Lawyer Christine Spagnoli to be Honored with Lifetime Legal Achievement Award

We at Bisnar Chase are proud to stand with colleague and lawyer Christine Spagnoli of Santa Monica-based Greene Broillet & Wheeler, who will receive the Legal Achievement Award at this years Rage for Justice Awards. The star-studded event, which will also honor Senator Bernie Sanders and his wife, Jane, as Public Servants of the Year, will be held May 6 at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills.

The awards are presented and hosted every year by Consumer Watchdog to honor the heroes and heroines of the public interest movement. The awards are named after Phillip Burton, one of the most driven progressive legislators in American history. His story has been told in the acclaimed book, “A Rage for Justice.”

Lifetime Legal Achievement

Christine Spagnoli is receiving this award for being a force behind the successful campaign to prevent the Obama Administration from giving General Motors a get-out-of-jail-free card for injuries and deaths they caused before the company’s 2009 federal bailout. She is also the first woman ever to receive this award.

Spagnoli’s life’s work has been about fighting for safer vehicles. Her litigation on behalf of consumers injured by defective fuel tanks, collapsing roofs, exploding Firestone tires and other defects has changed industry practices and made our roads safer. Spagnoli is also one of the world’s leading experts on so-called “tread separation” cases involving older tires that separate causing devastating rollover accidents. She has taken on Ford, Goodyear, Cooper and other tire manufacturers and has deposed top leaders of the auto industry.

A Well-Deserved Honor

“We are proud to stand with my good friend Christine Spagnoli whose personal accomplishments as a lawyer have benefitted the world by making the vehicles we drive safer,” said Brian Chase, senior partner at Bisnar Chase. “Christine is a trailblazer and a beacon for all trial lawyers who aspire to make vehicles safer for consumers.”

In an interview with LawDragon, Spagnoli explained her passion for consumer rights. “I would say I’m a baby boomer,” she said.

“I came of age and formulated my view of the world when I was in high school in the early ’70s, the era of Watergate impeachment hearings, advancement in civil rights and the women’s rights movement. With all these societal changes, I just think I veered toward the underdog, helping protect people from the abuse of power.”