Ramey Law, P.C.

Business and life partners John and Christa Ramey married 13 years ago. They opened Ramey Law in 2016 and said their common goals—for both the firm and family life—made working together a natural transition.

John spent much of his legal career as a trial lawyer working on behalf of defendants and insurance companies before focusing on plaintiffs work. Christa had her own personal injury plaintiffs firm.

“He eventually made the transition into a plaintiff’s practice,” Christa said of her husband. “Because I’m on the board of the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles and the Consumer Attorneys of California, I don’t represent insurance companies ever. So we couldn’t do this until John shifted focus.”

Ramey Law handles personal injury matters, with John focusing on construction defect cases and Christa creating a niche in school bullying after their daughter faced cyberbullying on social media. The firm also includes managing attorney Schyler Katz and three staff members.

Ramey Law was expanding in the months before the pandemic. The firm moved into a new suite with offices for six attorneys and made several new hires. Then, everything shut down in March 2020.

“We had to make some difficult decisions there. But I did learn that, as we are emerging and getting back to court, doing jury trials again, I’m OK with not having every office filled,” John said. “It’s OK to go with a smaller model when you can really focus in on cases that you hand-picked and that fit your model and practice area well.”

A case involving a special needs student injured on his school bus settled for a confidential amount in September 2019. Stevenson v. Bright Futures Academy, RIC1719485 (Riverside Sup. Ct., filed, Oct. 13, 2017). The plaintiff was an autistic minor enrolled in a school for special needs students. For his protection, the plaintiff needed special restraints while on the school bus and supervision by a school employee. He was improperly harnessed and inadequately supervised, leading the minor to remove his straps and jumping from the window of the moving bus. He sustained a brain injury besides other fractures and abrasions.

Because of the litigation, Bright Futures instituted safer bus monitoring procedures.

“They started having different requirements for aides on the bus,” Christa said. “Before, the aides were sitting at the front of the bus, where they couldn’t see what’s going on. They should be at the back. Just that little change in policy can prevent so much wrong that can happen in the blink of an eye.”

Christa added: “That case really touched me, and made me realize how little things you can do can make a big impact. It changed policy. That’s what you want to hear, when you file a case like that—that it affects change.”

The Rameys are both members of the invitation-only, Los Angeles chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates. Christa will serve as secretary of Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles in 2022 and the organization’s president in 2027.

—Jennifer Chung Klam