Attorney's latest victory even bigger than Sempra case.

ALBRO Lundy III has already had a big year. In January, he beat Sempra Energy. By May, he was tackling a brain tumor. He finished radiation treatment earlier this month

Lundy's firm, Baker Burton & Lundy LLP, was part of the plaintiffs team led by Thomas Girardi that negotiated a settlement with Sempra in a case that alleged statewide price-fixing during the 2000 energy crisis. A San Diego judge approved the settlement in June, with a final value of $1.7 billion to $2 billion. The legal team later was awarded $161 million in fees and $9 million in expenses, although the amount is being appealed by another lawyer.

Lundy noticed some dizziness after taking a spill going down a double-black diamond ski trail in February. After a series of doctor appointments, an MRI revealed the tumor, an acoustic neuroma.

Luckily, the tumor was benign and treatable by radiation therapy. It was also fortunate that the tumor was caught early and was a small-to-medium 1.5 centimeters. Lundy got his diagnosis shortly before his brother, a longshoreman, was in a serious truck accident on the docks and his 11-year-old cousin almost lost the vision in her left eye when she was hit point-forward with a football on a playground. His brother is now walking, but has three surgeries to go and his cousin has gotten back most of her vision.

"I am eager to move on to other types of adventures," Lundy wrote in an email to friends and family. "I'd rather ride a real roller-coaster than live with this one in my head."

The 46 year-old, who has four children, aged eight to 17 with his wife Cathi, is the picture of health. Lundy has an athletic build, perpetual tan and the swagger of a successful litigator. With an office just blocks from Hermosa Beach, Lundy and his partners often go body surfing at lunch.

Lundy completed seven weeks of daily radiation treatment at UCLA on July 10. He couldn't believe the outpourings of support.

"I had more people volunteer to drive me than I had spaces to go out," he said. "Attorneys I know were saying 'I'm driving you.' Not my partners, but guys I've known from other cases and they really wouldn't let me say no."

A series of bi-annual MRIs for the next three years will track his progress.

"I'm doing better every day," said Lundy, who completed his first full day back at work last week. "That's the way you have to look at these things."

Finding the bright side of tough situations appears to be a family trait: Lundy's daughter Neva used the MRI images of her father's brain to study for a biology exam.

Staff reporter Emily Bryson York can be reached at [phone], ext. 235, or at [e-mail].