Bruce Broillet

Plaintiffs' Tort Litigation

Bruce A. Broillet has dedicated his career to championing justice for plaintiffs in complex and high-stakes legal battles. His practice spans a wide range of areas, including wrongful death, catastrophic personal injury, product liability, business litigation and professional malpractice.

His legal acumen has enabled him to secure landmark verdicts and settlements that place him among the most successful trial lawyers. His notable accomplishments include a groundbreaking $3.3 billion settlement against Big Tobacco, which he helped secure on behalf of the County of Los Angeles. Additionally, he obtained a $55 million verdict for Erin Andrews, the sportscaster and TV personality who had her privacy violated at a Nashville Marriott Hotel.

In one of the recent cases he handled, Broillet represented the family of late actor Bill Paxton, achieving a confidential settlement in a wrongful-death lawsuit against Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, an anesthesia medical group, and the surgeon who operated on Paxton. This case presented a unique challenge of assessing the future earning capacity of an A-list actor, considering the changing landscape of the entertainment industry with the rise of streaming platforms. Louise Paxton et al. v. Cedars-Sinai Medical, BC693636 (L.A. Sup Ct., filed Feb. 9, 2018).

"In the Paxton case, one of the challenges was to quantify what his future earnings would have been and how long he likely would have worked," Broillet said. "That information would then be used to determine the loss of support for his wife and children. Paxton was 61 years old and had had a successful career and prospectively was going to have a successful career in the future. But quantifying that and putting it into economic loss terms required many witnesses."

Broillet also negotiated a $9.5 million settlement in a highly emotional wrongful death case against the Los Angeles Unified School District. The case involved a twelve-year-old boy who died following a medical emergency during P.E. class, highlighting the importance of proper AED (automated external defibrillator) training and usage. Alagba v. Los Angeles Unified School District, 19STCV10897 (L.A. Sup. Ct., filed March 29, 2019).

"This case was significant to safety in that it motivates school districts, sports facilities, corporations and others to provide training on the use of automated external defibrillators (AEDs)," Broillet said. "Cases like this, where the failure to use an available AED resulted in a significant settlement or verdict, should compel companies, school districts, and other businesses to teach people how to use it. A case like this advances the cause of safety and protection for the public."