Articles from Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy

Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy announces on February 6, 2026 a Los Angeles jury returned a verdict in favor of twenty four residents of Carson, California who were exposed to toxic hydrogen sulfide gas for several months in the Fall of 2021. The residents were sickened by the “rotten egg” smell of the gas, which is known to cause headaches, nausea, and breathing problems. Carson is a working-class community in an industrial area. The Defendants denied responsibility for causing the odor, claimed the odor was an unforeseeable result of their conduct, and contended that the plaintiffs were not injured.

The former local business owner of Dutch Girl Cleaners for twenty-two years is suing petroleum giants Marathon Oil and Tesoro Co. for failing to clean up a toxic plume from a “Speedway Express” gas station in downtown Walnut Creek.

Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy filed a lawsuit in the Northern District of California on behalf of the owners of the beloved Moss Landing Haute Enchilada Restaurant, Café, and Gallery against Vistra Corporation (“Vistra”) for the Moss Landing Battery Plant fire. Kim and Luis Solano, the owners, were forced to close their business after the January 16th explosion and fire at the Moss Landing Power Plant at the Phase I building of the Vistra Battery Energy Storage Facility. They are but two examples of the potential hundreds of people affected by the explosion and fire.

Today, a coalition of non-profit environmental organizations including the Surfrider Foundation, the Sierra Club, Heal the Bay, and San Francisco Baykeeper, represented by Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, filed a lawsuit against ExxonMobil (“Exxon”), the world’s largest producer of single-use plastic polymers. The complaint, filed in San Francisco County Superior Court, alleges violations of California nuisance law and California unfair competition law and alleges Exxon concealed the harms caused by single-use plastics. The suit further alleges that Exxon systematically led the public to believe that plastic waste is easily and safely disposable via recycling, incineration or landfills, when in reality, plastic persists in the environment for thousands of years, leaking toxic chemicals that are known to harm human health and the environment. Exxon’s conduct has exacerbated the environmental crises of plastic pollution and harmed California’s coasts and waterways. The California Attorney General’s Office filed a separate action Monday addressing the same crises.

Paul N. “Pete” McCloskey, former Congressman, environmental champion, and partner in the San Francisco Bay Area law firm Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, died of congestive heart failure peacefully at his home in Winters, California, in the care of his wife of forty-two years, Helen, and their five dogs. He was 96.

Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy LLP filed a lawsuit on behalf of many longtime residents of Maywood, CA, next to Vernon, an industrial area, for their decades long exposure to cancer caused by carcinogenic Ethylene Oxide being released into the air. The chemical, which is a known human carcinogen, allegedly was released by Sterigenics, and its predecessor Griffith Micro Science, from its Vernon facility since approximately 1987.

Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy (“CPM”) filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of Martinez residents Alena Cruz and Shannon Payne, seeking to represent all individuals who reside in the City of Martinez and the surrounding communities against the Martinez Refinery—including PBF Energy Inc., PBF Energy Western Region LLC, and Martinez Refining Company LLC.

Ellis George Cipollone O’Brien Annaguey LLP, Ben Crump, Willie L. Brown Jr. state that May 17, 2023 marks the sixty-ninth anniversary of the landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education, which did away with the doctrine of “separate but equal” in public education. However, in the nearly seven decades since that decision, through documented redlining, predatory lending practices, and blatant discrimination, many urban neighborhoods remain largely unchanged in their racial demographics. Banks and other financial institutions have refused to lend to certain minorities in specific areas, thus keeping the attainment of home ownership out of their grasp and further undermining minorities pursuit of the American dream. Record low-interest rates at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic were thought to have presented a unique opportunity for these minorities to achieve new home ownership and secure their existing homes for the next generation, but an ongoing lawsuit against the country’s largest mortgage lender, Wells Fargo Bank, alleges the opposite occurred.

Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy (www.cpmlegal.com), and Bottini & Bottini announce that they have filed a class action lawsuit against Elon Musk on behalf of all persons who sold the common stock and securities of TWITTER, Inc. (NYSE: “TWTR”) at any time between May 13, 2022 and October 4, 2022 (the “Class Period”). The lawsuit, captioned Pampena v. Elon Musk, Case No. 3:22-cv-05937, is pending in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.

Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy filed a civil lawsuit on behalf of Shawn O’Connell in San Francisco County Superior Court against Celonis, a private software company that has been valued in the multi-billions.

Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy filed a civil lawsuit in Alameda County Superior Court on behalf of Marc Cage, a former Construction Project Manager with Tesla, alleging that he was fired for reporting widespread construction violations in Tesla’s factories and race discrimination. Cage, who is African American, alleges that Tesla’s facilities were filled with racist graffiti and that he faced repeated bigoted insults on the job. As a former Department of Defense contractor in Afghanistan, Cage alleges he was discriminated against and harassed for his perceived Veteran status and reporting construction violations to his superiors.