Section: Law
Author: Pat Broderick

Passing: Richard F. Gerry, retired senior partner of Casey Gerry Reed & Shenk, died July 15. He was 80.

He started his career at Boeing, building flying fortresses, and was a member of the Merchant Marine from 1942 to 1950, attended Columbia University , earning both an undergraduate and juris doctorate degree. The enterprising young man worked his way through college and law school as a doorman at Luchow's Restaurant in New York.

After graduating in 1956, Gerry teamed up with renowned San Francisco attorney Melvin Belli and soon became a partner in the firm of Belli, Ashe & Gerry.

He was a major player in the evolution of the rules of product liability, and he handled the early Cutter Laboratories' live vaccine cases, which caused polio.

Gerry developed a specialty handling airplane crashes, including litigation arising from the PSA crash in San Diego back in 1978.

He became a pilot and, during an early retirement, flew his Piaggio Royal Gull Seaplane to Brazil in 1967 to start a career as a cattle rancher. Gerry soon returned to resume his law practice in San Diego.

Gerry's biggest case involved the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989. He was one of four trial lawyers who conducted the famous trial in Anchorage , Alaska , that led to a $5 billion punitive damage verdict.

In 1982, Gerry was elected president of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America.

He is survived by his wife Charlotte, three children, and three grandchildren.