Calif. 2nd Upholds $470K Fee Award to Attorney

An attorney who tried a personal-injury lawsuit against an employer and lost on appeal still gets to collect $470,000 in legal fees from one of the workers, the California 2nd Court of Appeal ruled Tuesday in an unpublished opinion. Attorney Martina A. Silas represented Ross Gunnell and three of his co-workers in their personal injury lawsuit against their former employer, Metrocolor Laboratories. A trial judge decided that the claim belonged under the exclusive remedy provision of workers' compensation, which spawned a malpractice suit by one of the workers against Silas. The original law...