Fenton & Keller – Offering Practical Solutions to Complex Legal Challenges in Monterey County and Beyond for More than 70 Years
Fenton & Keller arose from the law partnership formed in 1952 by J. Hampton Hoge and Lewis L. Fenton in Monterey, California. Both men were exceptional trial attorneys committed to the legal profession and to serving their community.
In 1951, as a young lawyer defending the State of California in a lawsuit concerning a snowplowing accident, Mr. Fenton met his future mentor, the well-known trial lawyer, Mr. Hoge. In fact, Mr. Fenton later regarded Mr. Hoge as the most important influence on his career. The following year, the two attorneys moved to Monterey and founded the law firm, Hoge & Fenton, which expanded over the years to include branch offices in San Jose and San Luis Obispo.
Attorney Charles R. Keller joined Hoge & Fenton in 1965 as the sixth lawyer in the Monterey office, then located at 977 Pacific Street In 1969, the office relocated to 2801 Monterey Salinas Highway in Monterey, where it remains today. During the 1970’s and 1980’s, the firm grew and became known as Hoge, Fenton, Jones & Appel, and focused primarily on insurance defense work. In 1993, attorneys at Hoge & Fenton’s Monterey office decided to break off from the San Jose and San Luis Obispo offices to become the independent law firm, Fenton & Keller.
Leading up to 1993, the attorneys in the Monterey office shifted their practice areas from primarily insurance defense work to a broader array of general practice, probate and general litigation. Since 1993, Fenton & Keller has further expanded its expertise in employment law, estate planning, real estate and land use, tax law, nonprofit governance, and business formation and advising.
Throughout its history,
Fenton & Keller has remained active in our local community. Mr. Fenton was actively involved in founding the York School in Monterey, and in Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula’s move to its current location in the late 1950’s. The firm maintains a close relationship with Community Hospital and continues to represent it in a variety of matters.
The firm also has continuing long-term relationships with Pebble Beach Company, Stevenson School, and Monterey Bay Aquarium. In fact, due to his relationship with the Packard family, Mr. Fenton assisted Julie Packard with founding the Aquarium in 1984. Mr. Fenton was also a big supporter of the Monterey Jazz Festival.
In one of his rare criminal cases, Mr. Fenton got the guitar player from the 1960’s rock-pop group, The Mamas and Papas, out of jail. The musician was arrested after an alleged bad LSD trip. Mr. Fenton’s novel defense that freed him: the only evidence against the rocker was his own confession, which, if it were indeed given, was under the influence of drugs and therefore inadmissible.
In another memorable case, Mr. Fenton successfully defended the popular TV and film actor, James Garner, against accusations he punched a heckler in the face at the Crosby golf tournament (today known as the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am). Not only did the jury unanimously find in Garner’s favor, they sought him out for autographs, hugs, and kisses. Mr. Fenton recalled to The Monterey Herald of “hastily removing a smudge of lipstick from his client’s cheek.”
Not to be outdone by Mr. Fenton, Mr. Keller also handled many memorable cases for the firm. Fenton & Keller represented award-winning actor-director, Clint Eastwood, in a significant case defending against a fraudulent claim relating to a violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) at Eastwood’s Mission Ranch. The case got nationwide publicity largely because Fenton & Keller admitted non-compliance, but the jury found in Eastwood’s favor because of the plaintiff’s fraudulent attempt to claim an injury due to the violation.
More recently, Mr. Keller and local attorney Larry Biegel tried a case against the California Department of Transportation (CalTrans) for CalTrans’ failure to protect motorists on Highway 1 just south of the Carmel River bridge from wild boar attracted to cross the highway to feed on plantings recently made by CalTrans to enhance the Carmel River’s south bank. The plaintiff motorcycle rider was seriously injured when he collided with a herd of pigs crossing the highway. The jury awarded more than $8 million in damages.
Fenton & Keller’s attorneys have handled numerous other trials and cases and have been successful at getting cases thrown out before trial. In 2019, Fenton & Keller attorneys, Christopher Panetta and Marco Lucido, successfully defended Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula in a disability discrimination case. The Court of Appeal upheld summary judgment in favor of Community Hospital, affirming there was no evidence it discriminated against the plaintiff.
In 2021, Fenton & Keller attorneys, Elizabeth Leitzinger and Gladys Rodriguez-Morales, obtained a $2.1 million award for their client in a harassment and discrimination lawsuit against the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The case involved the unauthorized distribution of an explicit video of a prison employee among staff and supervisors. The award followed a 10-day jury trial in Monterey County Superior Court.
Fenton & Keller attorneys have received numerous awards over the years for their legal acumen and community contributions.
In 1985, Mr. Fenton was the first recipient of the Monterey County Bar Association’s (MCBA) prestigious Gibson Award, named after the late California Supreme Court Chief Justice, Phil Sheridan Gibson. Each year, the Gibson Award honors an MCBA member who exemplifies the spirit of distinguished community service, as demonstrated by Justice Gibson, who “exhibited the finest traits of human understanding, personality and character.”
And, in honor of Mr. Fenton’s long and distinguished service to the community, the MCBA established the annual Fenton Award in 2005 to recognize excellence in advocacy in the legal profession. In naming the award after him, the MCBA said, Mr. Fenton “was our own legal giant and epitomized the finest attributes of our legal profession.”
The first recipient of the Fenton Award in 2005 was his partner, Mr. Keller, who said of his longtime partner, Mr. Fenton, in accepting the inaugural award:
“Lewis Fenton was a lawyer’s lawyer and a trial lawyer who was known far beyond the boundaries of Monterey County. He had the skill and talent to practice the profession anywhere he chose and it didn’t take long for his reputation to grow both in Monterey and elsewhere. He was tall and had an elegant almost regal bearing and a way of relating to juries that was unmatched. It made no difference what the case was about because he could communicate on whatever level the subject matter required but without ever talking down to his jury. In his dealings with other lawyers and the bench he was the model of integrity and civility, and emphasized that those virtues should never be forgotten in the heat of battle. While there will never be another Lewis, we can honor him and his legacy by following his lead and making the profession we have chosen an honorable one.”
More recently, in 2019 Fenton & Keller attorney, Sara Boyns, was named Businesswoman of the Year by the Salinas Valley Chamber of Commerce.
Fenton & Keller attorneys continue the tradition of legal excellence established by Mr. Fenton and Mr. Hoge, and continued by Mr. Keller through vigorous, proactive representation on a wide variety of legal issues and a commitment to community service. Several of the firms’ attorneys have been appointed to the judiciary, while others have served and continue to serve as members of the boards of community service organizations throughout the Monterey Bay region.