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Episode 149: Doris Cheng | Maria Renteria v. Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority | $1.4 million verdict

This week your hosts Steve Lowry and Yvonne Godfrey interview Doris Cheng of Walkup, Melodia, Kelly & Schoenberger (https://www.walkuplawoffice.com/)

 

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Episode Details:

Acclaimed California trial lawyer and former San Francisco Bar Association president Doris Cheng of Walkup, Melodia, Kelly & Schoenberger shares how she successfully represented a grieving mother after her son was fatally struck by a city bus while riding his bike. On May 15, 2017, Maria Renteria's son, Luis Alvarez, Jr., rode his bike in the right lane of a Los Angeles street until he came upon a stopped Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA) bus and, adhering to the rules of the road, moved to the left lane to pass the bus. In an attempt to return to the right lane and travel in front of the bus, Luis was struck by the bus, dragged 70 feet and killed on impact. Trial lawyer Doris Cheng argued that the bus driver failed to be aware of her surroundings and did not adhere to her training, while defense counsel countered that the bus driver should not be held to a higher standard of care than Luis or any bicyclist. In spite of the defense's tactics, which included revealing the estrangement between Luis and his mother due to Luis's father's chronic abuse, a Los Angeles County jury assigned a percentage of negligence to both LACMTA and Luis, awarding Maria $1,400,000 in damages for the tragic loss of her son. In this in-depth discussion, Doris Cheng discusses everything from dealing with bad facts in voir dire to when to abandon the conventional "rules of the road" formula, instead focusing on the fundamental rules of persuasion: ethos, pathos and logos.

Read/Download Trial Documents

Guest Bio:

Doris Cheng

Widely recognized for her legal work, Doris Cheng has been ranked as one of the top 50 women lawyers and top 100 lawyers in Northern California. She is listed among the Best Lawyers of America®, LawDragon 500 Leading Lawyers, SuperLawyers® and San Francisco Best Lawyers. She has been chosen as Lawyer of the Year by Best Lawyers of America for 2017.

Ms. Cheng is a partner in the law firm of Walkup Melodia Kelly & Schoenberger in San Francisco.  She has obtained seven and eight figure settlements and verdicts on behalf of catastrophically injured plaintiffs.  She is a past President of the San Francisco Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates, the Bar Association of San Francisco, Justice & Diversity Center, and the San Francisco Trial Lawyer Association.  She has been inducted into the International Academy of Trial Lawyers and American College of Trial Lawyers.  She serves as a member of the National Judicial College Board of Visitors and Kaiser Arbitration Oversight Board.

As part of her commitment to the rule of law, Ms. Cheng has conducted training programs for trial lawyers and judges in Mexico, Kosovo, and Macedonia.  She has led trial skills programs in Northern Ireland, Scotland, Singapore, Antigua, Bahamas, Trinidad, Guyana and other areas in the Caribbean Basin.  She is the inaugural recipient of the American Board of Trial Advocates' Champion of Justice Award (2022).  She is also the recipient of the Consumer Attorneys of California Robert Cartwright Sr. Award, in recognition of excellence in trial advocacy and dedication to teaching trial advocacy to fellow lawyers and to the public (2019).

She is an adjunct professor at the University of San Francisco School of Law.  She has taught trial advocacy at University of Notre Dame, Emory University, Stanford Law School, and University of California, Berkeley School of Law.

Ms. Cheng is a co-author of the eminent treatise, The Rutter Group California Practice Guide on Personal Injury, and the trial practice guide, Mastering the Mechanics of Civil Jury Trials.

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Free Resources:

Stages Of A Jury Trial - Part 1

Stages Of A Jury Trial - Part 2