Legal Headlines: Robinson v. Tobacco, Callahan v. Blackwater

Two top OC trial lawyers are back in the news. Dan Callahan of Callahan & Blaine in Santa Ana, fresh off a $14 million payday from the OC Register as part of a settlement with mail carriers he represented, is involved in an international controversy. He is representing four U.S. contractors of the private security firm Xe (pronounced “zee,” formerly Blackwater) who have been implicated in the May 5 Kabul shooting that killed an Afghan civilian and wounded two others. A Xe spokeswoman says the contractors were terminated “for failure to comply?with all laws, regulations and company policies.” Callahan accuses Xe of scapegoating his clients to placate an angry Afghan government. The case escalates Callahan”s battles against Xe/Blackwater: He also represents families who are suing the firm over the 2004 ambush killings of four U.S. contractors in Fallujah, Iraq. (And Callahan urged Congress” politically charged Blackwater hearings in 2007.) Callahan says the families” case is set for arbitration in six weeks, but he has not ruled out reviving his bid for a jury trial. Meanwhile, Mark Robinson Jr. of Robinson, Calcagnie & Robinson in Newport Beach won a big ruling last week for himself and other plaintiffs” lawyers. The California Supreme Court voted 4-3 to green-light Robinson”s 12-year-old class-action suit against tobacco companies for deceptive advertising. The decision overturned lower courts that had said the suit was precluded by Proposition 64, approved by voters in 2004 to curb frivolous consumer suits ?Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman focused on business and personal stories in her remarks to a crowd of 830 at the OCBJ”s Women in Business Awards, but the GOP gubernatorial hopeful also said, “I refuse to believe that California can”t be better than it is today” ?While slamming Gov. Arnold about last week”s failed propositions, conservative pundit George Will tossed a bouquet to the OC Register: “If but one newspaper survives today”s leveling winds, may it be this one” ?Marian Bergeson succeeds Michael Ray as chair of the Great Park Conservancy next month ?The American Lung Association marks its 100th anniversary in Orange County with the Oxygen Ball, June 6 aboard Majestic Yacht in Newport Harbor. EE RR emcees. Info at (714) 835-5864 or www.californialung.org ?Deals are down but lawsuits are up, says John Cannon, who chairs Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth”s litigation department: “Desperate times sometimes dictate desperate measures. Litigation is a last resort.” When times are good, he says, businesses have more ways to settle their differences, and there are fewer laid-off employees tempted to file grievances. Cannon says he”s interviewing for three positions and has plenty of resumes to choose from. Still, he says Stradling and most everyone else will be better off when the economy rebounds, although that won”t happen until “deals are again funded with debt.”