Newport Beach, CA

Brian Chase

Nationally known and top rated auto defect and California personal injury lawyer Brian D. Chase serves injured plaintiffs with trust, passion, and results.

Brian Panish

One of the country’s leading trial attorneys, Brian Panish has obtained some of the most significant jury verdicts in United States history on behalf of plaintiffs. His courtroom victories include a $4.9 billion record verdict in the landmark products liability case Anderson v. General Motors, and over thirty verdicts and settlements in excess of $10 million in personal injury, car accident, wrongful death and business litigation cases. He also has obtained more than 250 verdicts and settlements over $1 million dollars. Mr. Panish has obtained three jury verdicts in excess of $50 million in personal injury cases - more than any other attorney in California. No other attorney in California has more 8-figure verdicts than Brian Panish. Since 2011 alone, Mr. Panish has obtained more than $225 million in verdicts, including, among others, a $36.5 million jury verdict against Schneider National for a big-rig crash that left a woman with severe spinal cord injuries, a $34.5 million verdict for a man who suffered a below the knee amputation after being hit by a tractor trailer, a $17.4 million verdict for a Ph.D. student who suffered brain and jaw injuries during a rear end chain collision accident, a $17 million jury verdict against the Los Angeles MTA in the wrongful death of a visually impaired passenger, a $17.845 million award in a wrongful death case involving four family members killed when a Marine jet crashed into their home, a $20 million jury verdict for a woman who suffered a brain injury in a hit-and-run accident involving a J.B. Hunt tractor trailer, a $17 million jury verdict for a 84-year old man hit by a bus resulting in a leg amputation, a $15.3 million jury verdict for a woman and her daughter after the woman was severely injured on a negligently driven Alameda Contra-Costa Transit District bus, a $10.45 million jury verdict for the family of a security guard killed on the CBS studio lot and a $8.3 million jury verdict in the first DePuy ASR Hip Implant case to go to trial. Because of his expertise in personal injury, wrongful death and product liability cases, Mr. Panish has been appointed to serve on the Plaintiffs’ Steering and Executive committees in numerous high profile mass torts and major disaster cases, including litigation involving train crashes (co-lead counsel in the the Chatsworth Metrolink disaster, the Glendale Metrolink crash, and the Placentia Metrolink collision), airplane disasters (Alaska Airlines Flight 261 and Singapore Airlines Flight 006 crashes), pharmaceuticals (Vioxx and diet drugs), and defective product cases (Welding Rods, DePuy ASR Hip Implant Litigation, and Toyota Unintended Acceleration cases.) He is currently handling numerous cases involving the Asiana Flight 261 plane crash. Mr. Panish has been recognized by numerous publications and organizations as being among the top trial lawyers in the country. Some of the honors he has received include the following: National Law Journal’s Elite Trial Lawyers Hall of Fame - 2015, 2016 Best Lawyers® Lawyer of the Year - Plaintiff’s Personal Injury Litigation - Los Angeles, 2015 Best Lawyers® Lawyer of the Year - Product Liability Litigation - Los Angeles, 2015 Top 25 Plaintiff’s Lawyers in California - by the Daily Journal, 2014 Consumer Attorney of the Year - awarded by the Consumer Attorneys of California, 2013 California Lawyer Attorney of the Year (CLAY) Award in the area of Personal Injury, The National Law Journal’s 100 Most Influential Lawyers In America, Daily Journal’s Top 100 Most Influential Attorneys in California, 2012 Top 20 Lawyers in California by The Recorder, 2010 Trial Lawyer of the Year by the California Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), 2010 Champions of Justice award from Loyola Law School, 2010 Best Lawyers® Lawyer of the Year - Product Liability Litigation - Los Angeles, 2009 Best Lawyers® Lawyer of the Year - Personal Injury Litigation - Los Angeles, 1999 Trial Lawyer of the Year by the Consumer Attorneys of Los Angeles (CAALA), Top 500 Attorneys and Litigators in the United States by Law Dragon, Top 10 Southern California Super Lawyers® (various years, including from 2009-2015), Listed in Best Lawyers® since 2001, Listed in Southern California Super Lawyers® since 2004. In addition to his numerous honors, Mr. Panish is a member of the prestigious Inner Circle of Advocates, comprised of 100 of the nation’s top plaintiffs’ lawyers. He is also a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers (including serving on the State Selection Committee), the International Society of Barristers, the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), and was the 2011 President of the Los Angeles Chapter of ABOTA. He is a member of the American Bar Association (formerly a Litigation Section Board Member), the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles (formerly on the Board of Governors), and the Consumer Attorneys of California (formerly on the Board of Governors). He also serves on the Best Lawyers® Board of Advisors. Mr. Panish received his law degree, with honors, from Southwestern Law School, and received an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Southwestern in 2011. He received his B.S. from California State University Fresno, where he was named Scholar Athlete, was the recipient of the Athletic Directors Award and was named an outstanding alumnus at the school’s Centennial Celebration in 2010.

Rahul Ravipudi

Rahul Ravipudi is a partner at Panish | Shea | Ravipudi LLP and has spent his legal career handling catastrophic injury and wrongful death cases involving pedestrians, commercial vehicles, industrial or construction accidents, and dangerous conditions of public and private property and represents survivors of sexual abuse and sexual assault. Mr. Ravipudi also represents consumers in class actions against businesses who engage in unfair/illegal business practices and he represents public entities in cases where corporations have endangered the safety, health, property or comfort of the public. Currently, Mr. Ravipudi serves as Public Entities Plaintiffs’ Co-Lead Counsel in the JUUL Labs Product Cases, representing school districts and other public entities throughout California, in litigation against e-cigarette manufacturer JUUL Labs, Inc. Named 2017 Trial Lawyer of the Year by Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles, Mr. Ravipudi has obtained numerous landmark results including a $28,500,000+ settlement for a special needs student who was catastrophically injured after being struck by a vehicle while under the care and supervision of Victor Elementary School District (VESD) personnel, a $23,500,000 settlement on behalf of the family of 19-year-old Paul Lee, a non-verbal autistic student who tragically died aboard a Whittier school bus after the driver left him behind to engage in a sexual tryst with a coworker, and an $11,000,000+ settlement for the family of Alex Pierce, a 13-year-old Murrieta middle school student who tragically drowned while under the supervision of Murrieta Valley Unified School District (MVUSD) staff and personnel. Mr. Ravipudi also recovered $9 million from the State of California (Caltrans) when a 16 year old girl on a restricted license lost control of her vehicle and collided into a guardrail damaged two days earlier resulting in a bilateral traumatic below knee amputations. This case involved significant appellate issues which led to Mr. Ravipudi’s article, “Dealing with the state of California’s first line of defense - stonewalling any meaningful discovery” published in The Advocate, Journal of Consumer Attorneys for California, February 2009. Mr. Ravipudi has also successfully recovered over eight figures against stevedoring companies in the City of Long Beach who allow their longshoremen to recklessly injure and kill independent truck drivers. Mr. Ravipudi shared his insight into successfully litigating cases against the stevedoring companies in an article entitled, “Danger on the Docks - Where there is an injury or death, drugs or alcohol probably were involved” published in The Advocate, Journal of Consumer Attorneys for California, February 2011. Prior to joining Panish Shea & Boyle, Rahul Ravipudi worked at another consumer law firm where his work helped recover over $4 billion for his clients. Mr. Ravipudi participated as co-lead class counsel in a consumer class action case brought on behalf of all gas and electricity rate payers in the State of California against El Paso Natural Gas Company and Sempra Energy. This case arose out of the California Energy Crisis of 2000/2001 and resulted in the recovery of more than $3.5 billion in restitution to California utility customers. To date, this is recognized as one of the largest antitrust settlements in American history. Mr. Ravipudi also participated as co-lead counsel on an antitrust class action case brought on behalf of all gas and electricity rate payers in California against Reliant Energy Services and other energy traders for manipulating the California natural gas market by engaging in wash trades, churning, and false reporting. Hundreds of millions of dollars were recovered for rate payers of the State of California as well. Since 2005, Mr. Ravipudi has been recognized as a “Rising Star” by California Law & Politics magazine - an honor awarded to the top 2.5% of lawyers in the Southern California area under 40 years of age. In 2010, Mr. Ravipudi was profiled in the California Law & Politics magazine in an article entitled “Class Act(ion)”. He is a frequent speaker on various issues, including class action litigation and trial tactics, and In 2016, Mr. Ravipudi was recognized for his work on Jun v. Chaffery Joint Union High School District when he was chosen as a finalist for both the CAOC’s Consumer Attorney of the Year award as well as a CAALA’s Trial Lawyer of the Year. Mr. Ravipudi actively publishes articles in various journals and trade publications and is an Associate Editor for The Advocate, Journal of Consumer Attorneys for California. He continues to be an active member of the Consumer Attorneys of California, the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles, and the South Asian Bar Association. Mr. Ravipudi is actively involved in matters of public interest as well. He has been the Treasurer of the South Asian Bar Association Public Interest Foundation. He is also an active supporter of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. He is also actively involved in local, statewide and national bar associations and public interest groups. Mr. Ravipudi serves as the Board of Governor for the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles (CAALA), Litigation Chair for the North American South Asian Bar Association (SABA), board member for the Loyola Law School Advocacy Institute and an honorary board member for the Los Angeles Trial Lawyer Charities (LATLC). In addition, Mr. Ravipudi is an associate of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) and is a member of the Consumer Attorneys Association of California as well as a member of the Association of Business Trial Lawyers. Mr. Ravipudi received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and Minor in Chemistry from the University of California, Riverside and his law degree from Loyola Law School where he has served as an adjunct professor teaching Trial Advocacy since 2008. Mr. Ravipudi resides in La Canada Flintridge with his wife and three sons.

Mark P. Robinson, Jr.

Mark P. Robinson, Jr. is the founder, senior partner, and sole shareholder of Robinson Calcagnie, Inc., known for his prominent legal practice devoted to consumer safety, including the landmark Ford Pinto case. He has received numerous awards and held leadership positions in prestigious legal organizations.

John D. Winer

John D. Winer is recognized statewide by his colleagues as an outstanding litigation and trial attorney. He has obtained record-setting verdicts and settlements over the last 36 years, often in cases in which his client’s economic survival and ability to overcome serious trauma and the death of a loved one were at stake. John Winer is frequently asked to lecture to other attorneys in his areas of specialty and emphasis including wrongful death, serious personal injury, psychological injury, employment litigation, psychotherapist malpractice, healthcare provider sexual abuse, workplace sexual harassment, elder abuse, traumatic brain injury and catastrophic injury cases.

James Bergener

“Sweet” James Bergener set out to create a different kind of law firm - one built around helping you recover from your injuries and to get the maximum possible compensation. As a founding principal of Sweet James Accident Attorneys, James has secured millions of dollars in verdicts and settlements. His career is dedicated to helping anyone who has been injured because of someone else’s negligence. From seemingly simple claims to the most complex cases, Sweet James will make sure you get the justice you deserve. Mr. Bergener is a member of the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum, one of the most prestigious groups of trial lawyers in the United States. The forum makes up less than 1 percent of lawyers in the United States. Mr. Bergener, who practices law in Newport Beach, California, was selected to Super Lawyers for 2016 - 2020. This peer designation is awarded only to a select number of accomplished attorneys in each state. The Super Lawyers selection process takes into account peer recognition, professional achievement in legal practice, and other cogent factors. Prior to founding the firm, Mr. Bergener defended insurance carriers against personal injury and workers compensation claims filed by injured plaintiffs. With this unique knowledge of defense strategies, he’s been able to resolve cases other attorneys found impossible. When insurance companies won’t play fairly, Mr. Bergener aggressively pursues them and their associated corporations for “bad-faith” actions. This often results in settlements that extend well beyond the original accident and damages. Mr. Bergener is passionate about fighting for accident victims. He is a powerful negotiator, excelling in mediation and arbitration. These methods are often preferred by clients who wish to avoid trial. Recognized by fellow accident lawyers, he has been one of the best law essay writers, guest lecturer at conferences, legal seminars, and law schools on topics involving injury tort litigation and practice management. Aside from his numerous academic and professional interactions, “Sweet James” Bergener provides weekly commentary as a legal expert on KLAC AM 570 LA Sports Radio. He has sponsored KFI Law Day with attorney and radio host Bill Handel and has appeared on a number of radio shows to help listeners get the legal assistance they need. As an avid motorcyclist and MotoGP racing enthusiast, Mr. Bergener’s legal experience is supplemented with his experience on the road. Motorcycle accident victims represented by the firm benefit from the insight of a skilled professional and fellow rider.

Richard K. Bridgford

Founding Partner of Bridgford, Gleason & Artinian. He has represented close to 12,000 wildfire victims, handled mass tort cases, class actions, and various civil litigation matters. He graduated from Stanford Law School in 1985.