FOUNDING PARTNER
Mr. Bridgford is a successful trial attorney with 35 years of experience and has obtained significant financial awards for his clients in jury trials, judge trials, arbitrations, mediations, appeals and pre-litigation disputes, all as first chair.
He presently acts as plaintiff’s counsel in the following mass tort and class action litigation:
- Mass tort 2017 Las Vegas shooting lead with more than 200 death and injury cases
- Mass tort Northern California and Southern California wild fires (currently represents more than 5,000 victims of the 2017 and 2018 fires)
- Class actions on defective copper pipe cases for product defect (over 15 class actions)
- Class action wage hour reporting time issue (over 10 class actions)
- Wrongful death construction and train-related accidents (largest death recovery in Placentia Yorba Linda train crash)
Mr. Bridgford also represents individuals and businesses in breach of contracts, business/commercial fraud, construction defect, construction delay, real estate contracts, real estate fraud, and broker/finder actions. He has handled high value estates (beneficiary/trustee disputes), insurance bad faith and coverage, unfair competition, trade secrets/intellectual property, wrongful termination, personal injury, and high value auto accidents. Liability exposure on these cases has ranged from $500,000 to $13.5 billion dollars.
He graduated from Stanford undergrad with a B.A. in Economics and a perfect GPA in 1982 and Stanford Law School in 1985. Before starting his firm, he was an attorney at Paul Hastings, Janofsky & Walker in the firm’s Los Angeles and Orange County offices as well as Hamilton & Samuels in Newport Beach. Prior to his work in private practice, he was an extern in the White House Office of Legal Counsel in Washington, D.C.
LEGAL EXPERIENCE:
Representing both plaintiff and defense, Mr. Bridgford has handled numerous trials, arbitrations, mediations, appeals and pre-litigation dispute involving:
- breach of contracts
- partnership disputes
- business/commercial fraud
- construction defect
- construction delay
- real estate contracts
- real estate fraud
- broker/finder
- estates (beneficiary/trustee disputes)
- insurance bad faith and coverage
- unfair competition
- trade secrets/intellectual property
- wrongful termination
- personal injury claims
- public utility litigation
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS AND AWARDS:
- 2022 U.S. News Best Lawyers
- 2014 Man of Character Award, Boy Scouts of America
- 2011 American Diabetes Association Father of the Year Award
- 2009 National Philanthropy Foundation Award for Orange County
- University of California, Irvine Foundation, Board Member
- University of California, Irvine School of Law, Chair of Deans Advisory Board
- University of California, Irvine School of Law, Board of Visitors
- Civil Justice Research Initiative at UC Irvine School of Law, Founding Member
- Orange County Second Harvest Food Bank, Board Member
- St. Jude Hospital, President’s Circle member
- The Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation
- Our Lady Queen of Angels Parrish Building Fund
- Urban Compass
ACADEMIC RECORD:
- Stanford University Law School – J.D., 1985
- Stanford University – B.A. in Economics, 1982
- Phi Beta Kappa
PRACTICE AREAS:
- Business Litigation
- Mass Tort Litigation
- Wildfire and Utility Litigation
- Plaintiff Consumer Class Actions
- Insurance Litigation
- Bad Faith and Coverage
- Real Estate Litigation
- Construction Defect Litigation - Over $9.0 million in recovery in Copper Pipe Leaks Litigation
- Trust and Estate Litigation
- Employment
- Plaintiff Employee Wage and Hour Class Actions
- Trade Secrets
- Unfair Competition
- Personal Injury/Wrongful Death
BAR AND COURT ADMISSIONS:
- California State Bar
- All U.S. District Courts in California
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit
