Gregory R. Vanni Named California Consumer Attorney Of The Year
Pasadena, California (PRWEB) December 09, 2014 -- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE December 8, 2014
The California Consumer Attorney of the Year award recognizes the best lawyer in California who has advanced the rights and safety of California consumers with the result of a particular case. For his work to improve the safety of vehicles that run on compressed natural gas, Consumer Attorneys of California (CAOC) has named Gregory R. Vanni, of the Pasadena law firm Thon Beck Vanni Callahan & Powell, as 2014 California Consumer Attorney of the Year. The award was announced November 15 during the awards dinner at CAOC’s 53rd Annual Convention at The Palace Hotel in San Francisco. Governor Brown was at the convention for an earlier event, and recently-retired California Senate President pro tempore Darrell Steinberg was also honored at the CAOC awards dinner as Legislator of the Year.
In a case with important potential ramifications for consumer safety (Superior Court of the State of California for the County of Los Angeles v. Lincoln Composites, Inc., etc.; et al., Case No. GC 044019 consolidated with GC046858 and GC047023), Mr. Vanni and others represented Israel Solorio, who lost his right leg and suffered other severe injuries when two compressed natural gas (CNG) tanks in his delivery van exploded in 2009. The case led to an investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and NASA’s White Sands Testing Facility. Results of the investigation are found in the document “Hydrogen and CNG Fuel System Safety Research” released by the NHTSA on January 26, 2012 and available the SAE website. The catastrophic ruptures, occurring within the tanks’ normal service life, called into question existing safety standards and the design, manufacturing, and testing processes for all-plastic CNG tanks. In the interest of public safety, Vanni and the other attorneys funded the investigation at a cost of nearly $2 million. The case settled for a confidential amount and created a database for NHTSA and NASA that can be used to save lives in the future.
Consumer Attorneys of California is a group of plaintiffs’ attorneys representing California consumers in personal injury and product liability cases and other causes.
For more information:
Gregory R. Vanni
Thon Beck Vanni Callahan & Powell, PC
1100 East Green Street
Pasadena, California 91106
626-795-8333
gvanni(at)thonbeck(dot)com
J.G. Preston, CAOC Press Secretary
916-669-7126
jgpreston(at)caoc(dot)org
Eric Bailey, CAOC Communications Director
916-669-7122
ebailey(at)caoc(dot)org
Andrew Stickel, [email protected], http://socialfirestarter.com, 407-415-4083, [email protected]
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