The Los Angeles Area’s Best Lawyers 2006 Survey Results

West - Los Angeles Times Magazine : November 12, 2006

In 1999, attorney Brian Panish secured the largest personal injury verdict in U.S. history as lead counsel in a case against General Motors: a mind-boggling $4.9 billion for a family burned by a defectively designed fuel system. Mr. Panish has obtained over 100 million-dollar-plus verdicts and settlements, including 14 over $10 million. His partner, Adam Shea, is also a record-holder, securing the largest jury verdict in U.S. history - $55 million – in a case involving a tire defect. The pair is flanked by Kevin Boyle, another accomplished trial attorney who clerked for the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist and has sat on plaintiffs’ steering committees involving plane and train accidents. That’s not to mention his own remarkable trial record, with four of the last five cases he’s tried to jury verdict obtaining well over $10 million – each. Together, Mr. Panish, Mr. Shea and Mr. Boyle have obtained over $8 billion in verdicts and settlements for their clients.

The three partners certainly make up an impressive team, helping people around the country who have been catastrophically injured in plane, train and automobile accidents, by defective products, harmful pharmaceuticals and business fraud. Their five-attorney firm, Panish, Shea & Boyle, also stands up for the families of those who have been killed through the negligence of others and is committed to one thing and one thing only: justice. And so it really comes as no surprise that the partners have been named as three of the Los Angeles area’s "Best Lawyers®."

Their successes in the courtroom and at the negotiating table have definitely not gone unnoticed, and the firm was named in October 2005 to the National Law Journal’s "Plaintiffs’ Hot List" – a list of the top 12 plaintiffs’ firms in the country. Incidentally, theirs was the only Los Angeles firm selected for the list. And earlier this year the NLJ named Mr. Panish one of the 100 most influential attorneys in America and he was accepted into the Inner Circle of Advocates in 2004 – a highly coveted society made up of the nation’s top 100 civil trial attorneys.

But recognition by their peers and in the media is just an added benefit that comes with the territory. What really matters – and what keeps these three coming to work every day – is their overriding desire to stand up for the everyday person facing terrible circumstances, through no fault of their own. When all is said and done, it’s about making a difference by punishing companies that put profits ahead of safety. That, say the three, is their job's ultimate reward.

Product Defects Bus Accidents Business Litigation Aviation Disasters Pharmaceutical Litigation Corporate Fraud Government Liability General Personal Injury Wrongful Death Automotive / Tire Defects ATV/ Rhino Rollovers More Practice Areas

Latest Firm News

Tilton v. Sempra - $15 million verdict for brain injury to minor resulting from a power company truck hitting a family vehicle.

Dominguez v. San Francisco - $21 million settlement while case was on appeal. Wrongful death of 4 year-old girl. Largest settlement ever paid by San Francisco.

Contreras v. State of California - $9 million settlment for amputation caused by a damaged freeway guardrail.

Don Gino Dominguez v. South Central Los Angeles Regional Care Center - $2 million verdict for wrongful death of a mentally and physically disabled 39 year-old man. Health care center left man unsupervised and he choked to death.

Doe v. Driver - $5.5 million settlement for death of pedestrian in an auto accident.

Doe v. Oil Refinery - $6.2 Million settlement for wrongful death and personal injury caused by the collapse of tank floating roof.

Avila v. Dresick Farms - $5.64 million dollar jury verdict for girl injured in truck v. van collision. Believed to be the largest verdict in the history of Imperial County, California.

Konrad, et al. v. Hewlett-Packard - Lawsuit filed against Hewlett-Packard for pretexting journalists and their families

Chief Warrant Officers v. Boeing, et al. - $13.55 million settlement for Army maintenance officers severely injured in the crash of Apache Longbow helicopter on a maintenance test flight during Operation Iraqi Freedom in Iraq.

Does v. Doe Auto Manufacturer: confidential multimillion dollar settlement on behalf of a family involved in on-road rollover of sport utility vehicle.

Does v. Van Manufacturer and Rental Company - Confidential multi-million dollar settlement on behalf of the survivors and family members of 14 church group members involved in a fifteen passenger van rollover.

Hill v. Titan Tire - Confidential multi-million dollar settlement for a 42 year old man who sustained brain injuries following a tire failure on his vehicle.

Dominguez v. San Francisco - $27.4 Million Verdict - Mother and 6 others witnessed a city truck driver run over her daughter on a sidewalk. City completely denied responsibility. Largest verdict ever against the City of San Francisco.

Sherman v. Courrege - $25.5 Million Verdict - Wrongful death of mother, father, and son hit by a drunk driver.

Sorenson v. Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway - $2.8 Million Verdict - Plaintiffs were parents of a 48 year-old man killed when a freight train crashed into a commuter train.

Doe v. Auto Manufacturer - Major Confidential Settlement Fuel fed fire caused by defectively designed 15 passenger van rollover. Many occupants killed or severely burned.

Flores v. Continental Tire - Major Confidential Settlement - Woman sustained paraplegia when the right rear tire on the family's Ford Windstar van experienced a tread belt separation, causing the vehicle to roll over.

Panish, Shea & Boyle on TV - The trial attorneys at Panish, Shea & Boyle have been on numerous televisions shows because of their involvement in many high profile cases.