HomeColoradoDenverMichael Burg

About Michael Burg

Michael S. Burg is one of America's leading trial lawyers, a best-selling author, and founding shareholder of Burg Simpson Eldredge Hersh Jardine. He began his career fighting for the underdog and has spent nearly five decades litigating some of the country's most high-profile cases. Under his leadership, the firm has expanded to more than 65 attorneys across seven states and won more than $1 billion in verdicts, judgments, and settlements. Burg has represented thousands of individuals in dangerous drug mass tort cases including Fen-Phen, Yaz/Yasmin, Ortho Evra, and Pradaxa.

He has fought against UBS for selling risky mortgages to investors and filed a sweeping action against 28 California wineries over arsenic-contaminated wine. In 2024, he secured a $55.5 million verdict for a client catastrophically injured by an exploding Sunbeam multi-cooker. In 2019, he obtained a $58.5 million verdict for families whose donated loved ones' bodies were illegally sold by the Biological Resource Center. Burg is a member of the Arizona, Colorado, and Nebraska bars and is an inductee into the Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame, a recipient of the Clarence Darrow Award, and was inducted into the 2019 US Legal 500 Hall of Fame for Product Liability, Mass Tort and Class Action.

Proven verdicts and settlements

$31.8 million gross jury verdict (Xcel 12% fault); wrongful death award later reduced under state cap and on appealVerdict

A Denver jury awarded $31.8 million to the family of an 82-year-old woman killed and other residents injured when a punctured Xcel Energy gas line exploded at Heather Gardens retirement community in 2018, assigning Xcel 12% of the fault.

Denver District Court, Denver CO (Case 2020 CV 33286) · 2023Wrongful DeathRead the full story →
$9.1 million (reduced; $55.5 million gross verdict)Verdict

A federal jury awarded Georgina Perez $55.5 million after a Sunbeam Express Crock Multi-Cooker lid blew off and caused severe burns; the court later reduced the award to roughly $9.1 million under Colorado's statutory damages cap.

U.S. District Court, District of Colorado (Case 1:21-cv-01915) · 2024Product LiabilityRead the full story →
View all 5 proven verdicts →

Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case is unique and depends on its own facts.

Practice areas

Education

University of Denver Sturm College of Law
J.D., 1975
University of Denver
Undergraduate, 1972

Bar admissions & credentials

State Bar of Colorado, admitted 1976
State Bar of Arizona, admitted 2014
State Bar of Nebraska, admitted 1996

Other attorneys at Burg Simpson Eldredge Hersh Jardine

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