O'Reilly&Danko, a plaintiff's trial law firm

The Firm has established an enviable record of victories representing clients from around the world in state and federal U.S. appellate courts.

The following are a few of our notable appellate cases.

Denevi v. LGCC, LLC
121 Cal.App.4th 1211 (6th Dist. 2004) {PDF}

The court held that a shareholder who had maintained a successful derivative action on behalf of all members of a corporation for loss of a corporate asset could also bring a separate action against the corporation for his own personal losses arising from the same underlying series of transactions. Initially, the court ruled against the plaintiff and held that he had no cause of action for his personal losses. But in a rare move, the court granted the plaintiff’s petition for rehearing and then ruled in his favor.

White v. Inbound Aviation 69 Cal.App.4th 910 (2d Dist. 1999) {PDF}
In this landmark decision, the Court of Appeal upheld liability against a business that rented an aircraft to a novice pilot for a trip to a high-altitude airport. He crashed the aircraft on takeoff from that airport, killing himself and two passengers. The defendant rental-company contended it had no liability because the pilot was licensed and thus competent to make the flight. But the court held that the company was liable for negligently entrusting the aircraft to a pilot that it knew or should have known was incompetent for a takeoff from a high-altitude airport. White has since been followed by other courts in imposing liability for negligent entrustment to unskilled pilots. Hubbard v. Pacific Flight Services, Inc. (2005) 2005 Cal. Unpub. LEXIS 9678.

Calvillo-Silva v. Home Grocery
19 Cal.4th 714 (1998) {PDF}

A customer who was shot and paralyzed by a store employee during a robbery sued the store. The store contended the plaintiff was part of the robbery and that he was thus barred from recovering from the store. The trial court dismissed the action. The Supreme Court, though, held that, even if the plaintiff was part of the robbery, he was entitled to show that the store’s use of deadly force was not justified under the circumstances.

Jones v. Beech Aircraft Corp.
995 S.W.2d 767
(Tex.App. — San Antonio 1999 pet. dism. w.o.j.) {PDF}

A landmark decision in which the Texas courts held Beech Aircraft Corporation subject to general personal jurisdiction in Texas despite a federal appellate court's earlier ruling to the contrary.

Salgado v. County of Los Angeles
19 Cal.4th 629 (1998) {PDF}

A child severely injured at birth by a hospital’s malpractice obtained a verdict again the hospital. The verdict included an award of $550,000 for future pain and suffering. Pursuant to California’s Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act (MICRA), the trial court reduced the award to $240,000 and ordered that the $240,000 be paid in periodic payments over 66.8 years. The child would thus have received only about $3,600 a year. The Supreme Court rejected that computation and held that the lifetime payments should be equal to a present award of $240,000 plus the interest that amount would earn over the 66.8 years if prudently invested. This result substantially increased the total of the lifetime payments the child would receive.