Brent & Fiol Helps Secure Passage of the Justin Kropp Safety Act to Protect California Linemen and Electricians

Brent & Fiol Helps Secure Passage of the Justin Kropp Safety Act to Protect California Linemen and Electricians

On January 18, 2018, tragedy struck when Brent & Fiol, LLP clients Rachel Kropp and her two young sons, Decker and Jameson, lost their husband and father, Justin Kropp. Justin, an IBEW lineman, was electrocuted to death while working for a contractor hired by Southern California Edison. Despite the dangers inherent in high-voltage electrical work, neither Edison nor Justin’s direct employer, Herman Weissker, had an automated external defibrillator (“AED”) available at the worksite when he was electrocuted. Medical experts later concluded that had an AED been present, Justin likely would have survived.

Brent & Fiol, LLP represented the Kropp family in their pursuit of civil justice, which ultimately resolved. But Rachel, her boys, and Justin’s father and stepmother, Barry and Jennifer Kropp, were determined to prevent other families from suffering the same devastating loss that they have to live with every day.

Brent & Fiol partner Kipp Mueller drafted and, alongside the Kropp family, advocated for the Justin Kropp Safety Act, landmark legislation in California that requires AEDs to be present on high-voltage electrical worksites across California. The bill, authored in 2025 by Assembly member Pilar Schiavo, earned bipartisan support and was signed into law by the Governor in September of 2025

What began with unspeakable tragedy has now led to lasting reform in California—ensuring that the lives of linemen and electricians throughout California will be better protected in the memory of Justin Kropp.

Below is a clip of Assembly member Pilar Schiavo introducing the bill on the California State Assembly floor, where it received 79 yes votes, 1 abstention, and 0 no votes.