One week after the Conception dive boat burst into flames at 3 a.m. Labor Day — killing 34 of the 39 people onboard — many questions go unanswered: One of the victims’ remains is still lost at sea, the reason for a search warrant issued Sunday morning is still unknown, and the owners of the boat recently filed a lawsuit protecting themselves from damage claims — a move that came as a surprise to many.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The owners of the dive boat where 34 people perished in a fire off Southern California filed a lawsuit Thursday to head off potentially costly litigation, a move condemned by some observers as disrespectful to the families of the dead. Truth Aquatics Inc., which owned the Conception, filed the action in U.S. District Court in Los [ More... ]
Supporting what is rapidly becoming one of the top law school trial programs in the country, UCLA Law alumnus A. Barry Cappello (class of 1965) has pledged to donate an additional $500,000 to UCLA School of Law’s Cappello Program in Trial Advocacy. The gift raises Cappello’s total donations to UCLA Law to $2.75 million. The new funds will support additional [ More... ]
Barry Cappello and Leila Noël, partners in the Santa Barbara law firm Cappello & Noël LLP, were recently selected for inclusion in 2020 edition of The Best Lawyers in America. Both attorneys were recognized for their legal skills in mass tort litigation and plaintiff class action representation. Since 1992, Cappello has been consecutively ranked as one of the “Best Lawyers [ More... ]
Attorney Kenneth J. Melrose has joined the Santa Barbara law firm Cappello & Noël, LLP as an associate, according to A. Barry Cappello, managing partner. Melrose will focus his practice on litigation and trial work. While at law firms in Salt Lake City, Los Angeles and San Luis Obispo, he represented property owners, oil and gas companies, real estate developers, [ More... ]
Santa Barbara-based Cappello & Noël LLP, one of the country’s foremost complex commercial litigation law firms, has named attorney David L. Cousineau as a partner. Cousineau joined the firm in 2014. “David is an incredibly insightful lawyer with years of experience, common sense and a keen eye to the winning issues in every case," says Barry Cappello, Cappello & Noël [ More... ]
By Janene Scully, Noozhawk North County Editor | @JaneneScully | April 10, 2019 | 10:01 p.m. The U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs leader has withdrawn a decision to take 1,400 acres into trust for the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians, saying more environmental analysis is needed. The March 29 reversal by Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Tara Sweeney claimed [ More... ]
Two former clients of attorney Michael Avenatti filed a lawsuit yesterday against him, his law firms, and lawyers associated with him that alleges professional negligence and breach of fiduciary duty over the mishandling of a settlement, misuse of settlement funds, and conflicts of interest. (William Parrish, Timothy Fitzgibbons vs. Michael Avenatti, Eagan Avenatti, LLP, Avenatti & Associates, et al., Santa [ More... ]
Fifty years ago, an oil drilling company failed to put proper safety measures in place causing one of its oil platforms to rupture off the Santa Barbara coast. The result was 3 million gallons of crude oil spewing into 800 miles of the Pacific Ocean and onto 35 miles of Santa Barbara beaches. Thousands of mammals, fish and birds were [ More... ]
On February 13, 2019, U.S. District Court Judge Stephen Wilson found that the 2017 decision to take the land known as “Camp 4” into trust for the Santa Ynez Band of Mission Indians (the Band”) was unlawful. Crawford-Hall et al. v. United States of America et al., 2:17-cv-01616-SVW-AFM (U.S. District Court, C.D. Cal.) Camp 4 was purchased by the Band [ More... ]
