Rahul Ravipudi

Rahul Ravipudi is a partner at Panish Shea & Boyle LLP and has spent his legal career handling catastrophic injury and wrongful death cases involving commercial vehicles, pedestrians, industrial or construction accidents, utility negligence, dangerous conditions of public and private property as well as cases of sexual abuse and 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 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. Has also serves as Plaintiffs 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 $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 $20,500,000 jury verdict for the mother of a high school student who was killed while walking to a bus stop, 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, and $10 million for the family of an independent truck driver killed by an intoxicated heavy lift operator at a stevedoring terminal in Long Beach. Mr. Ravipudi shared his insight into successfully litigating cases against the stevedoring companies in an article entitled, 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 an $8,000,000 settlement for an 81-year-old woman who suffered severe spinal cord injuries after falling at a hotel, a $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,ooo 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 customers 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. Ravipudis article, Dealing with the state of Californias first line of defense stonewalling any meaningful discovery published in Advocate, Journal of Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles in February 2009.

In recognition of his outstanding trial efforts, some of the awards Mr. Ravipudi has received include, but are not limited to:

2020 Top Plaintiffs Lawyer in California Daily Journal
2020 Lawdragon 500 Leading Plaintiffs Consumer Lawyers
2020 Plaintiffs Lawyer Trailblazer National Law Journal
2019 Plaintiffs Lawyer Trailblazer National Law Journal
2019 Trailblazer Award South Asian Bar Association of Southern California
2018 Consumer Attorney of the Year finalist Consumer Attorneys of California
2017 Trial Lawyer of the Year Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles
2017 Consumer Attorney of the Year finalist Consumer Attorneys of California
2017 Top Plaintiffs Lawyers of California Daily Journal
2017 Top 100 Lawyers of California Daily Journal
2016 Trial Lawyer of the Year finalist Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles
2016 Consumer Attorney of the Year finalist Consumer Attorneys of California
2016 Top Verdict By Impact Daily Journal
2015 Trial Lawyer of the Year finalist Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles
2014 Top 20 Under 40 Daily Journal

In addition, recognized by Best Lawyers since 2013 and included in the Super Lawyers list since 2014. Mr. Ravipudi was previously selected as a Super Lawyers Rising Star from 2006-2013 an honor awarded to the top 2.5 percent of lawyers in the Southern California area under 40 years of age.

Prior to joining Panish Shea & Boyle, Mr. Ravipudi worked at another consumer law firm where his work helped recover over $4 billion for his clients. He participated as co-lead class counsel in a consumer class action case brought on behalf of all gas and electricity rate payers in the State of California against El Paso Natural Gas Company and Sempra Energy. This case arose out of the California Energy Crisis of 2000/2001 and resulted in the recovery of more than $3.5 billion in restitution to California utility customers. To date, this is recognized as one of the largest antitrust settlements in American history.

Mr. Ravipudi also participated as co-lead counsel on an antitrust class action case brought on behalf of all gas and electricity rate payers in California against Reliant Energy Services and other energy traders for manipulating the California natural gas market by engaging in wash trades, churning, and false reporting. Hundreds of millions of dollars were recovered for rate payers of the State of California as well.

In addition to serving as an Associate Editor for the Advocate, Journal of Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles, Mr. Ravipudi actively publishes articles in various journals and trade publications and is a frequent speaker on various issues, including class action litigation and trial tactics. In 2010, Mr. Ravipudi was profiled in the California Law & Politics magazine in an article entitled Class Act(ion).

An associate of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) where he is a member of the Executive Committee.

Member of Consumer Attorneys of California (CAOC).

Board of Governor for Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles (CAALA)

Board of Director for Loyola Law School

Steering Committee for South Asian Bar Association (SABA)

Honorary board member for the Los Angeles Trial Lawyer Charities (LATLC).

Mr. Ravipudi received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and Minor in Chemistry from the University of California, Riverside and his law degree from Loyola Law School where he has served as an adjunct professor teaching Trial Advocacy since 2008. He resides in La Canada Flintridge with his three sons and wife Smitha, who serves as Chief Executive Officer at USC Care & Ambulatory Care Services at Keck Medicine of USC.