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Raphael Metzger

Raphael Metzger received his undergraduate education at Northwestern University and did graduate studies at Indiana University, where he was awarded an M.M., and Johns Hopkins, from which he received a D.M.E. in 1980. After teaching at the Claremont Colleges, he attended Southwestern University School of Law in Los Angeles, completing his J.D. in two years. During this time, he wrote an article that was awarded a national prize in the Nathan Burkan Memorial Copyright Competition.

In 1985, Mr. Metzger began practice as an associate with Perona, Langer, LaTorraca & Beck in Long Beach, litigating securities fraud cases and business tort cases. In 1987 he opened his own office, handling securities fraud and business litigation. Later that year he filed his first environmental case, representing a corporate owner of a Superfund site. On behalf of the company and its principals, Mr. Metzger litigated several environmental cases, including a CERCLA and RCRA case against several oil companies, environmental contamination insurance coverage cases, and agency enforcement cases for air pollution, soil pollution, and groundwater contamination.

In 1990, Mr. Metzger was asked to represent his first client suffering toxic injuries -- a woman who had worked at a detergent manufacturing plant and had sustained life-threatening injuries from occupational exposure to caustic and irritant chemicals. Mr. Metzger filed suit for the woman against more than 50 chemical companies, obtaining settlements totaling in seven figures after 10 weeks of trial. Ever since, he has concentrated on litigating toxic tort cases involving occupational diseases. Mr. Metzger has also secured insurance for organ transplants for clients. He considers his greatest success a case in which he negotiated unlimited lifetime medical care for a client who is now the longest-surviving female single-lung transplant recipient in the world.

Mr. Metzger is a member of the California Bar, all federal district courts in the State of California, the federal Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court. He is also a member of various legal organizations and professional societies.

He has successfully litigated several published cases: Arnold v. The Dow Chemical Company, (2001) 91 Cal. App.4th 698, 110 Cal.Rptr.2d 722 [FIFRA does not preempt state law claims for design defect, strict liability and breach of implied warranties]; Laico v. Atlantic Richfield Company, (6th Dist. 2001) No. H 021130 (unpublished opinion) [a petroleum refiner is not relieved of duty to warn workers of the toxic hazards of its chemical products simply because the worker's employer is sophisticated and knowledgeable about the hazards];Bockrath v. Aldrich Chemical Co., (1999) 21 Cal. 4th 71 [pleading requirements for occupational cancer cases]; Toxic Injuries Corp. v. Safety-Kleen Corp. (C.D. Cal. 1999) 57 F.Supp.2d 947 [nonremovability of private attorney general cases alleging violations of Proposition 65 and California's Unfair Business Practices Act]; Ascon Properties, Inc. v. Mobil Oil Corp., 866 F.2d 1149 (9th Cir. 1989) [CERCLA]; Bourassa v. Desrochers, 938 F.2d 1036 (9th Cir. 1991) [securities fraud and jurisdiction]; Cantrell v. Great Republic Insurance Co., 873 F.2d 1249 (9th Cir. 1989) [ERISA preemption]; Matek v. Murat, 638 F.Supp. 775 (C.D. Cal. 1986), aff'd, 862 F.2d 720 (9th Cir. 1988) [securities fraud and racketeering].

Mr. Metzger is a sought after public speaker as well as a widely published writer. Recent speaking engagements include "Environmental Seminar Toxic Tort Issues" in Los Angeles, May 2004 and "Overlooked Diseases as Compensable Consequences" for the California Applicants' Attorneys Association in June 2004. A number of articles written by Mr. Metzger have been published in legal journals. Mr. Metzger has authored a column in the Los Angeles Daily Journal regarding toxic tort litigation and is the commentator from the plaintiff's perspective for Mealey's Emerging Toxic Torts.

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