Roman M. Silberfeld

Silberfeld is Robins Kaplan’s national trial chair. He has practiced at the firm since 1995; in 2012 he attained a $320 million jury verdict from The Walt Disney Co. for the creators of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” It remains the largest win in the history of legal battles over entertainment revenues, and in March 2021 he retold the tale at a “War Stories With Roman Silberfeld” talk for the Beverly Hills Bar Association.

“It was virtual and kinda fun too,” Silberfeld said by email.

Also in March 2021 he was inducted as president of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers.

Silberfeld serves as co-lead counsel representing 18 California cities and counties in state court in connection with the opioid crisis and the plaintiffs’ effort to recover associated health care costs, plus civil penalties and nuisance claims. In addition to Alameda and Kern counties his clients include several Orange County cities including Santa Ana, Irvine and Costa Mesa. Robins Kaplan also represents about 20 Native American tribes with opioid damages claims.

His clients’ claims have been consolidated with the California attorney general’s suit—at least for pretrial purposes—in Los Angeles before Superior Court Judge William F. Highberger. People v. Purdue Pharma LP et al., 19STCV19045 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed June 3, 2019).

At the beginning of September, Silberfeld and colleagues were discussing how to respond to a proposed $26 billion settlement proposal and whether the deal is fair to their clients.

“Here in the state, we’re working with our group of litigating entities and negotiating with our attorney general for a plan to distribute funds that may flow into California from a national settlement. We expect California’s share of a national settlement to be 10 percent; very roughly that could amount to $2.6 billion for this state, though those numbers could change.”

Silberfeld served as co-lead counsel in a national class action that settled in 2019 for at least $423 million plus $34.5 million in attorney fees and costs over a bank’s practice of charging customers for auto insurance that already existed on financed vehicles. In re: Wells Fargo Collateral Protection Insurance Litigation, 8:170ml-02797 (C.D. Cal., filed Oct. 18, 2017).

And Silberfeld is the governor’s special counsel in long-running litigation over state prison inmates’ mental health care. Coleman v. Newsom, 2:90-cv-00520 (E.D. Cal., filed April 23, 1990).

- John Roemer