Kiesel Boucher Larson
Kiesel Boucher Larson is a consumer litigation firm. In 2007, Kiesel Boucher Larson was selected as being among the top .5% of lawyers in America.
The firm was established in 1999 as Kiesel & Larson merged with the Law Offices of Raymond P. Boucher, creating one of the most formidable law firms in the State of California.
Kiesel Boucher Larson represented hundreds of sexually abused victims in the historic Southern California Clergy Molestation cases, which settled for over $1 billion, in October, 2007. The importance of the settlement also paved way for The Release of thousands of pages of sealed historical records, which the Catholic Church had been suppressing since the crimes against all of the molested victims took place.
Paul R. Kiesel frequently contributes his legal expertise as a legal commentator appearing on ABC 20/20, Cable News Network (CNN), Court TV, MSNBC, German Television Network, National TCI Cable News Talk, local Los Angeles news including, KCAL Channel 9, KCOP Channel 11, radio including KCRW Los Angeles Public Radio, 89.9 FM, KFI Talk Radio AM 640, New York Public Radio WNYC, New York WABC AM 77 Talk Radio, Print Media including The Los Angeles Times, The Los Angeles Daily Journal, USA Today, The National Law Journal, The Philadelphia Daily News, The San Jose Mercury News and The Philadelphia Enquirer.
Raymond P. Boucher, who successfully settled over $1 billion worth of claims against the Catholic Church for its role in the clergy [...] abuse cases, was named "Trial Lawyer of the Year for 2008."
Metrolink Chatsworth Accident
Kiesel Boucher Larson represents several of the vicitms and their families against Metrolink per the September 12, 2008 Chatsworth accident.
The accident occurred after a Metrolink dispatcher tried, too late, to warn the engineer that he was AbOUT to collide with a freight train. The engineer had been text messaging seconds before the Friday rush-hour crash occurred, claiming 25 lives.
Metrolink officials originally stated that their train's engineer apparently failed to heed a trackside red light near a junction with a railroad siding. However, they were not aware that the engineer's negiligence was due to him text messaging twenty seconds before the two trains collided.
Regular riders on the route said that the Metrolink train heading toward Simi Valley often stops at the junction to wait for a Union Pacific freight train headed toward downtown Los Angeles to switch to the siding.
On that Friday in mid-September, however, the Metrolink train continued north before the freight train had passed, tripping an alarm at the commuter line's dispatch center in Pomona.
A Metrolink dispatcher called the train and reached the conductor, according to a Metrolink spokesman. But by then, The crash had already occurred on the curve leading west toward Simi Valley, [...] the engineer instantly, due to the freight train’s locomotive pushing the Metrolink engine back inside the first coach.
Had Metrolink installed positive train control devices, most railroad safety experts believe that the wreck could have been avoidable.