Khail A. Parris

LANCASTER - In 2015, Khail A. Parris joined Parris Law Firm, the personal injury shop launched by father R. Rex Parris in 1985. Over several recent months, he's led trial teams that obtained a nine-figure verdict, an eight-figure verdict and a seven-figure verdict.

"Actually, I joined when I was three years old," Parris laughed, "sitting on the floor while my parents worked late at night." His mother, Carrol Parris, is firm administrator. "At first, I didn't think I wanted to be a lawyer or go into the family business because I could see that they worked way too hard. Only later did I come to realize that it's really a lot of fun."

In March 2022, Parris won a $9.5 million jury verdict for a client who suffered a neck injury and a mild traumatic brain injury when he was rear-ended on the I-5 freeway by a driver distracted by talking on his cell phone. Post-verdict, the case settled for $10 million in lieu of a defense appeal. Horner v. Banda, BC722801 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed Sept. 20, 2018).

"We settled for the amount of the verdict plus our costs," Parris said. The outcome was a high sum for a non-surgery case. Parris' client suffered a disk bulge in his neck and experienced occipital neuralgia. "Their position was that after five years, the plaintiff hadn't had any surgery, that he wasn't going to need any going into the future. And that was probably the biggest fight of the case," Parris said.

He persuaded jurors that his client's injuries were serious through the testimony of family members. The man's wife was a key witness. "He was no longer a dad, he was a shell of himself who kept on working to support his loved ones, and it came through," Parris said.

In a major win that was one of The Daily Journal's Top Verdicts of 2021, Parris won $49.6 million for a California Highway Patrol officer injured when a distracted driver rear-ended him. The officer suffered injuries to his eye, neck, shoulders, lower back, knee and wrist, plus a mild traumatic brain injury. Bejar v. Lopes, BC675339 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed Sept. 8, 2017).

"I'd never had a case like this one where the defense disputed liability," Parris said. He learned that the defendant driver had an agreement with her insurer, which paid her to blame the officer and declare bankruptcy. "When we got her on the stand, she denied everything, so they just let the agreement in so we could impeach her. In the end, her story didn't have any credibility."

Parris keeps a chessboard in his office and plays with a mentor, of counsel Bruce L. Schechter. "Like litigation, it's action and reaction and looking ahead multiple moves," Parris said.