First Admitted: 2016, California

Professional Webpage: https://www.wisnerbaum.com/attorneys/pedram-esfandiary/

Bar/Professional Activity:

California, 2016
U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, 2018
U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California, 2018
U.S. District Court, Western District of Wisconsin, 2017
U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois, 2017
U.S. District Court, Central District of California, 2017
U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, 2017
Trial Team Member, Dewayne “Lee” Johnson vs Monsanto Company (Roundup cancer verdict $289.2 million), San Francisco, California, 2018
Trial Team Member, Pilliod et al. v. Monsanto.Company (Roundup cancer verdict $2.055 billion), Oakland, California, 2019
State Bar of California
The American Association for Justice: Leaders Forum; Herbicides and Pesticides Litigation Group; Police Misconduct Litigation Group
Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles
Executive Board Member, National Lawyers Guild of Los Angeles
San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association

Verdicts/Settlements (Case Results):

$1.25 million settlement against the LAPD Peaceful protestor who suffered life-threatening injuries on May 30, 2020 on streets of Los Angeles sued the LAPD for firing a rubber bullet at his head as he stood with his arms raised while walking backward away from police. Plaintiff sued for punitive damages and seven causes of action: Count I: Violation of First Amendment – Free Speech and Assembly Count II: Violation of Fourth Amendment – Unlawful Seizure & Excessive Force Count III: Violation of Fourteenth Amendment – Substantive Due Process Count IV: Violation of Bane Act Count V: Assault Count VI: Battery Count VII: Negligence The Los Angeles Police Department later settled with the plaintiff for $1.25 million. Monique Alarcon was one of the lawyers from Wisner Baum that represented the plaintiff., 2022
$2.055 billion verdict - Trial Team Member, Pilliod et al. v. Monsanto.Company (Roundup cancer lawsuit), Oakland, California, 2019. Pilliod et al. v. Monsanto Co. was the third Monsanto Roundup lawsuit to proceed to trial. Baum, Hedlund, Aristei & Goldman attorney R. Brent Wisner served as co-lead trial counsel with Mike Miller of Miller Law Firm for Alva and Alberta Pilliod, a couple in their 70s who alleged exposure to Monsanto’s Roundup caused them to develop non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Brent delivered the opening and closing statements, presented most of the scientific evidence and cross-examined many of Monsanto’s experts. Baum Hedlund managing partner, Michael Baum, and attorney Pedram Esfandiary, also served on the trial team as did lawyers from Miller Law Firm, Brady Law Group and Audet & Partners. After seven weeks of trial proceedings, the jury returned a verdict on May 13, 2019, awarding $2.055 billion to the plaintiffs, finding that exposure to Roundup caused the Pilliods’ cancer and that Monsanto failed to warn consumers of this severe health hazard. The jury also found that Monsanto acted with malice, oppression or fraud and should be punished for its conduct., 2019
$289M verdict - Dewayne Johnson v. Monsanto Company (case no. CGC-16-550128) Unanimous $289.2 million jury verdict against Monsanto Company This was a groundbreaking $289.2 million jury verdict in San Francisco Superior Court against Monsanto for causing Dewayne "Lee" Johnson's non-Hodgkin lymphoma due to exposure to a Monsanto glyphosate-based herbicide called Roundup. The jury ordered Monsanto to pay $39.2 million in compensatory damages and $250 million in punitive damages for failing to warn consumers that exposure to Roundup weed killer causes cancer. This verdict is on appeal., 2018. Mr. Johnson is represented by The Miller Firm, LLC, Baum Hedlund Aristei & Goldman, PC and Audet & Partners LLP, 2018

Pro bono/Community Service:

Published the Monsanto Papers - During the Monsanto Roundup cancer litigation, Pedram helped declassify and publish internal documents known as the Monsanto Papers, revealing Monsanto’s scientific manipulation to hide the truth about Roundup’s harmful effects. This evidence and the successful plaintiffs verdicts have changed how the world questions the safety of Roundup, resulting in regulatory changes, restrictions and bans of glyphosate across the globe. August 1, 2017 through December 2019.
Executive Board member, National Lawyers Guild of Los Angeles
Volunteer Adjunct Law Professor at People's College of Law, Los Angeles
Volunteer at Schools, Colleges and Community Outreach Program at Nottingham Trent University, U.K.

Honors/Awards:

2020 – 2024, Selected to: Southern California Super Lawyers Rising Stars, Super Lawyers, 2024
California Power House, Law360 Regional Powerhouse Series, 2021
California Legal Awards, Lawyers on the Fast Track (Under 40), The Recorder / ALM, 2023
Best Lawyers: Ones To Watch, Best Lawyers
Product Liability Practice Group of the Year, Law360, 2020
Elite Trial Lawyers Mass Torts Law Firm of the Year, Finalist, ALM and National Law Journal, 2020
Top 40 Under 40, Law360 Rising Stars, 2019
Number 1 Verdict in California, Topverdict.com (Pilliod et al. v. Monsanto Co.), 2019
Top 10 Verdicts in California, Topverdict.com (Pilliod et al. v. Monsanto Co.), 2019
Elite Trial Lawyers Mass Torts Trial Team of the Year, The National Law Journal and The Trial Lawyer Magazine, 2019
Trial Team of the Year, The National Trial Lawyers Top 100, 2019
Daily Journal Top Verdicts, Daily Journal, 2018
CVN’s Top 10 Most Impressive Plaintiff Verdicts, CVN, 2018
Number 1 Product Liability Verdict in California, Topverdict.com (Johnson v. Monsanto Co.), 2018
Top 10 Personal Injury Verdicts in the U.S., Topverdict.com (Johnson v. Monsanto Co.), 2018
Top 100 Verdicts, ALM, National Law Journal, Verdict Search (Johnson v. Monsanto Co.), 2018
Verdicts Hall of Fame Inductee, The National Law Journal and VerdictSearch
The National Trial Lawyers Top 40 Under 40, The National Trial Lawyers
Listed, The Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyer, The Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyer
Senior Editor of Los Angeles Public Interest Law Journal (LAPILJ), Senior Editor of Los Angeles Public Interest Law Journal (LAPILJ), Los Angeles Public Interest Law Journal

Educational Background:

University of Southern California USC Gould School of Law, LL.M, 2016
Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, United Kingdom, M.A. in Criminology, Honors: Distinction Grade, Postgraduate Outreach Ambassador, 2014
University of Birmingham Law School, Birmingham, United Kingdom, LL.B, 2013

Scholarly Lectures/Writings:

Baby Foods: A Personal Injury Perspective, Speaker, Baby Foods: A Personal Injury Perspective, Mass Torts Made Perfect, MTMP Connect Webinar, Legal, 2021
Breaking Down the 1st Monsanto Roundup Trial and $289 Verdict, Speaker, Breaking Down the 1st Monsanto Roundup Trial and $289 Verdict, Webinar for CaseAnalysis.com, Legal, 2020
Monsanto Litigation – Decades of Deceit, Speaker, Monsanto Litigation – Decades of Deceit, Students for Economic & Environmental Justice, Expert Panel, Berkeley Law School, Legal, 2019
Roundup, Speaker, Roundup, American Association for Justice, AAJ Winter Convention – What’s Hot in Mass Tort Litigation, Miami, Florida, Legal, 2019
Suing Monsanto: How a Team of Lawyers Won a Verdict Linking the Herbicide Roundup to Cancer, Speaker, Suing Monsanto: How a Team of Lawyers Won a Verdict Linking the Herbicide Roundup to Cancer, UCLA School of Law, Emmett Institute on Climate Change & the Environment and The Resnick Center for Food Law & Policy, Lunchtime Event, UCLA Law Building, University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law, Legal, 2018
$289M Monsanto Roundup Verdict – Life After the Daubert Ruling and Johnson Trial, Speaker, $289M Monsanto Roundup Verdict – Life After the Daubert Ruling and Johnson Trial, Trial Theme Overview, Harris Martin Publishing, Half-Day Roundup CLE (Continuing Legal Education), Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel, Santa Monica, California, Legal, 2018
Challenging Court Secrecy in Medical Product Litigation, Speaker, Challenging Court Secrecy in Medical Product Litigation, Yale University, Conference, Yale Law School’s Collaboration for Research Integrity and Transparency (CRIT) program, Yale University’s Greenberg Conference Center, New Haven, Connecticut, Legal, 2018
Adjunct Professor of Law, 2020 - Present, Speaker, Adjunct Professor of Law, Peoples College of Law, Los Angeles, California, Legal

Other Outstanding Achievements:

Public Comment – Mr. Esfandiary submitted a comment on behalf of Baum Hedlund on October 8, 2021, during the Public Comment period concerning the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) hearing on the Proposed Rulemaking, Warnings for Exposures to Glyphosate from Consumer Products New Sections 25607.48 and 25607.49 held on September 9, 2021. Our comments pertained to OEHHA’s proposed rulemaking for glyphosate exposure warnings. Glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup weed killer, is a chemical known to cause cancer under California's Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act (known more simply as Proposition 65)., 2021
Public Comment - Mr. Esfandiary submitted a comment on behalf of Baum Hedlund on December 20, 2021, during the Public Comment period under the scope of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) “Closer to Zero Action Plant: Impacts of Toxic Element Exposure and Nutrition at Different Crucial Developmental Stages,” virtual public meeting held on November 18, 2021. The FDA’s Closer to Zero (C2Z) action plan is meant to reduce exposure to arsenic, lead, cadmium, and mercury from foods eaten by babies and young children-to as low as possible., 2021
Government Testimony: Quasi-legislative formal public hearing: California Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) hearing on the Proposed Rulemaking, Warnings for Exposures to Glyphosate from Consumer Products New Sections 25607.48 and 25607.49, September 9, 2021, 2021
Government Testimony: California Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) hearing on the proposed regulatory “Safe Harbor” No Significant Risk Level (NSRL) for glyphosate, June 7, 2017, 2017

Pedram Esfandiary

Pedram Esfandiary

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