Brian S. Kabateck

Thirty-One Families on Sinking Ground

Friendly Village Mobile Home Park stood on a former landfill in North Long Beach. The ground shifted beneath its 182 spaces. Residents described methane, sewage backing into homes, broken roads, electrical failures, cracked walls, rats, mold, and rents that rose while the property deteriorated.

Many residents were elderly, disabled, or living on fixed incomes. Relocation was hardly practical: unstable ground did not become portable, and affordable vacant spaces were scarce. Residents owned the homes but lacked control over the land beneath them. The same structure that gave residents an investment also made leaving difficult.

Brian Kabateck led the trial team with Shant Karnikian, Natalie Pang, and Gary Fields. The first phase involved thirty-one families and fifty-five residents. On November 19, 2018, a Los Angeles jury awarded $5,566,156 in compensatory damages. Eight days later, jurors added approximately $34.1 million in punitive damages after findings involving negligence, unfair business practices, retaliatory eviction, and financial elder abuse.

The verdict opened a second phase. Ownership entities entered Chapter 7 during trial. More than one hundred additional families still had claims, and a judgment against companies in bankruptcy raised a different question from the one the jury had answered: what assets could be collected, preserved, sold, and distributed?

Bankruptcy, Sale, and Distribution

The Friendly Village recovery came from several sources. In November 2019, a bankruptcy judge approved a $42.5 million settlement for 151 families. Plaintiffs had already received $6.9 million through earlier settlements. The agreement also required the park to be sold, with at least $7 million from the proceeds distributed among residents, including some people who had not joined the lawsuit.

Together, those components produced a $56.4 million resolution. The total combined a bankruptcy settlement of pending claims and collection risks, earlier payments from separate defendants or stages, and a court-supervised sale component tied to the property’s value.

In March 2021, a nonprofit public-benefit corporation bought Friendly Village for $11 million. The proceeds helped fund the settlement. The purchaser also assumed the work of stabilizing operations, monitoring landfill gas, repairing infrastructure, and preserving affordable housing.

Kabateck served as lead plaintiffs’ counsel, coordinating the trial team with the bankruptcy trustee, court-appointed financial advisers, sale bidders, a nonprofit buyer, and judicial approval. After the jury judgment, Kabateck and his team negotiated a bankruptcy plan that compensated residents and transferred the property to an organization committed to stabilization and affordable housing.

Forty-Five Dollars per Printer

The Epson Ink Cartridge Cases concerned losses too small to litigate one printer at a time. Purchasers alleged that certain Epson inkjet printers displayed an empty-cartridge warning and stopped printing while measurable ink remained. A single user might lose part of a cartridge. Repetition across many models and purchasers created the economic case.

Kabateck Brown Kellner and Chitwood Harley Harnes served as lead class counsel with other firms. The coordinated proceeding covered qualifying printers purchased between April 8, 1999 and May 8, 2006.

The settlement offered each qualifying class member one of three benefits per printer: a $45 Epson Store credit; a $25 check plus a $20 credit; or a twenty-five percent Epson Store discount capped at $100. The notice established model lists, claim rules, deadlines, releases, and appeal procedures. Counsel’s fee application could not exceed $35 million.

The settlement’s maximum value depended on how many class members filed claims and used the benefits they selected. Recovery varied with the chosen benefit, whether store credits were redeemed, and how much a percentage discount saved on a later purchase. The settlement compensated class members individually rather than through one undivided payment.

Restoring Parkview’s Evidence

Parkview Villas Association owned a twenty-six-unit condominium complex damaged in the 1994 Northridge earthquake. State Farm estimated total repairs at $214,289.90 and paid $16,798.11 after applying the policy’s building deductibles. Parkview later alleged structural damage and relied on experts who placed the loss near $1.5 million.

At summary judgment, the trial court treated declarations and hundreds of pages of Parkview evidence as outside the operative record because the accompanying separate statement did not enumerate every supporting fact. It entered judgment for State Farm before the valuation evidence could be tried.

Kabateck and Richard Kellner represented Parkview in the Court of Appeal. They persuaded the court that any defect in the separate statement was curable, particularly because State Farm had answered the evidence in detail. The court held that ending the action without permitting correction was an abuse of discretion and restored Parkview’s opportunity for a decision on the merits.

The Court of Appeal restored Parkview’s evidence to the merits process and returned the valuation dispute for rulings on objections and summary judgment. Kabateck’s appellate victory preserved the association’s opportunity to prove the full earthquake loss.

Independent Representation for Ratepayers

After undisclosed conflicts compromised earlier representation in Los Angeles ratepayer litigation, Judge Elihu Berle appointed Brian Kabateck as successor class counsel in 2019. Kabateck pursued discovery and recovery of fees on behalf of the class, and the Court of Appeal preserved the principal relief.

The appointment placed an independent plaintiffs’ team in charge of protecting ratepayers and administering the settlement process.

Five Flight Attendants and Two Forums

American Airlines introduced uniforms manufactured by Twin Hill in 2016. Employees alleged that chemicals in the garments caused rashes, respiratory distress, neurological symptoms, allergic reactions, and lasting occupational harm. Twin Hill denied that the uniforms were defective or caused the illnesses.

Daniel Balaban led the California trials. Kabateck LLP lawyers Anastasia Mazzella, Brian Kabateck, and Sheri Lalehzarian served as co-counsel. A 2023 bellwether jury awarded approximately $1.085 million to four flight attendants. In June 2025, a second jury awarded more than $18.6 million to five current and former flight attendants. The second verdict assigned ninety percent of the fault to Twin Hill and ten percent to American Airlines, and the court finalized it in September.

More than 300 other clients remained in discovery for later bellwether trials. Those verdicts showed how juries assessed the common evidence and helped the parties plan later trials and settlement. Each remaining claimant still had to prove exposure, symptoms, diagnosis, causation, and damages.

Maui Wildfire Claimants and the Global Settlement

The August 8, 2023 Maui fires killed more than one hundred people and destroyed homes, businesses, and much of Lahaina. Kabateck LLP represents hundreds of residents and businesses pursuing claims within the coordinated settlement process.

In August 2024, seven defendants announced a $4.037 billion global settlement in principle covering approximately 2,200 affected parties and roughly 450 lawsuits. The State of Hawai‘i, Maui County, Hawaiian Electric, Kamehameha Schools, West Maui Land Company, Hawaiian Telcom, and Charter/Spectrum agreed to contribute.

The State later created a settlement trust fund and appropriated $807.5 million for its share. Claimants receiving money must release contributing defendants. The allocation process still must distinguish deaths, physical injuries, homes, businesses, personal property, displacement, and economic loss.

Property insurers sought to intervene after paying their insureds. In February 2026, the Hawai‘i Supreme Court held that settlement extinguished the insurers’ separate subrogation claims and confined recovery to the statutory lien process. It affirmed denial of intervention in the class proceeding. The $4.037 billion global amount includes a $135 million class settlement fund; individual awards, class claims, and insurance liens still require their own administration.

Kabateck LLP represents hundreds of Maui residents and businesses within the $4.037 billion settlement process. Their claims encompass deaths, physical injuries, destroyed homes, business interruption, displacement, and personal-property loss.

Building the Firm’s Next Generation

Kabateck was admitted in California in 1991 after studying at the University of Southern California and Loyola Law School. He founded the firm now known as Kabateck LLP and built a practice across insurance, consumer claims, catastrophic injury, disasters, and mass litigation.

In June 2024, the firm elevated Shant Karnikian to managing partner. Kabateck remained founding partner and concentrated on selected complex and high-value matters. The transition preserved his trial and strategic role while placing daily management with the next generation of firm leadership.

Kabateck has also led institutions beyond the firm, including the Consumer Attorneys of California, Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Bar Association, Loyola Law School Board, and Loyola Marymount University trusteeship. Those roles let him shape bar rules, training, and professional programs for plaintiff lawyers.