Join Rahul and Ben for their discussion with Indiana trial lawyer Lee Christie and Trial Lawyers for Justice Attorney, Karen Zahka, as they break down their recent trial against Tesla.  Although the case started out as a simple pickup truck vs. motorcycle accident involving a left turn, the personal involvement of Elon Musk led to an unusual investment of resources on the defense side and high drama in the courtroom.  To get to verdict, the plaintiff had to navigate a series of landmines and obstacles, including numerous law firms entering and exiting the case, a sea of motions, dozens of requests for mistrial and a hold-out juror that almost led to a mistrial during jury deliberations.  

About Lee Christie

Indiana Personal Injury Lawyers | Christie Farrell Lee & Bell (cflblaw.com)

Lee Christie is a part­ner with Christie Farrell Lee & Bell and is a life­long Indi­ana res­i­dent. He is pas­sion­ate in rep­re­sen­ta­tion, and takes pride in the relationships he devel­ops with his clients. He has exten­sive trial expe­ri­ence in both fed­eral and state court and is a fre­quent lec­turer on trial, medi­a­tion, per­sonal injury, med­ical mal­prac­tice, truck­ing acci­dents, and set­tle­ment issues. Lee has represented thousands of clients who have been personally injured and has obtained settlements and verdicts as high as $30.5M.  Lee is highly civically engaged with several Indiana organizations, including the Walker Foundation (founding board member and officer) and Indianapolis Bar Foundation (board member and officer), and is a patron of the YMCA.  He is past president of the Lawrence Township Girls Basketball League and continues to work with youth in the inner city of Indianapolis.

Achievements

Lee has been selected by Super Lawyers as a Top 10 Super Lawyer in Indi­ana and was named the Best Lawyer, Indi­anapo­lis Lawyer of the Year for Medi­a­tion (2014) and Arbitration (2012). He is a mem­ber of the Indi­ana Trial Lawyers Asso­ci­a­tion, the Amer­i­can Asso­ci­a­tion for Jus­tice, the Inter­state Truck­ing Lit­i­ga­tion Group, and Academy of Truck Accident Attorneys. Lee has verdicts and settlements ranging from tens of thousands of dollars to over $30 million.

Hon­ors

• 2025 President of the Indianapolis Bar Association
• Indiana Judicial Nominating and Qualifications Commission (to serve a three-year term beginning 1/1/23)
• Indiana State Bar Association GP Hall of Fame Award 2021
• National Trial Lawyers: Trucking Trial Lawyers Association Top 10 in Indiana
• Indiana Lawyer Distinguished Barrister Award, 2017
• Indi­ana Trial Lawyer’s Asso­ci­a­tion Trial Lawyer of the Year, 2015
• National Asso­ci­a­tion of Dis­tin­guished Coun­sel – The Nation’s Top One Per­cent, 2015, Founding Member
• Selected to Top 10 Indi­ana Super Lawyers, 2014
• Selected to Top 50 Indi­ana Super Lawyers, 2005–present
• The Best Lawyers in Amer­ica,® Per­sonal Injury Lit­i­ga­tion—Plaintiffs, 2005-present
• Best Lawyers® Indianapolis Medi­a­tion “Lawyer of the Year”
• Mar­tin­dale Hubbel high­est AVrat­ing, 1983-2017
• 2010 Civility Award Recipient – Indiana State Bar Association

Named “Lawyer of the Year” by Best Lawyers® for:

• Arbitration, Indianapolis (2024)
• Mediation, Indianapolis (2024)
• Arbitration, Indianapolis (2019)
• Mediation, Indianapolis (2018)
• Mediation, Indianapolis (2014)
• Arbitration, Indianapolis (2012)

Memberships

• Indianapolis Bar Association
• 2025 President
• National Asso­ci­a­tion of Dis­tin­guished Coun­sel, Found­ing Member
• Academy of Truck Accident Attorneys (ATAA)
• Amer­i­can Asso­ci­a­tion of Jus­tice (AAJ)
• Leaders Forum
• Sus­tain­ing Mem­ber
• Interstate Trucking Litigation Group
• Indi­ana Trial Lawyers Asso­ci­a­tion (ITLA)
• Sus­tain­ing Mem­ber
• Col­lege of Fel­lows
• Indiana State Bar Association
• Litigation Section
• Sustaining Member
• Advanced Stud­ies in Trial Advocacy
• Fellow-National Col­lege of Advocacy

Court Admissions

• U.S. Dis­trict Court for the North­ern Dis­trict of Indiana
• U.S. Dis­trict Court for the South­ern Dis­trict of Indiana

Bar Admissions

• Indi­ana, 1982

Recognitions

• Avvo Top Attor­ney Per­sonal Injury – Lawyer Lee Christie

About Karen Zahka

Home - Trial Lawyers For Justice (tl4j.com)

Karen is a Partner at Trial Lawyers for Justice. She is an experienced and passionate trial lawyer. While she was born and raised in Massachusetts, Karen litigates and tries cases nationwide. She is currently admitted to practice in Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Oklahoma. She practices in other jurisdictions via pro hac vice.

Throughout Karen’s career, she has contributed to many multi-million verdicts and settlements, including but not limited to:

Andrea Larkin, et al. v. Dedham Medical Associates, et al.: Karen was integral in successfully recovering over $40 million (with interest) for a 28-year-old woman who suffered a catastrophic stroke hours after labor and delivery of her daughter. Following this victory, Karen fought to defend and succeeded in defending the verdict from the insurance company’s attempt to overturn it on appeal.

Edward Xu v. Tufts Medical Center, et al.:  Karen contributed to a $24.4 million verdict on behalf of a family whose newborn suffered from severe short bowel syndrome, which requires that he be tube fed for the rest of his life.

Estate of Joshua Messier v. Bridgewater State Hospital: Karen helped to obtain a $3 million settlement for a family whose 23-year-old disabled son was improperly restrained and killed by correction officers at a Massachusetts prison. This success resulted in sweeping systemic changes to improve the care and treatment of disabled individuals in state prison systems.

Estate of Zoe Rosenthal v. Charles J. Davignon, et al.: In April 2021, during the COVID-19 Pandemic, Karen contributed to the $9.5 million verdict obtained on behalf of two daughters whose mother was negligently killed while walking her dog in a crosswalk near her home. According to the court clerk, this result set a record for a non-economic damages verdict for wrongful death with adult heirs in Western Massachusetts.

While Karen is a zealous advocate for her clients, what she takes most pride in is that she cares about each of her clients on a personal level. She is a kind human first and a dedicated lawyer second. Karen recognizes that by the time you ask for her help, you have likely already experienced a catastrophic loss or injury. Compassion is a must, and she understands how overwhelming the legal system can be. It is for that reason that she always takes the time to explain each and every step of the legal process and she will be candid with you every step of the way.

Karen received her undergraduate degree from Boston University, where she double majored in Political Science and Psychology. She then graduated from Suffolk University Law School, where she served as the Continuity Editing Assistant for The Journal of Health and Biomedical Law. She graduated from law school with Pro Bono Honors and was recognized for her time and commitment to volunteer legal services programs. Throughout law school, she not only worked full time, but also volunteered her nights and weekends with several non-profit programs dedicated to empowering survivors of domestic violence and assisting them in navigating the legal system to protect themselves and their loved ones.

Since 2016, Karen has been recognized as a Super Lawyers Rising Star. This designation is awarded only to a select number of accomplished attorneys under the age of 40 in each state. The Rising Stars selection process takes into account peer recognition, professional achievement in legal practice, and a review by an independent blue-ribbon panel.

In 2022, Karen received the “Excellence in the Law: Up & Coming Lawyer” award from Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly. This award is given to those select lawyers who have already distinguished themselves in the field in less than ten (10) years of practice.

In 2019, Karen was selected to the National Trial Lawyers: Top 40 Under 40, a professional organization that recognizes the top trial lawyers in each state.

In her spare time, you can find Karen soaking up as much live music as possible or exploring the outdoors.

BAR ADMISSIONS

• Iowa
• Massachusetts
• New Hampshire
• Oklahoma
• California
• Nebraska

PREVIOUSLY ADMITTED PRO-HAC VICE

• California
• Indiana
• Missouri
• Montana
• Nebraska
• Ohio
• South Dakota

EDUCATION

• Suffolk University Law School– J.D. Juris Doctor
• Boston University– Bachelor of Science in Political Science / Psychology

In this episode, Rahul and Ben discuss major trends in trial practice and big picture take aways from the last 3 ½ years of the podcast.  The conversation begins with a discussion of nuclear verdicts in the golden age of trial, moves on to case analysis and key issues, then to strategies or courtroom success, and ends with discussion of the impact of the MAGA juror.  

About Rahul

https://www.panish.law/ravipudi.html

Rahul Ravipudi is a partner at Panish | Shea | Ravipudi LLP and has spent his legal career handling injury.html">catastrophic injury and wrongful death cases involving commercial vehicles, angeles-pedestrian-accident-lawyer.html">pedestrians, industrial or accident.html">construction accidents, utility negligence, dangerous conditions of public and private property as well as cases of sexual abuse and assault-victims.html">sexual assault. Mr. Ravipudi also represents consumers in class actions against businesses who engage in unfair/illegal business practices and public entities in cases where corporations have endangered the safety, health, property or comfort of the public.

Mr. Ravipudi currently serves as Plaintiffs’ Co-Lead Counsel in the Social Media Cases litigation which involves cases of children and young adults harmed or driven to suicide by social media algorithms as well as Public Entity Plaintiffs’ Co-Lead Counsel in the JUUL Labs Product Cases, representing school districts and other public entities in California involved in litigation against the electronic cigarette manufacturer. He also serves as Plaintiffs Co-Lead Counsel in the Southern California Fire Cases litigation arising out of the 2017 Thomas Fire and subsequent debris flows in Montecito, California as well as on the Plaintiffs Executive Committee in the California North Bay Fires litigation. Mr. Ravipudi previously served on the Steering Committee in the Blythe bus crash litigation.

Named 2017 Trial Lawyer of the Year by Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles, Mr. Ravipudi has obtained numerous landmark verdicts and settlements including a $160.5 million jury verdict for a man who suffered a traumatic brain injury as a result of a vicious beating by security personnel for a nightclub, a $46,475,112.33 jury verdict for a beginning Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu student who suffered a catastrophic spinal cord injury while sparring with a Del Mar Jiu-Jitsu Club instructor who performed a technique which rendered the student an incomplete quadriplegic, 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, as well as a $23,500,000 settlement on behalf of the family of Paul Lee, a 19-year-old 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. The Lee case was a catalyst for significant change in school transportation with Governor Jerry Brown signing the “Paul Lee School Bus Safety Law” in September 2016, requiring all school buses in the state of California to be equipped with a child safety alarm system that must be deactivated by the bus driver before departing the bus. The new law will go into effect at the start of the 2018-19 school year and requires bus drivers to receive training in child-safety check procedures.

Committed to serving as an advocate for his clients, Mr. Ravipudi has obtained numerous eight-figure awards including a jun-chaffey-joint-union-high-school-district.html">$20,500,000 jury verdict for the mother of a high school student who was killed while walking to a bus stop, diao-southern-cal-gas-co.html">a $19,786,818 jury verdict for a man who suffered severe burn and traumatic brain injuries when his rental home exploded as a result of Southern California Gas Company negligence, a $13,935,550 jury verdict for 19-year-old pedestrian who suffered extensive injuries as a result of being struck on the sidewalk by a vehicle driven by a Los Angeles County employee, a $13,000,000 settlement for the children and parents of a woman who was killed when her car was hit by a Hawthorne, California police officer, a $11,000,000 settlement for the family of a middle school student who drowned during a school-sponsored swim party, a$10 million for the family of an independent truck driver killed by an intoxicated heavy lift operator at a stevedoring terminal in Long Beach, and an$8,000,000 jury verdict in Clark County District Court for a Nevada man who suffered significant internal injuries after he was served and ingested what he believed was a Honey Blonde Ale but was actually a chemical cleaning compound left in the tap lines.

Mr. Ravipudi shared his insight into successfully litigating cases against the stevedoring companies in an article entitled, 1.pdf">“Danger on the Docks – Where there is an injury or death on the waterfront, drugs or alcohol are too often involved” published in the February 2011 edition of Advocate, journal of the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles.

Additional recoveries obtained by Mr. Ravipudi include a $15,950,000 settlement for a teen who suffered a brain injury on an HOA playground, $8,000,000 settlement for an 81-year-old woman who suffered severe spinal cord injuries after falling at a hotel, a $7,000,000+ settlement during trial for the family of a man killed at SpeedVegas when the vehicle he was driving slammed into a track wall and burst into flames, $6,500,000 settlement for the two minor children and friend of a Southern California man who was killed after being struck on the highway by a freight truck whose driver had fallen asleep behind the wheel, a $6,000,000 settlement for a woman who suffered severe burn injuries when a faucet in the bathtub of her apartment detached and sprayed scalding hot water onto her body, a $5 million for an HVAC worker who suffered serious injuries when he fell through a skylight while working on a customer’s roof, a $3.3 million gross jury verdict arising out of the death of a pest control person crushed and killed when a semi-truck reversed into him at a warehousing facility, and $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, Meaningful-Discovery-1.pdf">“Dealing with the state of California’s first line of defense – stonewalling any meaningful discovery” published in Advocate, Journal of Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles in February 2009.

About Ben

https://gideonasen.com/our-team/benjamin-gideon/

When clients come to us, they are looking for financial compensation. They are often struggling just to stay above water, and they need money to provide safety and security to meet basic life needs and to build a new and better life for themselves and their family in the future.

But for many of our clients, their case is also about something more—something larger—than money. It’s about accountability. It’s about wanting to create a society where individuals, corporations, medical providers and insurance companies don’t get away with selfish, neglectful or greedy choices that put people at risk. It’s about obtaining the catharsis and closure the only comes when justice is done to make up for the precious things that another’s harmful conduct took away from them.

In short, I have come to realize that my clients don’t just want a lawyer. They want a Champion—that is, someone who will fight for them individually, but also be willing to fight for the larger cause for which they stand.

Let Us Be Your Champion.

– Ben Gideon, 2021

Early Years

Ben grew up in Portland, Maine, attended public schools and graduated from Deering High School in 1989. Ben’s father, Martin Rogoff, was a prominent member of the Maine Law School faculty, so Ben grew up immersed in discussions of the law. Ben began to develop his legal skills early in life through nightly arguments with his father at the dinner table.

In high school, Ben played varsity soccer and was the captain of the hockey team. Following high school, Ben attended Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. Ben attempted to walk on to the Cornell hockey team, but was eventually cut from the team, ending his hockey career. Depressed and disappointed at this failure, Ben became a poor student, failed several classes, and was told he was being suspended from college on academic probation.

After rehabilitating himself through some community college courses, Ben was able to gain re-admission to Cornell and to complete his degree. Ben applied to law school and was admitted to Boston University School of Law. There, Ben was a standout student. His grades were so exceptional after his first year that he was accepted as a transfer student to Yale Law School where he earned his law degree.

Ben began his career in private practice at a large, multi-national law firm, Latham & Watkins, in New York City. He practiced there for several years before deciding to return to Maine to join Berman & Simmons, PA, Maine’s largest plaintiff’s law firm.

A Leader at Berman & Simmons

During his years at Berman & Simmons, Ben rose from an associate to become an owner and practice leader at the firm. Ben was instrumental in helping the firm re-invent its approach to litigating and trying cases; expanded its areas of practice expertise; and recruited and trained many talented lawyers.

During his 17 years at Berman & Simmons, Ben enjoyed many great successes and some disappointing failures, but overall managed to build the most successful plaintiff’s personal injury and medical malpractice practice in the State of Maine. Ben achieved success in a broad range of different types of plaintiff’s cases—police civil rights, product liability, medical malpractice, nursing home, maritime and industrial accidents.

Early in his career, Ben achieved a landmark civil rights verdict against a police officer for violating his client’s civil rights with a Taser shooting. The verdict was affirmed on appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.

In 2014, after 4 ½ year of litigation, Ben achieved a record-setting $22.5 million jury verdict in Burlington, Vermont, on behalf of a utility lineman who lost both of his legs during a high-voltage powerline switching operation.

Ben followed his Vermont verdict with a verdict of $1.75 million jury verdict in a medical malpractice trial in Bangor, Maine.

More recently, Ben recovered $2.5 million in a medical malpractice case tried to a jury in New Hampshire.

Founding Gideon Asen LLC

After 17 years at Berman & Simmons, in November 2020, Ben decided to leave one firm he loved and had helped to build, to form a new law firm, Gideon Asen LLC.

“I was very proud of everything we accomplished at Berman & Simmons,” Ben said, “but I was excited by the challenge of building a new firm that could be even better.”

Ben’s first step was to recruit Taylor Asen to join him.

“Taylor and I have a common mission,” Ben said. “Although we’re separated by 12 years, Taylor also attended Yale Law School and completed prestigious Federal clerkships. He’s insanely smart.”

“But perhaps more important, Taylor and I share a common vision of a plaintiff’s law firm where clients have access to exceptional lawyers and service. We are both supremely competitive and don’t tolerate mediocrity. We believe we owe it to our clients to give them the very best, and that is what Gideon Asen will provide.”

We’ve all heard the stories of doctors who cause harm to patients by systematically performing medically unnecessary procedures, just to line their own pockets.  These circumstances rise to a level beyond ordinary medical negligence to fraud or criminal acts.  However, when we litigate individual medical malpractice cases, the rules of discovery and evidence can pose barriers that make it difficult to determine whether a client’s experience reflects a larger pattern and practice by the doctor and the medical business.  Join us for our discussion with Washington, DC trial lawyer, Katie Bertram, as she tells the story of a case in which she was able to show this larger pattern of a doctor performing medically unnecessary medical procedures in an out-patient surgery center setting that provides very few checks and balances on this type of rogue behavior.

About Catherine "Katie" Bertram

Website: dc.com/">https://www.blg-dc.com/

Catherine D. “Katie” Bertram started the Bertram & Murphy, building on decades of experience as both a medical malpractice attorney and director of risk management at Georgetown University Hospital.

In those environments, she learned how doctors and hospitals work, as well as how their attorneys assess claims against them. She draws on this knowledge to advocate for patients and their families.

“People want someone who’s competent, caring, and careful. They’ve just gone through the worst thing in their lives and been betrayed by doctors or a hospital — people that we’re supposed to trust,” she said. “I can set forth what happened and why it was negligent.”

Bertram graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a Bachelor of Social Work. While accompanying a social worker to court one day, she found her true passion—the law. “The minute I walked into court, I knew that’s what I should be doing,” she said.

She obtained her law degree from the Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law in Washington, D.C., in 1989, becoming the first lawyer in her family. The faculty nominated her as Woman Law Student of the Year.

Bertram focuses on personal injury and medical malpractice in part because her mother is a nurse. “It allows me to combine the law and medicine,” she said. “I enjoy talking to juries and teaching them about complicated medical cases in an easier way.”

Bertram has achieved several distinctions throughout her career. She is one of 20 people serving on the D.C. Bar’s Board of Governors and also is a board member of the D.C. Bar Pro Bono Center, which finds lawyers to meet the legal needs of D.C.’s low-income residents, nonprofits, and small businesses.

She’s been an adjunct law professor at American University’s Washington College of Law since 2013, teaching a course about medical malpractice. Among her charitable work, she is an active supporter of Public Citizen, the nonprofit consumer advocacy organization, and a founding member of the Washington, D.C., charity Power 100. She also sews quilts for military veterans through the Quilts of Valor Foundation.

Licensed to practice in Washington, D.C., and in Maryland, Bertram has a notable record of favorable verdicts. In 2017, she won $8 million on behalf of her clients against Edward Dunne, M.D., and Foxhall Urology, and in 2018, she won a $1.25 million verdict against Capital Women’s Care and others for negligence and negligent infliction of emotional distress.

But even though she and her firm have a strong track record, she and Heather J. Kelly also work hard to settle cases in their clients’ best interests. If they’re able to reach a settlement before formally filing the case, they’ll lower their fees.

A third-generation Washingtonian, Bertram enjoys spending time with her family and on the Chesapeake Bay when not in court.

She’s proud of the individualized attention that the Bertram & Murphy provides.

“I can limit the number of cases I take so I can work very hard on each case,” Bertram said. “We have the time and the creativity and the resources and the technology and the verdicts behind us like we’re a big firm, but you don’t deal with layers and layers of people. You’re getting the A team.”

Louisville, Kentucky trial lawyer Sheila Hiestand has harnessed the same competitive zeal she had as a starting center on a division one college basketball team to become one of Kentucky’s leading trial lawyers.  Sheila has successfully litigated and tried many high-profile cases, including a recent case in which she obtained a $36 Million judgment on behalf of the family of victims of a January 2018 shooting at Marshall County High School in which two students were killed and several others injured.  Sheila discusses this case, including some of the many legal obstacles she confronted and the impact on the families she represented after this tragedy.

About Sheila Hiestand

Website: https://mhkylaw.com/

“The Lady Litigator”

As a college basketball player who started in two final four appearances, Sheila knows the importance of hard work, drive and heart. Sheila—aka “The Lady Litigator” for her tenacity in court—is dedicated to helping women and their families through the very difficult process of personal injury claims. She has served as the president of the Kentucky trial lawyers with the Kentucky Justice Association and has worked tirelessly to fight for injured people for more than 30 years. This includes several trials with extraordinary results for her clients, such as an auto accident case where she earned a $743,000 verdict and a medical practice failure to diagnose cancer case where she earned a $1.3 million verdict.  She also has achieved many 7-figure settlements for her clients in trucking, medical malpractice, auto and motorcycle cases.

After graduating from Centre College, Sheila received her Juris Doctorate from the University of Kentucky School of Law. Soon after she was recognized as the Fayette County Bar Association Outstanding Young Lawyer and was rated an “AV Lawyer” by Martindale-Hubbell®. She has also been recognized among the American Trial Lawyers Association’s Top 100 Trial Lawyers in Kentucky; Super Lawyers Top 50 Lawyers in Kentucky;  Super Lawyers Top 25 Women Lawyers in Kentucky; as Top Lawyer by Louisville Magazine, and has received a long list of awards.

When not practicing law, Sheila enjoys spending time with her three children and husband and loves to compete in triathlons. She plays viola, violin, cello and piano and is a past member of the Lexington Singers. Sheila is also fluent in Spanish and has volunteered at the Federal Correctional Institute to assist Spanish-speaking inmates with legal matters pro bono.

Education

• Graduated from Centre College with a double major in English and Spanish
• Juris Doctorate from the University of Kentucky, College of Law

Memberships

• Kentucky Justice Association, Past President
• Kentucky Bar Association, Past Board of Governors
• Kentucky Bar Association Young Lawyers Section, Past President
• Million Dollar Advocates Forum
• Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum
• American Board of Trial Advocates
• Injury Board
• The American Society of Legal Advocates
• American Association for Justice President of Fayette County Young Lawyers, Past President
• Louisville Sports Commission Board Member
• Memory Walk for the Alzheimer’s Association, Committee Chair
• Volunteer Center of Central Kentucky Annual Fundraiser, Committee Chair
• Lexington Chapter of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation’s Sixty Five Roses Ball, Co-Chair
• ky-chad-mccoy-4418844.html">Top Attorney Personal Injury

Licenses

• Commonwealth of Kentucky
• State of Indiana
• State of Tennessee
• US District Courts for Eastern, Middle and Western Districts of Kentucky
• US District Court for Southern District of Indiana
• US District Court for Northern District of Illinois
• United States 6th Circuit Court of Appeals
• Supreme Court of the United States of America

Awards

• Fayette County Bar Association Outstanding Young Lawyer , 1998
• Kentucky Justice Association Peter Perlman Award recipient for Outstanding Trial Attorney 2018
• AV® Preeminent™ Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell
• The American Trial Lawyers Association , Top 100 Trial Lawyers in Kentucky
• Selected for inclusion in Kentucky Super Lawyers ® for more than a decade
• Selected as a Top 50 Kentucky Super Lawyers in Kentucky for multiple years
• Selected as a Top 25 Kentucky Women Super Lawyers in Kentucky for multiple years
• Selected for inclusion in the  Who’s Who in American Law
• AVVO Perfect 10 Rating – Top Personal Injury Attorney
• Outstanding Attorney by the Greater Lexington Paralegal Association
• National Academy of Personal Injury Attorneys
• NAOPIA Top 10 Attorney for KY
• Global Who’s Who Best Lawyers in America

Before Maryland-based trial lawyer Reza Davani began rolling the dice with juries, he was a competitive poker player. Join Ben and Rahul for their discussion with Reza, in which he recounts how principles and lessons learned from playing poker translate to trial practice. Reza provides many valuable strategies for trial success, including identifying and planting “landmines” for the defense as part of his case. In addition to his phenomenal success as a trial lawyer, Reza is a sought-after speaker and teacher of trial tactics, and there is much for any practitioner to learn from listening to this episode. You may want to listen more than once.

About Reza Davani

Website: Maryland Personal Injury Lawyer | Compensation After an Accident (kbaattorneys.com)

KBA is fortunate to work with Mr. Reza Davani because he is a true trial lawyer. He has tried many cases and is a student of the art, studying trial strategies, attending seminars, and always polishing his skills. His passion for client advocacy and willingness to fight made his partnership at KBA a great fit.

Mr. Davani has worked on both sides of the aisle, representing local, national, and international companies, governmental entities, and injured victims as both a plaintiff and defense lawyer. He has represented clients and worked on matters in state, federal and bankruptcy courts around the country, including in Maryland, Mississippi, Washington D.C., New Jersey, California, New Mexico, Massachusetts, Georgia, Virginia, Illinois, Iowa, North Carolina, and New York. (He is licensed in Maryland and has worked in other states on a pro hac vice basis.) Within Maryland, he has represented clients in matters in Prince George’s County, Frederick County, Anne Arundel County, Baltimore City, Baltimore County, Allegany County, Cecil County, Washington County, Montgomery County, Charles County, Howard County, Talbot County, Carroll County, Wicomico County, and Harford County.

He has the experience and helped clients with cases concerning complex litigation, product liability, commercial litigation, franchise disputes, catastrophic injuries, wrongful death and survival actions, direct lawsuits against insurance companies, qui-tam whistleblower cases, amputation injuries, and a variety of personal injury matters, including medical malpractice, nursing home abuse, vehicle collisions, commercial truck and tractor-trailer crashes, boating-collisions and allisions, and premises liability, including tripping hazards and dangerous trees.

Mr. Davani is committed to advocating aggressively for his injured clients, which he has done for the past ten years. In recent years, he personally helped injured victims and their families recover close to $15,000,000 in settlements and verdicts. Each case is different and prior results does not mean future success, we are confident he is going to help KBA clients hold defendants accountable and prevent future harms through the civil justice system.

He is also committed to community outreach and giving back to those in need. He has done non-profit legal work for a public defender’s office, the Prisoner Rights Information System of Maryland, Inc., the Mississippi Center for Justice, and a clinic representing ex-offenders. Attorneys often turn to him for advice which he offers for free to help improve justice in our communities. Mr. Davani is also a Super Lawyers Rising Star from 2019-2021.

EDUCATION

• University of Maryland Robert H. Smith School of Business
• University Of Maryland School Of Law, J.D.

From representing Yoko Ono to winning class action lawsuits on behalf of actors and musicians, Neville Johnson and his partner Douglas Johnson (no relationship) have built one of the most interesting and successful entertainment law practices in the nation, specializing in representing “talent” as opposed to the business side of the industry.  Join Rahul and Ben for a fascinating discussion with Neville and Doug, as they describe how they got their start in this practice, recount some of their most interesting cases, and talk about trends in entertainment law resulting from new technologies.

About Neville Johnson - Senior Partner

Website: Johnson and Johnson, LLP Law Firm | Johnson and Johnson, LLP (jjllplaw.com)

Professional Experience:

Neville L. Johnson graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of California, Berkeley (1971).  He received his law degree from Southwestern Law School (1975), graduating near the top of his class.  He has tried over 28 civil jury trials and over 70 civil trials and arbitrations without a jury. He is a member of the invitation-only American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), and is on the Board of Governors of the Consumer Attorneys of Los Angeles (CAALA since 2005), the Board of Directors of the national organization Public Justice, and on the Board of Governors of the Beverly Hills Bar Association 2013-2015 and 2020-2022 (BHBA). Johnson is a long-time member of the invitation-only Los Angeles Copyright Society, and on the Board of The California Society of Entertainment Lawyers.

He was nominated for Trial Lawyer of the Year in 2005 by CAALA.  He was Co-Chair of the Entertainment Law Section of the Beverly Hills Bar Association from 2009 to 2011. He has been on the Planning Committee of the USC Entertainment Law Institute since 2011. He has appeared in courts in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Nevada, New York, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Tennessee, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas.

In 2020, Mr. Johnson and his team secured a verdict in a Right of Publicity case of over 9 Million Dollars in damages, and over 7 Million Dollars in attorneys fees.

Mr. Johnson has litigated and settled countless cases against a wide array of defendants concerning royalty accounting, profit participation, publicity rights, idea theft, copyright infringement, and many other entertainment law matters. He has also served as an adjunct professor at Southwestern Law School since 2012, where he teaches Entertainment and Media Litigation. However, his greatest pride has been in defending the privacy rights of all citizens against the worst malefactors in the media. His work in this field was perhaps best summarized by Professor David A. Elder, a leading expert on the law of privacy, who published the following special dedication in his treatise, Privacy Torts:

To Neville L. Johnson… who has led the charge, often successfully (and always creatively and with great passion) in exposing some of the worst outrages of media newsgathering. Neville ranks with Brandeis and Warren as the great defenders of privacy. All America is in his debt.

Mr. Johnson has practiced entertainment law and IP law since 1975 [except for 10 months in 1977-78 when he was a Public Defender (juvenile) in Los Angeles County and handled over 100 matters, including two murder trials and one attempted murder trial].

Mr. Johnson has represented many well-known celebrities and entertainment concerns. The firm currently represents Sylvester Stallone in net profit litigation, and many other writers, directors, actors, producers, musicians, models, and JoJo Siwa, the biggest teen star in the world. He and his firm have been lead counsel in many class actions, including pioneering class actions in the entertainment industry against the entertainment unions, major record companies and motion picture companies. The firm has also handled a number of consumer class actions. The firm handles 15 to 20 right of publicity cases a year.

Mr. Johnson is a frequent lecturer and written extensively on entertainment, copyright and media and other legal topics, including in London, England  (Entertainment attorneys based in the UK, London Branch of Entertainment Section of BHBA), Cannes, France (MIDEM, the international music convention), New York (ABA Forum on Communications Section, and Entertainment Law Section and New York Bar Assn.: Entertainment Law Section), Nashville (ABA Entertainment Law Section), Las Vegas (ABA Entertainment Law Section), Miami, Arizona State University, Stanford University, U.C. Berkeley, Loyola Law School, Southwestern Law School, USC Entertainment Law Institute annual forum (3 times) as well as the undergraduate school, California Western School of Law, California State University, Northridge, and many times to the Entertainment Section of the BHBA as a panelist or moderator), the Intellectual Property Section of Los Angeles County Bar Assn., and Berklee College of Music (Boston).

Johnson & Johnson LLP, based in Beverly Hills, California, is a litigation firm that specializes in complex litigation with a particular emphasis on entertainment, intellectual property, right of publicity, privacy, defamation, consumer issues, and class actions. Mr. Johnson and the firm also negotiate business and entertainment agreements.

Representative Matters:

• Obtained a 9.6 Million Dollar jury verdict after a seven week jury trial for claim of violation of the right of publicity, Hansen v. The Coca Cola Company, the largest verdict for a right of publicity case in the history of the United States. The trial court also awarded 7.4 million dollars in attorneys' fees.
• Obtained a unanimous landmark privacy ruling from the California Supreme Court in Sanders v. American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. (1999) 20 Cal.4th 907, a decision that is included in multiple casebooks and taught in law schools across the country.
• Obtained a published California Court of Appeal opinion representing fitness celebrity Richard Simmons in right of privacy claims against a magazine and private eye for placing a GPS tracker on a car. Simmons v. Bauer Media (2020)
• Represented numerous victims (both individually and in a class action) of notorious wiretapper Anthony Pellicano and other liable parties, including obtaining a favorable partial affirmance of a significant sanctions award by the California Court of Appeal in Gerbosi v. Gaims, Weil, West & Epstein LLP (2011) 193 Cal.App.4th 435, which concerned a law firm's use of Pellicano's services.
• Pioneered the use of class actions against studios and record labels for improperly accounting to artists regarding royalties and profit participation, obtaining multiple eight-figure settlements therefrom. Represented many individuals in profit participation claims, including Sylvester Stallone, Jack Klugman, Richard Dreyfuss and Mike Connors.
• Represented the heir of songwriter Gram Parsons in Parsons v. Tickner (1995) 31 Cal.App.4th 1513, defeating a statute of limitations defense and establishing a fiduciary duty claim against a music publisher.
• Represented numerous legendary musicians and/or their estates on a variety of contractual, accounting, and intellectual property matters, including John Lennon, Buddy Holly, Michelle Phillips, Rick Nelson, P.F. Sloan, members of Earth, Wind and Fire, Mitch Ryder, Lloyd Price and many others.
• Obtained a $15 million award in a jury trial business fraud case.

Honors:

He has been repeatedly selected by Super Lawyers as one of the top entertainment attorneys in Southern California (top 5% of attorneys as voted by peers). In 2020, 2021 and 2022 Super Lawyer and his peers named him one of the top 100 attorneys in Southern California, the only entertainment attorney on the list, he was named one of the top 100 Power Lawyers in Entertainment Law by The Hollywood Reporter every year since, 2008, and in 2020 moved to a new permanent category and designated a “Legal Legend.” He has also been designated numerous times one of the top lawyers in entertainment by Variety and Los Angeles legal newspapaer The Daily Journal. He was nominated as Trial Lawyer of the Year by the California Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles. He is a fellow at the American Law Institute (only 2% of all attorneys are members).  In 2020 he was honored as Alumnus of the Year by the Biederman Entertainment Law Institute at Southwestern Law School.   A law review article about his career is Richard and Calvert, “Suing the Media, Supporting the First Amendment: the Paradox of Neville Johnson and the Battle for Privacy,” 67 Albany Law Review 1097 (2004). On June 23, 2015, the Los Angeles Times did a major profile (front page, Business Section) on his career, “Contract Sport, ‘Go-to' L.A. Lawyer Says Hollywood Studios Are Shortchanging His Clients,” noting that Johnson & Johnson is one of the few firms successfully taking on the entertainment establishment on a regular basis. The cover story of the July 2016, issue of Attorney at Law magazine is about Neville Johnson.  The Los Angeles Business Journal profiled him on its first page, “Lawyer Up,” (September 9, 2019).

Speaking Engagements:

He is a frequent speaker, including in London, England [Entertainment attorneys based in the UK, London Branch of Entertainment Section of Beverly Hills Bar Association (BHBA)], Cannes, France (MIDEM, the international music convention), the Intellectual Property Section of Los Angeles County Bar Assn., and Berklee College of Music (Boston); and the Los Angeles Copyright Society. New York (ABA Forum on Communications Section, and Entertainment Law Section and New York Bar Assn.: Entertainment Law Section), Nashville (ABA Entertainment Law Section), Las Vegas (ABA Entertainment Law Section), Miami, Arizona State University, Stanford University, U.C. Berkeley, Loyola Law School, Southwestern Law School, USC Entertainment Law Institute annual forum (3 times) as well as the undergraduate school, California Western School of Law, California State University, Northridge, and many times to the Entertainment Section of the BHBA as a panelist or moderator),  SInce 2011 he has moderated the panel on ethical issues for the annual Year in Review for the Entertainment Section of the Beverly Hills Bar Association.

Publications:

 Johnson & Johnson, “Interesting New Developments About Which All Practitioners Should be Aware,” 31 New York State Bar Assn, Entertainment, Arts and Sports Law Journal 56 (2020); Johnson, Johnson, Smolla & Tweed, “Defamation and Invasion of Privacy in the Internet Age,” 25 Southwestern Journal of International Law 9 (2019) Johnson & Johnson, “Trouble in Tinseltown, Los Angeles Daily Journal (April 23, 2019); “My Big Mouth,” Los Angeles Daily Journal (March 29, 2019); Johnson & Johnson, “Entertainment Contracts with Minors in New York and California, 30 New York State Bar Assn, Entertainment, Arts and Sports Law Journal 75 (2019); Johnson & Johnson, “A New Way to Revive a Corporation?,” Los Angeles Daily Journal (October 18, 2016); Johnson & Johnson, “Hollywood Docket: One Sided World,” 27 New York State Bar Assn, Entertainment, Arts and Sports Law Journal 32 (2016); Johnson & Elder, “Maybe America Needs More Peter Thiels,” Los Angeles Daily Journal (August 8, 2016); “We've Lost Control,” Los Angeles Daily Journal (June 16, 2016); “Talent Agency Act Survives Suit, Clarity Remains Elusive,” Los Angeles Daily Journal (May 10, 2013); “The Man Who Seduced Hollywood,” 36 Los Angeles Lawyer 41(September 2013); “Remedies for Web Defamation,” California Lawyer 36 (May 2013); “To Find Employment as a Lawyer, You Must Market Yourself,” 36 Los Angeles Lawyer 12 (June 2013); “Ten Rules for Success in the Practice of Law, 31 Los Angeles Lawyer 12 (June 2008); Chapter, Johnson & Aradi, “Defamatory Tweeting and Other Name and Likeness Violations” in Building Your Artist's Brand as a Business, International Association of Entertainment Lawyers (2012) (includes a discussion of right of publicity); Chapter, Johnson & Fowler, “Litigation: How to Draft Defensively Without Killing the Deal” in Licensing of Music from BC to AD (Before the Change/After Digital), International Association of Entertainment Lawyers (2014); Elder, Johnson & Rishwain, “Establishing Constitutional Malice for Defamation and Privacy/False Light Claims When Hidden Cameras and Deception Are Used by the Newsgatherer,” 22 Loyola of Los Angeles Entertainment Law Review 327 (2002); “New Developments in California Privacy and Defamation Law,” 23 California Litigation 21 (2010); Johnson & Johnson, “What Happened to Unjust Enrichment in California? The Deterioration of Equity in the California Courts,” 44 Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review 277 (2010); Johnson & Walsh, “The Danger of “Anti-Libel Tourism” Litigation in the United States, 32 Los Angeles Lawyer 44 (December 2009); Johnson, “Privacy and the First Amendment”, California Litigation (2006); co-author “Caught in the Act,” Los Angeles Lawyer (1998) (an analysis of trends in the right of privacy); Johnson & Lang, The Personal Manager in the California Entertainment Industry, 52 Southern California Law Review 375 (1979)(a definitive article on the regulation of talent agents, personal managers, and the interplay of entertainment unions and guilds in that nexus). He co-authored chapters on music publishing and personal managers in The Musician's Business & Legal Guide (2017 5th edition), and wrote the authorized and best-selling biography of the greatest coach in the history of sports, The John Wooden Pyramid of Success (Second Edition 2004).

Since 2012, Neville and Douglas Johnson have taught a course on entertainment and media litigation as Adjunct Professors at Southwestern School of Law.  From 2011-2014, he was one of the panelists teaching the Los Angeles County Bar Association new admittees course on class actions; and since 2011 he has moderated the panel on ethical issues for the annual Year in Review for the Entertainment Section of the Beverly Hills Bar Association. 

Professional Associations:

• American Board of Trial Advocates (invitation only)
• Association of Business Trial Lawyers
• Beverly Hills Bar Association
•  Co-Chair Entertainment Section, 2009-2011
• Board of Governors, 2012-2015, 2020-2022
• Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles
• Board of Governors, 2005-Present
• Consumer Attorneys of California
• Los Angeles Copyright Society (invitation only)
• Los Angeles County Bar Association
• Loyola Productions [Filmmaking arm of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits)]
• Co-Chair of the Board, 2009-Present
• National Association of Recording Arts and Sciences (Grammy organization)
• Voting Member (as the recording artist professionally known as Trevor McShane)
• Public Justice (National organization advocating for consumers and fundamental rights)
• Board of Governors, 2011-Present
• USC Entertainment Law Institute
• Planning Board, 2011-Present

Education:

• J.D., Southwestern University School of Law, 1975
• B.A., University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, 1971

Practice Areas:

• Media Law
• Entertainment Law
• Entertainment Class Actions
• Privacy Law
• Complex Business Litigation Matters, including breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty and fraud
• Right of Publicity (wrongful use of name and likeness)
• Copyright Infringement and Theft of Idea cases
• Issues involving the entertainment unions

Admissions:

• California
• United States Supreme Court

About Douglas Johnson - Managing Partner

Website: Johnson and Johnson, LLP Law Firm | Johnson and Johnson, LLP (jjllplaw.com)

Professional Experience:

Mr. Johnson is well known for handling high-profile and high-impact entertainment matters. His clients include producers, actors, directors, writers, production companies, music artists, composers, music publishers, and independent record labels. He is well-known for his successes in royalty disputes, profit participation disputes, right of publicity cases, and theft of idea cases for film and television.  Mr. Johnson also handles invasion of privacy and libel cases, business disputes, and class actions. 

Mr. Johnson has been repeatedly named by Super Lawyer as a top intellectual property litigator for more than a decade, representing the top 2.5% of the profession in Southern California. Mr. Johnson also serves as outside general counsel for WorldStarHipHop.com, a popular music and pop culture website, where he deals with cutting-edge copyright, media, and right of privacy issues.  Mr. Johnson has handled numerous copyright infringement lawsuits in Federal Court for Worldstar.  

Since co-founding Johnson & Johnson, Mr. Johnson has been at the forefront of developing California's right of publicity laws. He regularly represents celebrities, models, and professional athletes in litigation against defendants who have wrongfully used their images.  He has litigated cases up to the California Supreme Court, advocating for precedent to protect the rights of all Californians from those who would seek to profit from their names, images, and likenesses without authorization. Mr. Johnson's advocacy in this area of law extends to his participation on speaking panels, publication of scholarly articles, and educating law students on the importance of these rights.  Mr. Johnson recently litigated a right of publicity case that resulted in a 9.6 million jury award and an attorney fee award of 7 million against Coca-Cola and Monster Energy for building their Hubert's Lemonade brand around the name of the founder of Hansen Juices, Hubert Hansen.  Mr. Johnson also received a seven-figure jury award in a right of publicity case for an actor/supermodel.  

Representative Matters:

• Handled profit participation disputes on behalf of Sylvester Stallone (Demolition Man, Expendables, and the Rocky Films), Glen Larson (Magnum PI, Knight Rider, Fall Guy, Battlestar Galactica), Ed Weinberger (Amen), Richard Dreyfuss (Goodbye Girl, Mr. Holland's Opus, and Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, and What About Bob?), Raymond Wagner (Turner and Hooch), Jack Klugman (Quincy, Odd Couple), Mike Connors (Mannix), the Estate of Charles Bronson (St. Ives, Telefon), Mort Engelberg (Hot Stuff and Smokey And The Bandit), and the owners of the Friday 13th horror franchise.  
• Lead counsel in a class action against Sony Music, resulting in $12.7 million settlement and 36% uplift in ongoing foreign streaming royalties in Nelson v. Sony (S.D.N.Y) benefiting thousands of legacy recordings artists; currently co-counsel in similar litigation on behalf of legacy artists signed to Warner and Universal. 
• Lead Counsel defending RatPac inidea theft case over the 2018 Melissa McCarthy movie, Life of the Party. (case dismissed on Motion for Summary Judgment).
• Lead Counsel representing producer in a dispute over turnaround rights to the film Rush Hour 4.  
• Lead Counsel for Janet Jackson in a royalty dispute with her label.  
• Obtained $5.35 million in retrospective relief and an estimated $3.1 million in savings over the next three years in Risto v. AFM & SAG-AFTRA (C.D. Cal.) for non-featured performers who receive royalties from the AFM & SAG-AFTRA Intellectual Property Rights Distribution Fund.
• Obtained a seven-figure settlement as lead counsel in a major talent management dispute for actress Karrueche Tran after successfully freezing all her manager's assets in Tran v. Muhammad (C.D. Cal.)
• Currently representing the leading production music company in North America on a variety of copyright matters both in and out of litigation-see, e.g., Associated Production Music v. The Vail Corp. (C.D. Cal.)
• Co-counsel in class actions against major Hollywood studios alleging endemic underpayment on home video and new digital media for pre-1982 movies for writers, producers, actors, and directors.  In those cases, Mr. Johnson handled the settlement with Universal for $25 million, the settlement with Fox for $12.6 million, and the settlements with Sony and Paramount.
• Mr. Johnson was co-counsel in three class actions against the record industry companies over digital download royalties of underpayments to artists (Temptations/Motels/Ronee Blakely), resulting in eight-figure settlements.  The cases dealt head-on with unresolved points of law as to the classification of digital downloads, and the rights of artists to receive royalties in the face of changing technology. 
• Mr. Johnson has litigated several high-profile libel actions against large media companies, resulting in several mid-seven-figure settlements.  Recently he represented Richard Simmons against In-Touch Magazine. In May 2020, he argued and won an Anti-SLAPP appeal for Mr. Simmons.
• With his partner, Neville L. Johnson, he settled three class actions against the Directors Guild of America, Writers Guild of America, and Screen Actors Guild of America for tens of millions of dollars of unpaid foreign levies.  
• Defended blues icon B.B. King in a case seeking declaratory relief regarding the right to produce a film about his life, resulting in dismissal of the lawsuit.
• Obtained a seven-figure jury verdict in Oregon U.S. District Court on behalf of a music artist and record company in a copyright infringement case.
• Represented business owner in arbitration in a partnership dispute resulting in a seven-figure award for the client.
• Wrongful death and civil rights case resulting in reorganization of staffing and training at a county jail. The matter was featured on the cover of the Sacramento News & Review and constituted the largest settlement in the nation at the time for such a case.

Thought Leadership:

• Panelist, CalCPA: Entertainment Industry Conference (June 21, 2022)
• Panelist, Beverly Hills Bar Association, Entertainment Law Year in Review, Ethics (January 13, 2020)
• Adjunct Professor, Entertainment and Media Litigation, Southwestern School of Law, (2012 to Present)
• Panelist, “Backend Optics: Profit Participations Through Different Lenses,” Beverly Hills Bar Association, Entertainment Law Section, (2018)
• Panelist, “I'm a Celebrity, You Can't Do That, (Can You?), California Society of Entertainment Lawyers, (2018)
• Panelist, “Entertainment Year in Review: Entertainment Litigation With Stars Of The Bar,” Beverly Hills Bar Association, Entertainment Law Section, (2017)
• Panelist, “The Right of Publicity: The State of The Current Law,” Beverly Hills Bar Association, Entertainment Law Section, (2014)
• The Ever-Evolving Courtroom Drama of Net Profits, Donald L. Stone's Inn of St. Ives, (2012)
• Panelist, Right of Publicity: How Much Is Your Client Really Worth?, Beverly Hills Bar Association, Entertainment Law Section, (2012)
• Panelist, Current Issues in Right of Likeness, Defamation and Privacy, Beverly Hills Bar Association, Entertainment Law Section, (2011)
• Panelist, Injuries Without Remedies, Loyola Law School's Legal Symposium, (2011)

Sample Publications:

• The Troubling Trend of Online Exceptionalism to Copyright's Separate Accrual Rule, New York State Bar Association, Entertainment, Arts and Sports Law Journal, Vol. 34, No. 2, (Summer 2023)
• Florida sides with California on delayed discovery in copyright cases, Daily Journal (March 3, 2023)
• The Second and Ninth Circuits Diverge on Copyright Law's Discovery Rule, New York State Bar Association, Arts and Sports Law Journal, Vol 33, No. 2 (Fall 2022)
• The Top 3 Copyright Law Developments of 2022 (So Far), New York State Bar Association, Arts and Sports Law Journal, Vol. 33, No. 2, (Spring 2022)
• Say Goodbye to Back-End Deals, New York State Bar Association, Arts and Sports Law Journal, Vol. 32, No. 3 (Fall 2021)
• 3 Music Litigation Developments in 2020-2021, Daily Journal (October 23, 2021)
• Contract, Fraud, and Libel Damages, Journal of Consumer Attorneys Associations for Southern California, Advocate Magazine (October 2021).  
• 3 Music Litigation Developments in 2020-2021, Daily Journal (September 16, 2021)
• Recent Developments In Entertainment Law: Defamation Jurisdiction, Copyright, and Talent Contest Agreements (Summer 2021)
• Black Windows: Scarlett Jo vs Disney, Daily Journal, (July 6, 2021)
• Recent Right of Privacy Developments, Daily Journal, (July 22, 2021)
• Developments In Libel, Social Media, Privacy and The Right of Publicity, (Spring 2021)
• Copyright Developments in 2020, New York State Bar Association, Arts and Sports Journal, Vol. 32, No. 1 (Sring 2021)
• Pandemic-era Appellate Rulings Take on Arbitration, Los Angeles Daily Journal (April 22, 2021)
• Recent Interesting Cases, New York State Bar Association, Arts and Sports Law Journal, Vol. 31, No. 2, (Spring 2020)
• Hollywood Docket: Trending: Data Privacy, Copyright Trolling, And A Clause To Keep In Mind, New York State Bar Association, (June 6, 2020)
• Recent Development In Copyright Law, Daily Journal, (August 2, 2020)
• COVID-19 And The Return To Film Production In California, Los Angeles Daily Journal, (July 13, 2020)
• Interesting New Developments About Which All Practitioners Should Be Aware Of, New York State Bar Association, Arts and Sports Law Journal, Vol. 31, No. 1, (Winter 2020)
• My Big Mouth, Journal of Consumer Attorneys Association for Southern California, Advocate Magzine, (December 2019)
• Entertainment Contracts With Minors in New York and California, New York State Bar Association, Arts and Sports Law Journal, Vol. 30, No. 1, (Spring 2019)
• Defamation and Invasion of Privacy in the Internet Age, Southwestern Journal of International Law, Volume XXV (2019)
• When Will Legal Communication Result In Liability? Los Angeles Daily Journal, (Mar 29, 2019)
• Entertainment Contracts With Minors: Clarification Needed, Los Angeles Daily Journal, (Nov. 27, 2018)
• Tales and Lessons Regarding the Right of Publicity, USC Entertainment Law Spotlight, Issue 2, (2018)
• Hollywood Docket: Tales and Lessons Regarding the Right of Publicity, New York State Bar Association, Arts and Sports Law Journal, No. 2, (Summer 2018)
• Hollywood Docket: Essential Clauses for Drafting an Ironclad Release and Consent Agreement, New York State Bar Association, Arts and Sports Law Journal, Vol. 29, No. 1, (Spring, 2018)
• Before You Sign That Deal At Cannes…Produced By, Producers Guild of America, (April/May 2017)
• Hollywood Docket: Making the Perfect Pitch, New York State Bar Association, Arts and Sports Law Journal, Vol. 27, No.3, (Fall/Winter 2017)
• Hollywood Docket: One-Sided World, New York State Bar Association, Entertainment, Arts and Sports Law Journal, Vol 27, No. 2., (Summer, 2016)
• A New Way to Revive a Corporation, Los Angeles Daily Journal, (Oct 26, 2016)
• Hollywood Docket: Social Media, the Law, and You, New York State Bar Association, Arts and Sports Law Journal, Vol. 27, No. 3 (Fall 2016)
• What Happened to Unjust Enrichment in California? The Deterioration of Equity in the California Courts, Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review, Vol. 44:277 (Fall 2010)

Published Cases:

• Gerbosi v. Gaims, Weil, West & Epstein, LLP (2011) 193 Cal.App.4th 435
• Walker v. Geico General Ins. Co. (9th Cir. 2009) 558 F.3d 1025
• Simmons v. Bauer Media Group USA, LLC (2020) 50 Cal App.5th 1037
• Education:
• J.D., University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law, 2000, Dean's List
• B.A., University of Southern California, 1996, Dean's List

Practice Areas:

• Entertainment Litigation
• Complex Business Litigation
• Class Action Litigation
• Intellectual Property Litigation
• Defamation, Media, and First Amendment Law
• Rights of Privacy and Publicity

Admissions:

• California

Chicago-based trial lawyer Jeffrey Kroll is no stranger to risk.  On the road to some of his biggest verdicts, including a 2017 verdict for $148 million, Jeff has turned down big money to cast his lot with the jury.  Join Ben and Rahul for their conversation with Jeff, in which he discusses some of the core beliefs and strategies that inform his highly successful approach to trying cases to juries.  Listeners will come away with many insightful tips that will benefit their own trial practices.

About Jeffrey Kroll

Website: Chicago Personal Injury Attorneys | Kaveny + Kroll

Jeffrey J. Kroll is a founding partner at Kaveny + Kroll, a Chicago firm focused primarily on plaintiffs’ tort litigation.  Jeff has been representing victims of negligence for over three decades and has taken cases to verdict throughout the country in the areas of trucking accidents, products liability, premises liability, medical malpractice and transportation negligence.  

In 2017, Jeff was a major part of the trial team that won a record-breaking $148 million verdict on behalf of a dancer paralyzed by a collapsed shelter at O’Hare International Airport.  This is the highest compensatory damage award to an individual plaintiff in Illinois history. 

Jeff regularly handles complex damage cases and has received multimillion dollar verdicts and settlements. Jeff obtained a $15.2 million verdict on behalf of a man who was seriously injured when he was struck and run over by a forklift at McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago.  He obtained a $5.25 million dollar verdict in the first U.S. bike share death.   During his career, he has obtained verdicts or negotiated settlements on over 80 occasions where the results have exceeded $1 million, including six cases which have exceeded $10 million.  Jeff has obtained more than $430 million in verdicts and settlements throughout his career. 

Jeff is also active in national bar associations where he routinely speaks and writes on several trial topics as part of his commitment to maintaining quality and professionalism in the legal community. He has been asked to lecture on over 160 occasions and has published over 139 articles for lawyers. Based on his substantial contributions to continuing legal education, the Illinois Institute of Continuing Legal Education recognized Jeff with IICLE’s 2015 Addis E. Hull award.  In 2008, that same group awarded Jeff the Top Instructor in CLE courses.  

Jeff is also a highly sought-after legal commentator, making frequent local and national media appearances to provide in-depth legal insight and analysis of current events.  He has been interviewed in countless television segments, podcasts, and publications.

Join Ben and Rahul for their discussion with Ohio Trial Lawyer, Allen Tittle who recently obtained a $6.19 million verdict in a difficult medical malpractice case in rural Ohio.  This was a case that Allen round tabled with Ben’s breakout medical malpractice group at the PSBR trial college in California last year.  We discuss how Allen successfully used the hospital policies to establish the standard of care and system failures that resulted in the harm to his client.  We also talk about how Allen’s unusual and challenging childhood created the foundation for his future success as a trial lawyer and informed his abilities to connect with clients and juries. 

About Allen Tittle

Allen is a born and raised Ohioan. He grew up here, went to undergrad and law school in Ohio, and now serves this community with his law firm. Hardworking blue-collar people are his roots, who he relates with best, and is the reason he couldn’t see himself living anywhere else. Allen was dropped on his great-great-aunt and uncle’s doorstep when he was two weeks old. They took him in when they didn’t have to and raised him as their own. While growing up, the phrase “it takes a village” couldn’t be more true for him. He loves being able to help the people he grew up around and give back to the village that helped raise him. Both as a business and personally, Allen strongly believes in giving back to the community. He has a scholarship for students and is involved with many community initiatives.  Allen is best known as a family man, Cleveland sports fan, and supportive member of his community.

Experience & Expertise

Allen is the founder and co-owner of Tittle & Perlmuter. He started the firm in 2015 at his kitchen table with six figures of student loan debt, his first baby on the way, and a brand new mortgage because he wanted a law firm where clients actually came first. Allen practices exclusively in the area of personal injury, with an emphasis on medical malpractice and nursing home neglect state-wide. Medical malpractice cases are some of the most difficult cases to take on, but he is always up for a challenge and relishes the role of the underdog. Being a lawyer gives him the power to fight the Goliaths of the world, whether it be a billion-dollar insurance company or a multi-million-dollar medical company. He has the honor and privilege of representing people and families who have had their lives turned upside down by catastrophic injuries with life-altering effects. Recovering money, getting justice and answers, and helping families move on is the biggest responsibility that he does not take lightly. Allen has committed his life’s work and legacy to serving his clients and community as one of Ohio’s leading personal injury lawyers.

Background & Education

Allen was born and raised in Huron, Ohio. After graduating from Huron High School, he attended Bowling Green State University where he graduated Magna cum laude. He then went to law school at Cleveland-Marshall College of Law where he graduated magna cum laude. Because of his education, experience, and expertise, Allen is asked to speak by multiple bars and legal associations like the Ohio Association for Justice, Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association, Lorain County Bar Association, and the Westshore Bar Association.

Bar & Court Admissions

• Ohio
• United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio

Community Involvement

• Hanson House Traumatic Brain Injury Clubhouse, Member of the Board of Directors
• Bay Wrestling Club, Assistant Coach
• Youth Flag Football, Head Coach
• Cleveland-Marshall College of Law Alumni Association’s Board of Directors

Honors & Awards

• AV Preeminent, Peer Rated for Highest Level of Professional Excellence
• Ohio Association for Justice, Medical Malpractice Chair 2018-2020
• National Trial Lawyers Top 100
• Rising Stars List 2015-2020
• Super Lawyers List 2022
• National Trial Lawyers Top 40 Under 40
• Avvo Top Attorney, 10.0 Rating
• Million Dollar and Multi-Million Dollar Advocate’s Forum
• Nation’s Top Attorneys, Top 1%, National Association of Distinguished Counsel
• Global Directory of Who’s Who
• CALI Award for Excellence in Constitutional Law
• Alumni Association Scholarship
• Lead Counsel Verified
• Best Lawyers 2023

Associations

• Keenan Trial Institute, Master’s Graduate 2021
• Ohio Association for Justice, Secretary
• American Association for Justice, State Delegate
• Cleveland Academy of Trial Attorneys
• Ohio State Bar Association
• Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association
• Lorain County Bar Association
• Westshore Bar Association

When trial lawyer Jamal Alsaffar of Austin Texas heard about the mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine, he had the eerie feeling of history repeating itself.  Many of the facts were strikingly similar to what had occurred in the Sutherland Springs church mass shooting case in Texas that Jamal tried to a Federal judge, resulting in a $230 million judgment for the families.  In the process, Jamal also forced the U.S. Government to disclose documents and information that demonstrated a long-standing pattern of failing to report dangerous, violent, and mentally unstable members of the armed forces to the FBI databank, thereby permitting tens of thousands of deranged or dangerous individuals to purchase and continue to possess firearms.  As a result of Jamal’s case, he not only secured compensation for his clients, but he forced the Air Force to enact policy changes that resulted in tens of thousands of dangerous individuals being reported.  Join Ben and Rahul for their in-depth discussion with Jamal, including his journey to becoming a trial lawyer that started with him becoming a standout in high school and college mock trial competitions to becoming one of the leading lawyers in the United States in bringing claims against the Federal Government and representing victims of mass shootings.

About Jamal Alsaffar

Mr. Alsaffar was born and raised in Dallas, Texas and is a nationally experienced trial attorney. Mr. Alsaffar has spent his entire career as a trial lawyer representing individuals and families. He has successfully represented clients in state, federal, and appellate courts across the country in complex personal injury and medical malpractice cases. In addition to a Texas statewide practice, Mr. Alsaffar has a national Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) practice representing veterans and military families around the country including Texas, Oklahoma, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington D.C., New York, New Hampshire, Illinois, Missouri, Nevada, Arizona, California, Oregon, and Washington.

In 2013, Mr. Alsaffar was selected as one of the 20 “Leading Lawyers” under the age of forty in the state of Texas by Texas Lawyer magazine. His legal peers have voted him as a “Super Lawyer” from 2014-2022 and prior to that as a Texas “Rising Star” from 2006-2014. Mr. Alsaffar has also served as the National Chair of the Federal Torts and Military Advocacy Section for the American Association of Justice, the nation’s premier trial lawyer organization. Mr. Alsaffar served as an adjunct professor of trial advocacy at the University of Texas School of Law, and also served as a volunteer coach for the University of Texas undergraduate trial advocacy team for over ten years. Mr. Alsaffar is a proud father of three children and is a volunteer select soccer coach for the Lake Travis Youth Association and serves on the board of LTYA.

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

Mr. Alsaffar is a member of the State Bar of Texas, the American Association for Justice, Texas Trial Lawyers’ Association, Federal Bar Association, the Capital Area Trial Lawyers’ Association, and the Austin Bar Association. He has served as Co-Chair of the Birth Trauma/Medical Negligence Litigation Group of the American Association for Justice, and has twice served as the Chair of the Federal Tort Liability and Military Advocacy section of the American Association for Justice. He is on the Federal Torts Executive Committee for the American Association for Justice. Mr. Alsaffar is also a fellow of the Texas State Bar Foundation.

BAR ADMISSIONS

• United States Supreme Court
• Supreme Court of Texas
• United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
• United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
• United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
• United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
• United States District Court, Western District of Texas
• United States District Court, Eastern District of Texas
• United States District Court, Southern District of Texas
• United States District Court, Northern District of Texas
• United States District Court, Middle District of Tennessee
• United States District Court, Southern District of Illinois
• United States District Court, Northern District of Florida
• PRACTICE AREAS
• Federal Tort Claims
• Medical Malpractice
• Personal Injury
• Civil Trials and Appeals

EDUCATION

• University of Texas at Austin, B.A., 1996
• Baylor University Law School, J.D., 2000

NOTABLE CASE RESULTS

• Joe Holcombe, et al.; Plaintiffs -vs- United States of America, Defendant, $230,000,000.00 Trial Judgment for failure to report mass shooter to FBI database. This is most commonly known as the Sutherland Springs Mass Shooting case.
• Farley v. United States, $21,568,710.62 Trial Judgment against Manchester, New Hampshire Veteran Affairs Hospital, Concord, New Hampshire, for failure to properly treat a stroke resulting in permanent paralysis. $15,884,511.98 received by clients after fees and expenses.
• Brown v. United States, $13,690,648 Trial Judgment against United States Navy, Naval Branch Health Clinic, Millington, TN, for failure to prescribe prenatal vitamins containing folic acid, resulting in a baby developing spina bifida and lifelong disabilities. $9,183,752 received by clients after fees and expenses.
• Elliott v. United States, $8,000,000 Settlement against United States Army, Darnall Army Community Hospital, Texas, for negligent labor and delivery care resulting in hypoxic permanent brain injury to a child. $5,850,783.79 received by clients after fees and expenses.
• Roberts v. United States, $7,860,000 Settlement against United States Army, Bassett Army Community Hospital, Fairbanks, Alaska, for negligent labor and delivery care resulting in permanent hypoxic brain injury to a child. $5,688,631.37 received by clients after fees and expenses.
• Timmons v. United States, $6,500,000 Settlement against United States Air Force, Fort Walton Beach, Florida, for negligent labor and delivery care resulting in a permanent brain injury to a child. $4,607,211.28 received by clients after fees and expenses.
• Humble v. United States, $5,800,000 Settlement against United States Army for negligent care during labor and delivery and a delay in performing a C-section at Darnall Army Community Hospital, resulting in a permanent brain injury to a child. $4,106,711.68 received by clients after fees and expenses.
• Lee v. United States, $5,117,473.50 Trial Judgment against United States Air Force, Randolph Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas, for failure to treat a child’s infection resulting in a double kidney transplant. $3,475,648.35 received by clients after fees and expenses.
• Holweger v. United States, $2,300,000 Settlement against United States Navy for negligent care during labor and delivery and failing to timely perform a C-section at Portsmouth Naval Medical Center in Virginia. $1,623,930 received by clients after fees and expenses.
• Cloer v. United States, $2,150,000 Settlement against United States Army, Blanchfield Army Community Hospital, Tennessee, for failing to diagnose and treat colon cancer resulting in death. $1,492,813 received by clients after fees and expenses.
• Hogans v. United States, $1,650,000 Trial Judgment against United States Army, Joint Base Lewis-McCord in Washington and Winn Army Community Hospital in Georgia, for failing to diagnose a tumor leading to stroke and brain injury. $1,067,624 received by clients after fees and expenses.

HONORS AND AWARDS

• Super Lawyers, (2014 - 2023)
• Super Lawyers, Rising Stars (2007 - 2014)

Join Ben for his interview of Scott Perry, one of Virgina’s most talented and successful trial lawyers.  Scott talks about his transition from Big Law to plaintiffs work and his later transition from a narrow focus on medical malpractice to a broader practice.  Scott discusses some of his landmark cases, including a case that changed the safety standard for American rowing and a recent $10 million verdict on behalf of a high school basketball star severely injured during a school community service project.  Scott talks about how he navigated the difficult facts of the case to achieve justice for his client. 

About Scott Perry

Before joining Breit Biniazan, accomplished trial lawyer Scott Perry served as a founding partner of Perry Charnoff, PLLC. 

Perry knows that it’s not just luck, but skill that gets personal injury lawyers the best result. He strives to surround himself with like-minded attorneys who enjoy the challenge of pushing the status quo and raising the bar for trial practice, which is why he joined forces with Breit Biniazan. Perry, who has a history of creating change in his community, strives to leverage this partnership to make an even greater impact for his clients and the communities he serves.

Several years ago, Scott represented a family in a devastating case involving a drowning on the Potomac River. The victim, an 18-year-old Filipino immigrant, became a rowing coach while on summer break from his Ivy League university. Unfortunately, one beautiful day, the victim was thrown from the launch and tragically drowned—despite being a strong swimmer. 

When Perry looked into the case further, he discovered that the sport of rowing in the U.S. fell well behind its European counterparts when it came to safety. Coaches in other countries are required to wear special life vests and safety lanyards—and he successfully argued that safety measures like these could have prevented this tragedy. Perry’s represented families in several other sporting injury and wrongful death cases since then. 

While at Perry Charnoff, Scott’s unique litigation approach led to multiple multi-million-dollar verdicts and settlements, including: 

• A $35.6 million jury verdict for a catastrophically injured client
• A $12 million medical malpractice jury verdict for a family who lost a 39-year-old wife and mother due to an undiagnosed blood clot
• A $4.5 million sexual abuse lawsuit involving two special-needs adults who were raped and impregnated by a workshop employee
• A $3.0 million medical malpractice verdict for the family of a lawyer whose heart was punctured during a minor procedure
• A $2.0 million medical malpractice jury verdict for a woman whose leg was amputated when a blood clot went undiagnosed
• A $1.55 million medical malpractice verdict for a federal worker whose ureter was sewed shut during a hysterectomy
• A $1.50 million premises liability lawsuit for the family of a child who drowned in a pool

Helping the Davids Stand Up to the Goliaths

Perry believes that trial lawyers and the jury system help level the playing field between well-funded parties and those with fewer economic resources. It’s a David and Goliath challenge between injured plaintiffs and the biggest, most well-financed firms in the U.S.—and these firms fight like mad. 

With Scott’s broad experience in personal injury litigation, he levels this playing field expertly. And his philosophy of preparing each and every case as if it’s going to trial forces defendants with deep pockets to sit up and take notice.

Over the last 20 years, Perry has been consistently nominated as a Washington, D.C.-area “Super Lawyer,” honored in Virginia Lawyers Weekly, and (in 2019) named Medical Malpractice Lawyer of the Year. Each of these honors recognizes Perry’s unsurpassed ability to recover damages on behalf of his clients.

Not everyone realizes that, just like doctors, lawyers can become board-certified in certain areas of practice. Perry recently underwent an extensive process to become a Board Certified Civil Trial Lawyer, demonstrating his proficiency in this area of law.

Most recently, Scott was selected as a member of the invite-only Inner Circle of Advocates, which limits its members to the top 100 plaintiff trial lawyers in the country. He is one of only two Virginia attorneys selected to the Inner Circle, with the other member being his Partner, Jeffrey Breit. Both completed a rigorous vetting process requiring a review of verdicts and settlements, trial skills, commitment to the community, and general collegiality. 

Representing Families After a Devastating Loss

Perry focuses his practice on catastrophic injury cases such as truck accidents, wrongful death, product liability, and medical malpractice. This laser focus allows Scott to give each client the individual attention and advice they deserve. 

And it’s paid off—he’s successfully handled multiple cases involving catastrophic sports injuries, prompting the defendants to make nationwide safety changes to avoid future lawsuits. 

What’s more, with a brain-injury survivor in his own immediate family, Perry is well-aware of the challenges families face—which is why he’s a longtime supporter and volunteer for Brain Injury Services, an organization dedicated to helping brain-injured children and adults build needed skills. 

Scott, his wife JoAnn, and their two young children live in Northern Virginia. In his free time, Perry is an avid exercise enthusiast—though his favorite physical activity will always remain hiking with his family.