldn’t create broad change, he said.
“What we’re looking at is what happened when governmental entity becomes aware of facts that create a foreseeable risk.”
According to excerpts of depositions on the case, the original prosecuting attorney, Larry Fields, said he “absolutely” knew Courtney was dangerous and heard rumors Courtney may have been involved in a murder in the Pumpkin Center area.
The rumors were so vague, however, he discounted the information.
When asked if he had received similar information, sheriff’s Deputy John Solis said in a depositions that he might have.
A former apartment manager who worked for Courtney, Carl Garza, said Courtney threatened his life on numerous occasions, once in open court. Garza said he was waiting to testify in the Volpe beating case when Courtney began yelling and hollered, “I’ll shoot you.”
Garza said he told the District Attorney’s Office and Solis about the threats but was ignored.
Collins said even if all that information were true, it still did not constitute a direct threat against the Volpes.

The city of Bakersfield has settled a lawsuit by a couple who claim an off-duty police officer forced them to strip naked after he found them parked near Jenkins Road on Feb. 15, 2003.

City officials have agreed to pay Tarrah Breann Goland $200,000 and James Ryan Roy $50,000 to settle the lawsuit, said City Attorney Ginny Gennaro.

The Bakersfield police officer, Landon Wright, pleaded no contest to misdemeanor charges of false imprisonment and arrest without process or authority in May 2003.

He resigned from the Bakersfield Police Department after the incident.
Prosecutors dropped charges of annoying or molesting a child under 18. Goland was 17 years old at the time. Roy, her boyfriend, was 23.

Goland and Roy, in their lawsuit, claimed that Wright forced them to get out of their car and take off their clothes while he made comments and pointed his flashlight at them.

Gennaro said Wright had a different story than that of Goland and Roy.

A Bakersfield attorney has won a $2.8 million verdict in a San Diego accident case that involved a painter falling 45 feet during the construction of an apartment complex.

The verdict on behalf of Joseph L. Hefner, who was 24 years old at the time of the Jan. 3, 1986 accident, was obtained after a San Diego County Superior Court trial in which Hefner was represented by attorney John C. Hall of Bakersfield.

Hall explained Saturday that Hefner became his client while he was being treated a the Centre for Neuro Skills in Bakersfield. Hefner suffered brain damage causing difficulty in controlling his behavior, memory and speech.

The defendants in the trial were Crow-Western Co., which does construction in the western United States, and Tone Framing Inc. of San Diego. Although a jury reached its verdict in November, further judgments in the case have and are continuing to be made, Hall said.

The following account is taken from a settlement conference statement:
Hefner was painting the eaves of one of the three-story buildings in a construction project known as The Mirada at La Jolla Colony in San Diego. He was standing on a balcony landing that had no guard rails.

Although there were no witnesses to the accident, and Hefner has no memory of it, it appears from physical evidence and the testimony of witnesses who last saw Hefner that as he was painting the eaves, he stumbled on debris on the landing.

Hefner’s supervisor asked the construction superintendent for scaffolding before the accident, but the request was denied. There also were reports that guardrails were requested for the balcony landing, but the superintendent denied being aware of such requests.

Hall said jurors believed the defendants tried to cut safety costs and that formed basis of their verdict.

The defendants argued that Hefner was not wearing a safety belt and should not have been painting in a dangerous situation. Hall replied Hefner was ordered to do a job and was doing it the best he could.

Hefner has already encountered $360,000 worth of medical bills in connection with the accident.

Although the verdict was for $2.8 million, a pretrial settlement agreement reduced the amount to $2.7 million – $2.3 million plus $430,000 in workers’ compensation benefits used for medical expenses, Hall said.

The attorney fees were about $805,000, which is 35 percent of the $2.3 million settlement.

Hefner moved to Springfield, Mo., where he lives on a horse ranch along with his parents in separate residences. Hall said Hefner’s father is the conservator for the money for him. Hall said the accident has left Hefner in a condition where he needs limited supervision.