Firm Profile

Since its founding in 1974, Kazan, McClain, Abrams, Lyons, Greenwood & Harley, A Professional Law Corporation, has represented many hundreds of people with cancer, especially people suffering from mesothelioma, a cancer whose only known cause is exposure to asbestos. Some of the principals in this law firm are pioneers in asbestos litigation and among the most experienced mesothelioma lawyers in California.

The Firm has a nationwide practice and reputation in asbestos litigation. We have represented clients across the United States, and in Canada, Mexico and the United Kingdom.

We were lead counsel for a group of objectors in the Georgine (CCR) class action, and our briefs helped persuade the U.S. Supreme Court to reject that settlement. We have served on asbestos disease victims creditors' committees in the bankruptcy reorganizations of major asbestos companies, including Johns-Manville, Celotex, Carey Canada, Amatex and H.K. Porter. We were class counsel for plaintiffs in the Fibreboard Global Settlement Litigation, which was an attempt to resolve the dispute between Fibreboard, its insurers, and many thousands of asbestos litigation claimants. The settlement, however, was disallowed by the Supreme Court.

Our firm's practice is limited to cases involving catastrophic injury and death, in particular from exposure to asbestos and other toxic substances.

We pursue products liability, premises liability, negligence and punitive damage causes of action in third party civil cases. We also represent our civil litigation clients in workers' compensation claims, when appropriate.

Our attorneys have been instrumental in winning precedent-setting rulings by the California Appellate and Supreme Courts, such as Buttram, Sullivan, Force, Steele and Rudkin. All of the principals and many of the associates have extensive trial experience.

The Firm is consulted by and gives advice to over a thousand potential clients each year. Over the years, we have filed over two thousand cases and we now file, on average, 20-25 cases per year.

Our staff of over 60 employees, including 17 attorneys, work on this limited number of new cases each year, allowing The Firm to provide quality representation to every client.

We are large enough to have extensive resources and many years of experience, yet small enough to ensure that every client receives individual and outstanding representation. Each case is individually developed and handled by a small team of attorneys, paralegals and investigators. This team also has the resources of the entire office to draw upon, including professional investigators and extensive databases.

Our representation of clients has two important goals. The first is to go as far as possible within the limits of the legal system to redress the wrong done to each of our clients. The second is to have a broader impact: to improve the work-place through public education about occupational health and safety, and through legislative advocacy. We do this in our litigation, by supporting our non-profit Foundation, and by our active participation in WORKSAFE!, a statewide coalition that supports occupational safety and health.

The Firm frequently provides counsel to the AsbestosDisease Awareness Organization (ADAO) when it acts as "friend of the Court" (amicus) in appellate cases. This relationship grew out of The Firm's representation of Jim Vermeulen, AVA's founder. Mr. Vermeulen, a Johns-Manville employee, became an activist for asbestos victims and was the only non-lawyer representative on the Manville Asbestos Victims Creditors' Committee, where The Firm was his personal counsel.

The Firm also maintains an active pro bono practice (that is, we work for free) on behalf of labor organizations and public interest groups, and our attorneys are active in and on the boards of many organizations, including Consumer Attorneys of California, the Alameda-Contra Costa Trial Lawyers Association, the Charles Houston Bar Association, Cal/OSHA's Advisory Committee, the National Lawyers Guild, Santa Clara County Committee on Occupational Safety and Health, the AFL-CIO Lawyers Coordinating Committee, the Labor and Employment Law Section of the State Bar of California, Women Lawyers of Alameda County, Trial Lawyers for Public Justice, and the Association of Trial Lawyers of America.

Click here to obtain more information about some of The Firm's significant trial verdicts and appellate decisions. If you have any questions about The Firm, please contact us or explore our website.