Brian J. Panish

Panish won larger verdicts in the past year, but none was more important to him than the $17 million award he won for the mother of a 48-year-old blind man who died in January 2009 when he mistook the gap between two Metro Blue Line train cars for the door to the train.

"This poor guy fell in and was run over by the train," said Panish, who had asked the Los Angeles jury for $15 million in damages.

The man's mother, Mary Cuthbertson, has been writing Panish poems in gratitude ever since the two first met, and he keeps many of them in a drawer in his desk. Panish said he gives the woman credit for pushing her blind son, Cameron Cuthbertson, to live the most normal life he could.

"She was like the best mom," Panish said. "She took care of this guy, encouraged him to get out."

In return, her son helped her mother, who is hard of hearing, he said.

"She said she was his eyes, and he was her ears," Panish said. "They were a team."

Panish called the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority arrogant for allowing the case to go to trial.

The MTA argued that it was not bound by the Americans with Disabilities Act and that the man had negligently used his cane while trying to board the train. Panish said he noted that the Blue Line, a light-rail line that connects some of the county's poorest neighborhoods, is the only Metro route that lacked a protective measure between train cars.

The victory was one of five verdicts in an eight-month period, totaling roughly $100 million, he said.

Panish won almost $18 million in December 2011 for the surviving relatives of three family members in San Diego who were killed when a U.S. Marines fighter jet crashed into their home in 2008.

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey T. Miller awarded the money after a three-day bench trial. Panish had asked for $56 million but said he thought Miller's decision was fair.

Still, presenting his case directly to a federal judge was different for Panish, who often speaks to state court juries.

"He was just up there listening," Panish said. "You don't know. Are you are communicating with him or not?"

But Panish had no trouble connecting in June with a Riverside County Superior Court jury. In what plaintiffs' lawyers are calling the county's largest verdict ever in Riverside, he helped a married couple recover $36.5 after a semi-truck collided with their Toyota Camry. The driver of the truck, owned by Schneider National Inc., had been trying to change lanes.

Panish said he has not lost a jury trial since 1994. But he said he does not want to be overconfident.

"My dad said if you say you have never lost, you're not trying enough cases," he said. "I'm not afraid of losing. I'm just relieved when I win for my clients."

Panish likely will stay in the news in coming months. He is representing Michael Jackson's mother and three children in a wrongful death case against concert promoter Anschutz Entertainment Group Inc.

- BRIAN SUMERS