California Partners Killed in Law Firm Shooting
A workplace dispute between John Mendoza and Major Langer, name partners at what was once Perona, Langer, Beck, Serbin, Mendoza and Harrison, ended in an office holiday party shooting on Dec. 29 that claimed the lives of both lawyers.
January 02, 2018 at 05:41 PM
3 minute read
The spate of gun violence that shook the nation in 2017 ended the year with another victim, this time a veteran Southern California trial lawyer.
A workplace dispute between John Mendoza and Major Langer, name partners at what was once called Perona, Langer, Beck, Serbin, Mendoza and Harrison, ended in an office holiday party shooting on Dec. 29, 2017, that claimed both of their lives.
Law enforcement authorities identified Mendoza, 58, as turning a gun on himself after entering an office building in Long Beach and opening fire on at least two former co-workers. Langer, 75, died at the scene from a gunshot wound to his upper body.
Ronald Beck, 64, another Perona Langer name partner in charge of administrative functions at the 15-lawyer personal injury firm, is in stable condition at a local hospital after being shot in the leg and grazed in the stomach by a bullet fired by Mendoza, who before his barrage reportedly told lower-ranking staffers to leave the building.
Perona Langer, which archived internet domain name records show recently dropped Mendoza from its shingle, is based in Long Beach and has eight other offices throughout California, as well as outposts in Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona. A new website domain name—www.plbsh.com—was registered anonymously Tuesday. According to various news reports, Mendoza was recently fired from Perona Langer.
In a statement posted on its website, the firm said it was “shocked and saddened by the tragedy” that left Langer dead and Beck wounded in a “senseless act of workplace violence.” Perona Langer extended its condolences to the families of Beck and Langer, the latter of whom leaves behind a wife, children and grandchildren. The firm also assured clients that their work would not be affected by the shooting.
Langer, a veteran trial lawyer whose clients have included the likes of actress Pamela Anderson, has also represented plaintiffs suing Toyota Motor Corp. in a bellwether products liability case. Langer served as a senior partner at Perona Langer. Beck, who ran the firm's day-to-day operations, also serves as managing partner of an affiliated firm named after Larry Parker, a prominent plaintiffs lawyer in the Los Angeles area.
Sadly, Mendoza wasn't the only lawyer to resort to violence during the holiday season.
Matthew Riehl, a 37-year-old Iraq war veteran and former lawyer at Rawlins, Wyoming-based MacPherson, Kelly & Thompson, shot seven people in suburban Denver on Dec. 31. The ambush and a related diatribe against law enforcement, which Riehl sought to post online, took the life of a sheriff's deputy. Riehl was eventually killed by a SWAT team.
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