Kevin Frank Calcagnie

Kevin F. Calcagnie is a partner in the Newport Beach office of Robinson Calcagnie‚ Inc.‚ specializing in civil litigation with an emphasis in products liability. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration and Finance from California State University at Fullerton‚ and a Juris Doctor degree from Western State University College of Law‚ where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Western State University Law Review. He was admitted to the California Bar in 1983‚ and has been admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court and the United States Courts of Appeals for the Ninth and Fifth Circuits.

Kevin is listed in The Best Lawyers in America®, a peer-reviewed survey listing outstanding attorneys throughout the United States, and was named the Best Lawyers® 2017 Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions “Plaintiffs Lawyer of the Year” in Orange County.  He has also been listed for several years by the attorney rating service Super Lawyers, and has been named in the Super Lawyers Top 50 Orange County and Top 100 Southern California lists. In 2015 he was named by The Trial Lawyer Magazine in its annual list of “America’s Most Influential Trial Lawyers.” In 2010, he was honored as a recipient of one of the California Lawyer Attorney of the Year (CLAY) Awards. The CLAY awards are presented annually by California Lawyer Magazine to attorneys in various areas of legal practice whose achievements have made a profound impact on the law. In 2011, Kevin was inducted into the Western State University Alumni Hall of Fame, and in 2008 he was honored by Cal State University Fullerton’s Mihaylo School of Business and Economics as one of their Alumni at the Top. He has an AV rating from Martindale-Hubbell, the highest rating for legal ability and ethical standards under the national legal directory’s peer review system.

• “Attorney of the Year” – Appellate Law, California Lawyer Magazine
• “Top 50 Orange County,” Super Lawyers
• “Lawyer of the Year” – OC Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions, Best Lawyers®
•  “America’s Most Influential Trial Lawyers,” The Trial Lawyer Magazine
• “Top 100 Southern California,” Super Lawyers
• “Best Lawyers in America” – Products Liability Litigation, Best Lawyers®

He was one of the lead attorneys representing the County of Los Angeles in its suit against several tobacco manufacturers‚ which resulted in a settlement under which the County will receive approximately $3.3 billion over 25 years. He also served as associate counsel with the Orange County District Attorney’s Office in the prosecution of actions against oil companies arising from underground storage tank leakage, and in an action brought on behalf of the People of the State of California against Toyota under California’s unfair competition and false advertising laws. He has tried cases in California‚ Arizona and Texas‚ and has acted as counsel pro hac vice in state and federal courts in several other states. He was co-counsel in the case of Ketchum vs. Hyundai‚ which resulted in a $15 million jury verdict‚ as well as In re Aircrash in Bali‚ Indonesia‚ where a jury in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles found Pan American World Airways liable for willful misconduct in the crash of a jet airliner.

Kevin has three decades of experience in automotive products liability litigation relating to fuel system design‚ rollover protection‚ structural crashworthiness‚ dynamic stability and occupant restraint systems. He also has a broad range of experience in mass tort litigation involving pharmaceuticals‚ medical devices and other defective products‚ in both federal Multi-District Litigation (MDL) and California Coordinated Proceedings (JCCP). Kevin has also represented a number of clients in connection with commercial and military aviation accidents‚ including crashes involving EgyptAir‚ Alaska Airlines‚ Pan Am‚ U.S. Marine Corps helicopters and ultralight aircraft.

He is an adjunct professor at the University of California‚ Irvine School of Law‚ and has been a frequent lecturer and writer on topics related to civil litigation for a number of organizations‚ including the American Bar Association‚ the Practicing Law Institute‚ the American Association for Justice‚ the Orange County Bar Association‚ the Western Trial Lawyers Association‚ the Consumer Attorneys of California‚ the Ventura County Trial Lawyers Association‚ the Kansas Trial Lawyers Association‚ the Montana Trial Lawyers Association, and the Continuing Education of the Bar. He is also a member of the Executive Council of the Mihaylo College of Business and Economics at California State University, Fullerton‚ as well as a member of the Council’s Advisory Board‚ and is a Founding Fellow of the Orange County Bar Foundation Society of Fellows.

In 1997, Kevin was elected to the Board of Governors of the Consumer Attorneys of California (CAOC)‚ and served for several years as a member of the At-Large Board of Governors. He received CAOC’s Presidential Award of Merit in 1994‚ 1995‚ 1996 and 2000. He also served as the organization’s Education Chair and as Editor-in-Chief of FORUM Magazine‚ a monthly publication of CAOC.

Kevin and his wife Peggy live in Coto de Caza‚ California. Their daughter Kelly is also a graduate of Cal State Fullerton‚ and their son Sean is a graduate of USC and a former wide receiver for the Trojans.

Since 1995 Kevin has written a regular feature for CAOC’s FORUM Magazine, updating attorneys, legislators and judges on recent opinions from the California Supreme Court and courts of appeal. He assisted the Judicial Council Task Force on Jury Instructions in the preparation of the Judicial Council of California Civil Jury Instructions (CACI), and has been a contributing editor to three practice guides for attorneys, including California Practice Guide: Civil Procedure Before Trial, Claims and Defenses (The Rutter Group 2012); Products Liability Litigation: Product Studies, Clark Boardman Callaghan (1996); and A Guide to Toxic Torts, Matthew Bender & Company (1987).