The Public Justice legal team that prevailed in state and federal court cases on behalf of a medically neglected immigration detainee with cancer has been named a finalist for the Consumer Attorneys of California’s coveted “Consumer Attorney of the Year” Award.

The team includes Conal Doyle of Willoughby Doyle in Beverly Hills; Adele Kimmel, managing attorney at Public Justice; Thomas Dempsey of Beverly Hills; and Amy Radon, the Goldberg Attorney at Public Justice.

Doyle, Kimmel, Dempsey and Radon represented the family of Francisco Castaneda, a native of El Salvador whose penile cancer was left undiagnosed and untreated during nearly a year in state and federal immigration detention.

A Los Angeles jury late last year returned a $1.73 million verdict against the state of California for its neglect and mistreatment of Castaneda. Earlier this year, the four attorneys reached a historic settlement in which the United States agreed to pay $1.95 million to Castaneda’s daughter and estate for ignoring Castaneda’s condition while he was in federal custody. Castaneda died in 2008, one year after his penis was amputated in a futile attempt to stop the cancer from spreading.

In choosing its award finalists, the organization recognizes a CAOC member "who has overcome unusual obstacles or long odds to provide justice to victims as well as assisting consumers or changing consumer law for the better in the State of California." Both Doyle and Dempsey are members of CAOC.

The finalists will be honored at the CAOC’s Annual Installation and Awards Dinner on November 12 in San Francisco.

The Castaneda team received the Public Justice Achievement Award in July at the Public Justice Foundation’s annual Gala and Awards Dinner in New York. The San Francisco Daily Journal and the Los Angeles Daily Journal listed the team’s victory in the state lawsuit among the Top 10 Verdicts in California in 2010.