Mickel M. “Mike” Arias

Arias is the founding and managing partner of the plaintiff-side litigation firm whose doors opened in 1984.

Coronavirus is on Arias’ docket: He’s a lead attorney in the coordinated state litigation against insurers for denying pandemic-related business interruption claims. Odessa Investment Group v. Farmers Group Inc., 20STCV20188 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed May 26, 2020).

Similar litigation across the U.S. has been largely unsuccessful at the trial level; plaintiff lawyers are looking for favorable appellate outcomes. “If I’m Farmers I’m not paying until I have to,” Arias said, appraising the insurance industry’s strategy. “So far, there’s been nothing in California at the appellate level.”

Among Arias’ top current cases is a virtual reprise of the win he got for victims of USC doctor George Tyndall, who sexually abused thousands of students over decades on campus. Arias is co-liaison counsel in litigation that resulted in an $852 million settlement on behalf of 710 plaintiffs, the largest such settlement in history. Jane Doe v. University of Southern California et al., BC707655 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed May 25, 2018).

Now his target is UCLA, where a different doctor, James Heaps, has been indicted for the sexual abuse of women patients at the student health center and at UCLA Medical Center. As at USC, the school agreed to a multimillion-dollar settlement with victims who filed a class action. But more than 100 of the doctor’s ex-patients have filed individual suits; Arias has about 30 of them as clients. Jane Doe v. The Regents of the University of California, 19STCV39990 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed Nov. 6, 2019).

“History repeats,” Arias said. As with his opposition to the USC class action settlement—he proceeded there with individual suits that netted his clients far higher payouts—he’s critical of the UCLA class action deal too. “Unfortunately, it’s the same exact thing. The women [who signed on to the UCLA class action] will suffer the same fate of being under-compensated. Now, in our individual suits, we are facing the same defense counsel as at USC and the same kinds of discovery battles.”

The cases got to court only because Arias during his Consumer Attorneys of California presidency sponsored legislation that allowed former students to press claims that were about to be forestalled by the statute of limitations.

“A lot of the victims we represent have become adults and are ready now to come forward, and we’re here for them,” Arias said.

- John Roemer