Thomas J. Johnston

Thomas J. Johnston concentrates his practice on the trial of personal injury, including catastrophic personal injury and wrongful death matters.  He represents clients throughout the United States.Johnston has recovered numerous significant verdicts and settlements for his clients well in excess of $100 million dollars.  Recent highlights include a $22.4 million jury verdict against the City of Los Angeles in a wrongful death matter – the largest verdict of its kind in the United States, a $5 million dollar verdict in a wrongful death matter against a property owner for failing to warn of a dangerous condition on a roadway, a settlement in a spinal cord injury case against a major paving contractor for $11 million, a wrongful death settlement against the Department of Water and Power for $6 million.  Johnston also obtained a $9.5 million recovery for a pedestrian injured by a Los Angeles County bus operator.   Johnston was co-lead counsel in a significant case that went to the California Courts of Appeal resulting in a landmark decision regarding the duties of landowners who have dangerous conditions on their property.Johnston is a two-time finalist for the Consumer Attorneys of California's Street Fighter of the Year award.Johnston is the Vice President of the Los Angeles Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates, a prominent invitation-only organization, and has spoken on litigation-related topics for professional organizations and educational institutions.Johnston is an adjunct professor of advanced torts at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.  Johnston also teaches advanced trial skills at the Gerry Spence Method program.In 2017, Super Lawyers Magazine ranked Johnston one of the Top 100 lawyers in Southern California.  In 2012, Los Angeles Daily Journal named Johnston to its list of the top 20 lawyers in California under the age of 40.  Mr. Johnston is also featured in the 21st edition of the publication "The Best Lawyers in America."Johnston is a member of Veterans of Foreign Wars - Post 2422 (Coronado) and served as an intelligence officer for a US Navy special operations unit (EOD Mobile Unit 3 BN) in Baghdad, Iraq during the Surge Campaign of 2007 and 2008.