Keith P. More


Bentley & More • Newport Beach


Keith P. More, a prominent workers' compensation lawyer, handles catastrophic injury cases as the managing partner of the firm he co-founded, Bentley & More LLP.


He learned about injustice and the law when he was eight. His divorced mother took him and his brothers to a child support hearing, hoping the judge would order her wealthy ex-husband to increase her income. "I wish I had a better lawyer," she said at one point.


"A lightbulb went off for me," More recalled. "I realized I needed to be a lawyer, and not just a lawyer but the best lawyer possible to make my mother proud."


Now in his 35th year of practice, he joined the ranks of million-dollar advocates with his first seven-figure outcome in 1994. Then and now, he said, the highly bureaucratic workers comp system in California has been co-opted by the insurance industry, making every case a challenge.


"There's no relief in sight. No one is interested in reform because the system has been fraught with so much fraud that people feel strict guidelines are essential. That's not a bad thing, but there are some seriously injured people who really need to be taken care of, and you have to fight for every item, every wheelchair, every catheter -- it's all about the insurance companies saving money, meaning making profits."


In 2015, client Gustavo Sanchez, working construction, fell 25 feet from a scaffold and sustained a spinal cord injury, partial paralysis and other serious impairments. The workers comp insurance carrier tried repeatedly to discharge Sanchez from the system, which would have evicted him from the rehab facility where he lived. 


"We took them to trial five times over this and won every time," More said. After paying more than $5 million in medical bills and $250,000 in permanent disability, the insurers finally settled in early 2024 for an additional $4.5 million, insuring Sanchez' ongoing care.


"They could have settled years ago," More said. "Before that, an ounce of prevention -- a safety harness -- would have prevented the entire issue. Fall protection compliance is too often an afterthought."


In another case, More obtained a total of $13 million for a 21-year-old worker who was breaking down a fireworks display stand when he was crushed by several steel panels as he was loading them onto a truck. "We handled both a personal injury component and a workers comp part of the case after we got them to stipulate to 100% disability." The man got inpatient care, home health care, modified vehicles and in vitro fertilization when he married and wished to have a child.


"I tell my clients that if I could make them walk, I'd do it, but I can make their lives as comfortable as possible," More said.