Bruce A. Broillet

El Segundo

Plaintiffs' Tort Litigation

Bruce A. Broillet has been at the plaintiff-side Greene, Broillet & Wheeler LLP firm for 47 years, specializing in impact cases like the $3.3 billion tobacco settlement and the pioneering privacy rights case that netted $55 million for sportscaster Erin Andrews, secretly videotaped in her hotel room.

So what's he done lately? "My philosophy is that you're only as good as your next case," Broillet said in early August.

For his firm, that was the $39 million jury award that law partner Mark T. Quigley achieved a few days earlier for a San Diego doctor who blew the whistle on misused research funds. Murphy v. The Regents of The University of California et al., 37-2020-00032789-CU-OE-CTL (S. Diego Co. Super. Ct., filed Sept. 9, 2020).

Broillet was pleased with the outcome but denied that he personally deserved credit. "We have a lot of good lawyers here," he said.

Broillet's next case, set for trial in September in Yolo County, involves a truck driver client who will never work again due to debilitating injuries he suffered when another driver struck a trailer door, knocking it into the client and causing severe injuries. Loeser v. Norcal Beverage Co. Inc., CV2021-2144 (Yolo Co. Super. Ct., filed Dec. 3, 2021).

The case involves Broillet's expertise in the development of evidence showing future earning losses so that juries can assess damages. "In this case, there's also a liability battle over what led to this catastrophe for my client and his wife," Broillet said.

The future earnings question was key to a March 2023 confidential settlement Broillet achieved in Santa Clara County shortly before trial for a mortgage loan originator who suffered a traumatic brain injury in a high-speed rear-end collision. The man made upward of $1 million annually originating loans, but the defense lowballed his prospects, arguing the real estate market had been slowed by the pandemic. Singh v. Sunbelt Rentals Inc., 19CV348852 (S. Clara Co. Super. Ct., filed June 11, 2019).

"Economic losses are a specialty of mine, and the challenge was to estimate his income over time in a fluctuating market. We had statistical projections with experts to explain them," Broillet said. "I think the other side could see we had a lot to back up our claims."

--John Roemer