Attorney Michael Papuc Represents Opera Singer

1. Attorney Michael Papuc
Represents Opera Singer

2. ● Over the course of his career,
Michael Papuc, an attorney from San
Francisco, California, has represented
clients in a wide range of cases related to
employment law.
● One case, which Papuc took, was a
workplace safety lawsuit of operatic
proportions.
● Singers from the San Francisco Opera had
long noticed that the fog machines used in
stage productions triggered respiratory
issues.

3. ● The problem was serious enough that the
California Department of Health Services
decided to investigate.
● The agency found that an unusually high
number of opera employees suffered from
respiratory ailments, and that 24%
attributed their problems to the fog
machines.

4. ● One singer hired attorney Michael Papuc to
make her case against the San Francisco
Opera Association.
● After 17 years of exposure to the machines,
which used mineral oil to generate the fog,
she’d developed asthma so severe that she
needed to take a year off from singing in
order to recover.
● After one exposure, she coughed up thick,
black phlegm.

5. ● Several of her physicians attributed the
onset of her respiratory issues to the fog
machines.
● With Papuc’s aid, she sought to have the
machines removed and the opera house
cleaned.
● She also sought damages to cover her time
away from work.
● The lawsuit attracted international attention
to the hazardous working conditions in
many opera houses and symphony halls.

6. ● Several of her physicians attributed the
onset of her respiratory issues to the fog
machines.
● With Papuc’s aid, she sought to have the
machines removed and the opera house
cleaned.
● She also sought damages to cover her time
away from work.
● The lawsuit attracted international attention
to the hazardous working conditions in
many opera houses and symphony halls.