Known for his courtroom command and credibility, William H. Staples is a veteran defense litigation generalist.  He heads the firm’s litigation group and resolves complex disputes and achieves numerous defense verdicts and cost-effective settlements. He represents businesses, employers, manufacturers and their insurance carriers. 

Veteran Defense Litigator, Practice Niche in Vertical Transportation

For the past three decades, his practice emphasis has included product liability, construction defects and disputes, employment and commercial litigation, premises liability, toxic torts and catastrophic injuries.  Elevator and escalator injuries are a special practice focus.

Representative achievements include minimizing a $360 million product liability class action for a national window manufacturer and prevailing before the Supreme Court of California on a housing discrimination claim.  

Focus on Excellence Earns One in a Million Distinction

Bill positions cases to refute plaintiffs and achieve early resolution, managing the critical investigation process and expert teams. He presents compelling evidence before judges and juries and in alternative dispute resolution forums, often achieving favorable results in cases with unsympathetic defendants and challenging fact patterns.

He has been a member of the executive council and is currently the national membership chair of Association of Defense Trial Attorneys, a selective professional network of highly respected attorneys viewed as “one in a million.”

Bill Staples’s representative matters include:

Product Liability

• Windows – Defended a products liability class action that alleged defective design and manufacturing claims against a window maker.  Lawsuit involved 80,000 potential homes and millions of windows.  Structured a favorable settlement with a nominal cash payout and an extended warranty.
• Industrial Machinery - Achieved successful settlement in the defense of a manufacturer of a tin finishing machine at a steel plant.  The clients faced claims of liability in connection with an accident involving the severing of an arm.
• Snow Thrower - Obtained a defense verdict for a national retailer in a defective design claim involving injuries the plaintiff alleged after he tried to unclog a running snow-throwing machine by sticking his hand down the exhaust chute.

Business and Construction Litigation

• Construction - Defended a general contractor using a failure of good faith argument against the plaintiff, a bonding company. Bill shifted the burden for over $2 million of construction costs from the contractor back to its bonding company.
• Shopping Center - Defended claims of waterproofing defects against a general contractor who built a multilevel, retail center in Emeryville.  Assertive handling of the plaintiff’s allegations led to a favorable settlement for our client.
• Apartment Complex –Favorably resolved claims made against a contractor concerning responsibility for construction defects in breezeways and stairways of an apartment complex.
• Public Housing – Trial defense of a contractor of a 98-unit housing project in Richmond.  Bill reduced the contractor’s liability in multiple suits with the city and surety company.

Catastrophic Injury and Wrongful Death

• Motorcycle - Obtained a favorable settlement in a wrongful death claim made against our client, the driver of an 18-wheeler, involving a motorcyclist’s fatal accident.
• Diver - Defended a public entity in a complex multimillion-dollar lawsuit resulting from a catastrophic swimming pool injury that rendered a diver quadriplegic.
• Water-skier - Achieved a defense verdict in a trial involving injury claims made against a competitive water-skier teaching a friend to water-ski jump. 
• Fishing Injury - Jury defense verdict reached for a defendant who was alleged to have supplied defective eyeglass lenses that shattered when hit by a fishing lure.
• Jackhammer Injury - Eliminated liability for our client, an electrical contractor, in a wrongful death claim connected to a jackhammer-related accident. While defending his client, Bill was able to assign liability to the U.S. Navy.

Housing Discrimination

• Racial Discrimination - Appeared before the Supreme Court of California defending a racial discrimination housing matter. Our attorneys declared a portion of the Government Code unconstitutional and protected our client from thousands of dollars of potential damage claims.

Employment Litigation

• Discrimination and Wrongful Termination - Achieved a defense verdict for an employer against claims of wrongful termination, sexual discrimination and defamation by a pregnant and unwed employee.

Vertical Transportation

• Elevator - Defended an elevator maintenance company in a complex injury and negligence case involving an infant’s death on Christmas Eve in an older elevator. We successfully reduced our client’s liability to a nominal amount.