Panish, Shea & Boyle, LLP

Profile

Panish, Shea & Boyle (PS&B) attorneys have been around long enough to know how the defense mind works. They understand the goals of big companies—pay as little as possible to consumers who suffer physical or financial harm due to corporate negligence. PS&B knows that the only way to make these entities pay is to prepare the best case possible and readily move toward trial. “Many firms talk about how they prepare their cases and try them,” says Brian Panish. “But we actually do it—in fact, that’s all we do.”

PS&B devotes its entire focus to obtaining justice for those who’ve been catastrophically injured in plane, train and automobile accidents and by defective products, harmful pharmaceuticals and business fraud. Working on contingency, the firm has a broad clientele, from indigent immigrants to entertainment industry moguls to corporate titans. The common thread? They’ve all landed in dire straits due to the actions—or inactions—of others. “That’s why we became lawyers, so we could help people who need help,” says Kevin Boyle. The firm obtained the largest-ever multiple plaintiff personal injury verdict in the nation ($4.9 billion) and the largest-ever individual plaintiff verdict in California ($58 million).

With the facts on their side, the aggressive lawyers embrace trial. In Tilton v. Sempra, a power-company truck broadsided another vehicle, injuring a 14-year-old boy. There was little dispute that the company was at fault, but the firm refused the low pretrial offer. PS&B tried the case and obtained a $15 million verdict—more than five times the initial offer. PS&B also does business torts for small businesses that are harmed by big corporations. It did so in the trademark infringement lawsuit Positive Ions v. Ion Media Networks, which helped define the rules of convergence between television and Internet. The firm settled during trial while the Ion Media Networks CEO was on the witness stand.

Boyle, Panish and Adam Shea have been peer-selected to the Southern California Super Lawyers® list, in addition to other accolades. The National Law Journal named Panish one of the “100 Most Influential Lawyers in the Nation” and the Consumer Attorneys of Los Angeles named him “Trial Lawyer of the Year.” PS&B was the only Los Angeles-area firm named in The National Law Journal’s “Top 12 Plaintiffs Law Firms in the Nation.”

Panish and Boyle were responsible for the successful litigation and confidential settlements for the plane crash that killed singer Aaliyah and her crew. Currently, the firm represents the wrongful death victims of the plane crash that killed four and injured Blink 182’s Travis Barker and for multiple victims of the Chatsworth Metrolink Train disaster.