Brian Brandt
Proven VerdictsAbout Brian Brandt
Brian Brandt has represented California accident victims since 1987, when he was admitted to the State Bar and began practicing personal injury law. In 2013 he won a $150.75 million wrongful death verdict in Los Angeles County for a young girl whose parents and brother were killed when the family SUV struck a semi trailer parked illegally on the freeway, a result reported as the largest personal injury verdict in California history. Brandt graduated from UC Santa Barbara in 1984 with a double major in anthropology and psychology and earned his law degree from Santa Clara University School of Law in 1987. He is a graduate of the Gerry Spence Trial Lawyers College, a lifetime member of the Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum, and holds an AV rating from Martindale-Hubbell.
The Orange County Trial Lawyers Association named him Personal Injury Trial Lawyer of the Year in 2014, and he served as president of the Western San Bernardino County Bar Association from 1999 to 2000. Earlier in his career he was a partner at the Law Offices of Maroney & Brandt from 1987 to 1996. He speaks English and Spanish, and he lives in Dana Point with his wife and six children.
Proven verdicts and settlements
A Los Angeles County jury awarded $150,750,000 against truck driver Rudolph Ortiz and Bhandal Bros. Trucking for a girl who was orphaned when her family's SUV struck an 18-wheeler parked without lights on the shoulder of the 210 Freeway and caught fire, killing her parents and eldest brother. Brian Brandt tried the case for the plaintiff. The verdict did not stand: on February 3, 2014, Judge Marc Marmaro granted the defense a new trial, finding the award excessive, and the case then settled in April 2014 on confidential terms before any retrial.
Cynthia Castillo lost control of her 1997 Ford Explorer near Rancho Cucamonga, California, on March 23, 2007, after the tread separated from the left rear tire and the SUV rolled down an embankment, leaving her a quadriplegic. She sued Ford Motor Co. in San Bernardino County Superior Court, arguing the Explorer's design turned a routine tire failure into a rollover. In February 2010, a jury returned a unanimous verdict for Castillo of $23.4 million, split between medical care and future needs and her pain and suffering. The Associated Press named her attorney, Brian Brandt, as the lawyer who argued the case for the plaintiff.
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case is unique and depends on its own facts.