Noonan Lance Boyer & Banach LLP?recently secured the dismissal of a $30 million federal lawsuit brought by the United States against its client Dr. Tarek Shawaf.? 

Filed in 2016, the suit sought damages caused by the 2013 Mountain Fire in Mountain Center, California, which burned for more than two weeks. The U.S. asserted a claim in excess of $30 million for fire suppression costs, damage to federal lands, penalties and interest.? 

A Noonan Lance team of attorneys, that included La Jolla resident and managing partner Ethan Boyer, represented Shawaf, the owner of a vacation home in Mountain Center, where the government alleged the fire started. 

The crux of the case was the U.S. claim that the fire started at an electrical junction box on Shawaf’s property, which the U.S. alleged was not properly maintained.?  

“Obviously, we were very pleased for our client to be able to get a dismissal,” said Noonan Lance Boyer & Banach principal James R. Lance. “It wasn’t disclosed to us that two U.S. Forest Service firefighters, who were not identified by the U.S. as witnesses regarding how the fire started, told one of the state plaintiffs that the fire did not start at the junction box. This eyewitness testimony completely undermined the liability theory of the United States against Dr. Shawaf.” 

Added Lance, “We immediately demanded that we get to dispose the two firefighters before the case was sent to trial. It was a huge turn of events that led the U.S. Attorney to call us back offering to dismiss the case.” 

Lance added the federal trial could have lasted as long as eight weeks.