About Henry Peacor
Henry Peacor is a national trial lawyer who represents the most vulnerable against the most powerful. He is licensed to practice law in California, Iowa and Washington and practices law in other jurisdictions via pro hac vice.
Henry has been trying cases since the beginning of his career. He is one of the youngest trial lawyers ever to be admitted to The American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), which is an invitation only organization of the finest trial lawyers and judges in America.
Henry was recently recognized as the 2023 Trial Lawyer of the Year for Ventura County.
Henry separates himself from other lawyers by spending quality time with his clients and their families. He believes that this is the only way to truly understand a person’s pain and suffering and what they go through on a daily basis. His ethos is simple: the human story of a person’s injury and how it impacts their life goes far beyond what is contained in medical records and corporate reports. A person is more than just a file number or a piece of paper. By spending time with his clients, Henry is able to become their voice at trial and translate their human losses into language that jurors can understand.
Henry is no stranger to the impact negligence can have on a person’s life. Henry’s father was tragically killed in a rear-end car crash. The magnitude of the loss of his father is difficult to put into words. Suffice it to say that the memory of his father is something that Henry carries with him and it serves as motivation and a constant reminder of the impact that negligence can have on a person’s life.
Henry is known for trying and winning tough cases, often on very little notice. He sincerely believes that the fundamental right to a jury trial is what sets our country apart from any other country in the world because real everyday people get to take their heart and soul, their humanity, everything that they are, and make real decisions about the most important things.
Henry’s mission is to continue his service as a trial lawyer and help educate other lawyers who are willing to learn and commit to improving our civil justice system. Henry teaches trial skills alongside Nick Rowley and Courtney Rowley as one of the lead faculty members at the Trial By Human program.
Proven verdicts and settlements at Trial Lawyers for Justice
These results are credited to Trial Lawyers for Justice. A result appears under an attorney's own name only when a published source names them as counsel on the case.
Carrie DeJongh, 40, of Hull, Iowa, died on June 9, 2015 after receiving iodinated contrast dye for a CT scan at Sioux Center Health, when the physician treating her gave her an antihistamine but did not immediately check her vital signs or give epinephrine. Her family sued Sioux Center Health and Dr. Roy T. Slice for negligence, and both defendants denied the allegations. A Sioux County jury in Orange City returned a $29.5 million verdict on June 13, 2018, covering DeJongh's pain and suffering before her death and loss of consortium for her husband and four children. No appeal, remittitur or reduction has turned up since.
In February 2017, a physician assistant at a UnityPoint urgent care clinic in Des Moines diagnosed Joseph Dudley with the flu despite a negative flu test, sent him home on Tamiflu, and never ordered a complete blood count. Two days later Dudley was hospitalized with bacterial meningitis caused by an undetected heart valve infection, spent eight days in a medically induced coma, and suffered a series of strokes that left him with permanent brain damage, hearing loss, vertigo and nerve damage. A Polk County jury tried the malpractice claim against physician assistant Melanie Choos and Central Iowa Hospital Corp, doing business as UnityPoint Clinic, over a week in November 2022 and returned a $27,000,000 verdict, all of it noneconomic damages. The defense moved for a new trial afterward and UnityPoint said it was weighing an appeal.
Richard J. Pellock, 80, had surgery to remove bladder cancer at UnityPoint Health Finley Hospital in Dubuque, Iowa in January 2015, and the operation succeeded. Days later he needed a second procedure for a post-surgical complication, and the nurse anesthetist handling that procedure induced anesthesia without first emptying his stomach despite signs he had a full one. Pellock aspirated, developed aspiration pneumonia and respiratory failure, and died. His widow and son sued the anesthesia group and a Dubuque County jury returned a $10 million verdict against it in September 2017, awarded entirely as loss-of-consortium damages. Defense lawyers were reported as saying they would challenge the verdict, but no Iowa appellate decision in the case has ever been published.
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case is unique and depends on its own facts.
