Hermosa Beach lawyer gets top honor

                                                                         Hermosa Beach lawyer Albro L. Lundy III was honored as the Consumer Attorney's of California Trial Lawyer of the Year for an $11.6 million jury verdict he won on behalf of an elderly Rancho Palos Verdes resident who was seriously injured on a rural highway.

From a press release issued by Lundy:

Lundy, a partner in Hermosa Beach law firm Baker, Burton & Lundy,  received the award November 14 at the 48th Annual Awards Dinner of the Consumer Attorneys of California held at the Fairmont Hotel in downtown San Francisco.  The Consumer Attorney's award is given annually to a case that demonstrates how the civil justice system works to provide justice for victims, change behavior, remove dangerous products or conditions and hold wrong doers accountable.  

 

The Schmidt v. Caltrans case is a perfect example of how consumer attorneys help create a safer society. The case involved a single car automobile accident that occurred on the night of January 16, 2006. The accident occurred in the high desert at the T-intersection of Hwy 62 and Hwy 177 in a rural northeast corner of Riverside County. Rancho Palos Verdes Resident Clete Schmidt, age 77, was on his way to Lake Havasu when he was unable to see a stop sign in time to stop, thus crashing into a five-foot stoney embankment just beyond the T-intersection and crushing his Ford Crown Victoria. The accident placed Clete in intensive care for two months where he nearly died on several occasions. The impact left him a  ventilator dependent quadriplegic. 

As a result of an extensive discovery campaign by Albro and his team, evidence was discovered which demonstrated that the roadway was unsafe. Photographs were found hidden away in the Sacramento storage vault, verifying that rumble strips made out of Botts Dots had existed at the approach to the intersection 30 years ago. Caltrans knew the rumble strips were an important warning system approaching a stop sign in the desert and had even replaced them at least once in the 1990's. The Caltrans photographs documented the lack of maintenance. It was additionally discovered that a large double arrow "End of the Road" sign had originally existed and but disappeared and was not replaced.

Clete's injuries left him in a precarious condition and the slightest thing, even a cold, is life threatening. The jury verdict of $11.6 million dollars not only provided for Schmidt's medical costs, but also motivation for Caltrans to change its roadways.  Filing this case first resulted in a new "End of the Road" sign being put up at that intersection and the verdict triggered a review of all similar rural T-intersections throughout the whole state of California. In the 21 months before this case was filed, eight serious accidents occurred at this intersection. After the replacement of the End of the Road sign, no accidents had occurred in the 18 months up to the time of trial.

This case was highly rewarding for Lundy in a very personal way.  At age 11, Lundy lost his father in the Vietnam conflict in 1970. He was embraced by the Schmidt family following this tragic loss and Clete Schmidt became Lundy's surrogate father. Schmidt was actually the best man at Lundy's wedding.  Clete's comment after the trial was fitting. He stated haltingly "I took care . . . of him, and . . . now he took . . . care of me."   Winning the 2009 Trial Attorney of the year award further validates the impact of this case.