Stephen G. Larson

Los Angeles

Litigation

Former federal judge Stephen G. Larson has built a practice around handling high-profile, complex civil matters that impact the public.

Whether it involves remediating contaminated groundwater, an oil spill in the ocean or detailing how Riverside County could have prevented the years of torture meted out on 13 children confined to bedrooms, Larson says it's hard to pick a favorite.

But the biggest impact has been the investigation he completed for the county of Riverside on the strengths and weaknesses of its social services programs for at-risk children in foster care and dependents in conservatorships. This was conducted after parents Louise and David Turpin were convicted of torture and abuse in 2019, sparking international headlines over how this could happen in a suburban neighborhood.

Larson produced a 634-page report last year to the Board of Supervisors, which voted to adopt all the recommendations he listed. Three months later, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill to cut through "privacy" red tape between service agencies and nonprofits.

"That was the primary issue that we identified in our investigation -- there was a lack of communication and sharing that information with provider agencies," Larson said.

Also in 2021, Larson was selected as interim co-lead counsel in the class action against Amplify Energy Corp. and other shipping companies surrounding the oil spill that was detected off the coast of Huntington Beach. He represented retailers, artists, property owners, fishers and residents affected by the spill.

Ultimately, Larson and his co-leads achieved a combined settlement of nearly $100 million for the classes in April. A hearing on final approval of the settlement with the shipping companies that breached Amplify's underground pipe with anchors is scheduled for September 14. Gutierrez et al. v. Amplify Energy Corp. et al., 8:21-cv-01628 (C.D. Cal., filed Oct. 4, 2021).

"So literally in less than two years, there were 13 class action lawsuits brought, they were consolidated before Judge David Carter," Larson said. "And we were able to get the whole case settled in less than two years."

--Tori Richards