Rahul Ravipudi

Personal Injury

Rahul Ravipudi’s success in gaining major recoveries for his catastrophic injury and wrongful death clients led the founding partners of Panish Shea & Boyle LLP to add him to the firm name in 2021.

So far, in 2022, he’s justified his new marquee status by winning an $8 million jury award in March and achieving a $15.95 million settlement in February.

“It was a super pleasant surprise,” he said of his promotion to name partner. “And it was unanimous. I have no complaints.”

Ravipudi serves as the public entity plaintiffs’ co-lead counsel in litigation targeting the youth vaping epidemic. Juul Labs Product Cases, JCCP 5052 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed Aug. 20, 2019). A trial is expected by the end of the year, he said.

In March, Ravipudi won an $8 million verdict in favor of a teacher who suffered significant internal injuries at a casino after he was served and ingested what he believed was a beer—a honey blonde ale—but was actually a chemical cleaning compound left in the tap lines. Enwright v. Barley’s Casino & Brewery, A-20-818364-C (Clark Co. Nevada Dist. Ct., filed July 22, 2020).

“This one made my head explode. My client reached out to the casino and said, ‘You poisoned me and injured me, give me $25,000,” Ravipudi said. “They offered $20,000. So he hired a lawyer who tried to settle for one million dollars and they offered $140,000. They nickel and dimed him at every step.”

Once Ravipudi got involved, the jury made it $8 million and the judge added $3.5 million in attorney fees. “The judge called my client the most honest, sympathetic plaintiff he’d seen. But large corporations and insurance companies treat clients like a number in a formula and it’s just wrong. We have to continue to give them a reality check.”

In February, Ravipudi obtained a $15.95 million settlement for a 15-year-old girl injured when the swing set she was using at a playground broke. “The incident was captured on video,” he said. “She received a brain injury and suffered a personality disorder. It became clear that the defendant [a homeowners association] knew the swing set was in poor condition and chose not to fix it.” Barbey v. Spanish Hills Community Association, A-20-811874-C (Clark Co. Nevada Dist. Ct., filed March 6, 2020).

“It’s always important to me and my firm to do more than recover funds for our clients,” Ravipudi said. “Here, the agreement includes a duty by defendants to have a professional come in and evaluate the playgrounds and share their findings with the public. When possible, we want to implement change.”

– John Roemer