CHRISTINE SPAGNOLI
Christine D . Spagnoli is a partner of Greene , Broillet & Wheeler in El Segundo , specializing in representing plaintiffs in product liability , personal injury and legal malpractice actions . She has obtained many multimillion-dollar verdicts , including the 1999 General Motors case in which a defective fuel tank was found responsible for the burn injuries of two adults and four children , where the jury returned with a landmark $ 4.9 billion verdict . She was co-counsel in the largest personal injury verdict in California , which resulted in a $ 58 million verdict for a man severely burned by a defective O-ring .
Her achievements cover the full range of personal injury and product liability cases . Recently , Chris served as the Plaintiffs ’ Co-Lead Counsel in the Federal Express Vehicle Collision Cases resulting from the May 2015 crash involving a FedEx tractor-trailer that crossed a median in Orland , California , colliding with a charter bus full of high school students , killing 10 and injuring dozens . The cases settled in October of 2017 on the eve of trial after Chris and her team successfully fought efforts by FedEx to exclude the driver ’ s cell phone records from the trial . She has also served as the Plaintiffs ’ Liaison Counsel in coordinated cases involving defective Cooper Tires as well as on the California Plaintiffs ’ Steering Committee for cases involving defective Firestone tires on Ford Explorers .
Chris earned widespread recognition for her work as co-lead trial counsel in the 2001 negligence case against Southern California Edison , which resulted in a $ 21 million verdict for an electrocuted avocado picker . Among her other noteworthy cases are Brezovec v . State of California — $ 8.8 million , a brain / motor vehicle injury case , Ogden v . Hamm Brothers Construction — $ 6.4 million , a personal injury matter , and McGee v . The City of Alameda — $ 25 million , an electrocuted construction worker .
Chris was honored by the American Association of Justice with its prestigious Harry M . Philo Award which recognizes an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the civil justice system and whose work has advanced the safety and protection of American consumers . In 2012 , the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles recognized Chris as its Trial Lawyer of the Year , the first time in the history of the organization that a woman trial attorney received that honor . In 2001 she was named Most Outstanding Young Trial Lawyer , the F . Scott Baldwin Award , by the American Association for Justice ( AAJ ), New Lawyers Division . She also received Loyola Law School ’ s 2001 Trial Lawyer of the Year Award . She has also been nominated as a finalist for the Consumer Attorneys of Los Angeles Trial Lawyer of the Year and the Consumer Attorneys of California Trial Lawyer of the Year on multiple occasions .
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