A TV news segment discusses a lawsuit filed against the Santa Barbara Unified School District, Santa Barbara Charter School, and County Superintendent of Schools Susan Salcido with attorney Barry Cappello. The lawsuit, filed September 20, 2024, alleges negligence in protecting minor students from sexual predators. To view the news report, click here.
A Santa Barbara County jury found that Starr Indemnity & Liability Company acted in bad faith and with malice and oppression when it refused to pay an insurance claim submitted by Passport 420, LLC, its policyholder. (Passport 420 LLC et al vs Starr Indemnity & Liability Co. et al, Santa Barbara Superior Court, 19CV03596). Passport’s jet was seized in April [ More... ]
A Santa Barbara Superior Court judge ruled July 30 that property owners adjacent to Montecito Country Club must pay for the costs of removing landscaping they installed without permission on an easement owned by the country club and restore the property to its previous condition. (Montecito Country Club, LLC vs. Kevin Root, et. al., Case No.: 21CV02227, July 30, 2024) [ More... ]
A lawsuit filed September 20 against the Santa Barbara Unified School District, Santa Barbara Charter School and Santa Barbara County Superintendent of Schools Susan Salcido alleges negligence in protecting minor students from sexual predators. The legal action stems from previous filings claiming repeated sexual misconduct by coaches and teachers, and the recent discovery that Charter School teacher Steven Schapansky secretly [ More... ]
Nine years after the 2015 Refugio Oil Spill along the Santa Barbara coastline, a federal judge has granted preliminary approval of a $70 million class action settlement to nearly 90 property owners. U.S. District Court Judge Philip Gutierrez issued his ruling May 1. It was announced May 9. If finalized in September, the settlement will be paid by Houston-based Sable [ More... ]
On May 1, 2024, nine years after a pipeline ruptured along the Santa Barbara coastline spilling oil onto private property, Refugio State Beach and into the Pacific Ocean, U.S. District Court Judge Philip Gutierrez granted preliminary approval of a $70 million class action settlement to property owners to resolve all outstanding class claims (Grey Fox, LLC et. al v. Plains [ More... ]
When Barry Cappello, managing partner at Santa Barbara’s Cappello & Noël LLP, was attending law school in the 1960s, there were no trial advocacy programs at major law schools. Back then, law schools didn’t teach students how to try cases. They had to learn once they became a lawyer. Cappello and his foundation have donated over $3 million to his [ More... ]
Barry Cappello and Leila Noël, partners in the Santa Barbara law firm Cappello & Noël LLP, were selected for inclusion in the 2024 edition of The Best Lawyers in America. The firm was recognized in the 2024 edition of The Best Law Firms in America. Both attorneys were recognized for their legal skills in mass tort litigation and plaintiff class [ More... ]
If not for the seriousness of the matter at hand — the eventual restarting of Line 901, the pipeline that caused the Refugio Oil Spill in 2015 — the arguments this morning at the Planning Commission over installing 16 automated safety valves could have simply been appreciated for the artful rhetoric rolled out by the participating attorneys. Ultimately, what seemed [ More... ]
Edison demurred to the class action claims on the grounds that a utility cannot be held liable to third parties for purely economic loss resulting from a public disaster, according to a 2019 ruling in Southern California Gas Leak Cases. Highberger on Tuesday overruled the demurrer as to claims of inverse condemnation, private nuisance and trespass, while sustaining with leave [ More... ]
