Gary A. Dordick

Gary has held the record for the highest jury verdicts in numerous courthouses, including a record breaking $125 million dollar jury verdict in Ventura County in 2016.

Gary A. Dordick is a trial attorney in Beverly Hills specializing in plaintiff jury trials and has over 100 trials in his career. He is an Emeritus member of the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles (CAALA) Board of Governors. He won CAALA’s Trial Lawyer of the Year in 2001. He has been nominated for CAALA’s Trial Lawyer of the Year an unprecedented eleven times. He is CAOC’s (Consumer Attorneys of California) 2009 Trial Attorney of the Year. He was announced one of the Daily Journal’s Top 100 Lawyers in California in 2017, as well as one of the Daily Journal’s Top 30 Plaintiff Lawyers in California for 2016. Mr. Dordick was named Jury Verdicts Trial Lawyer of the Year. In 2016, he was awarded the Loyola Law School Champion of Justice Award for his career achievements representing Plaintiffs. In 2015, he received the “Civil Advocate Award” from the Association of Southern California Defense Counsel (ASCDC). In 2003, Mr. Dordick received the University of West Los Angeles’s highest honor – The Bernard Jefferson Award.

Email: gary@dordicklaw.com

Associate Attorney

Christopher Bulone

Christopher Bulone, a native of Florida, is now a fast-rising star in California courtrooms where he continues to rack up record results. Mr. Bulone graduated from the public interest-minded law school of The University of San Francisco in 2011 and spent his entire career since working tirelessly on behalf of the most downtrodden against the world’s most powerful corporations.

On January 30^th of 2023 Mr. Bulone set a record in Contra Costa County with a more than five-million, one hundred-thousand-dollar ($5,100,000.00) jury verdict ($7,670,000.00 to include prejudgment interest) for an immigrant struck in a crosswalk by a careless taxi driver. The plaintiff spoke no English and suffered from severe prior mental health issues for which she was hospitalized during the year before the accident. Difficulties with language, cognition, and the victim’s righteous refusal to voice any of her deficits caused a mild traumatic brain injury to go undiagnosed for the first five years following the accident. Mr. Bulone was, nonetheless, able to prove the link between the car accident, the mild traumatic brain injury and the residual deficits that unfairly afflicted the hard-working mother of three.

In late 2021 Mr. Bulone’s record setting jury trial verdict, of more than seventy-two million, six hundred thousand dollars ($72,600,000.00) in Greene v. Driz et al made headlines throughout the country. There Mr. Bulone represented a young model and her brother, a restauranteur and bar owner, who were the victims of a brutal beating at the hands of the wealthy then owners of eleven different Blaze Pizza franchises. Both injury victims were acting as innocent good samaritans attempting to stop the beating of a TMZ photographer just outside West Hollywood’s The Nice Guy restaurant and lounge. The defendants claimed that they were attacked first and acted only in self defense, and that none of them were responsible for any injury or blows landed on Ms. Greene. The claims were soundly rejected by the jury. After a three week trial wherein Mr. Bulone, as lead trial attorney, selected the jury, gave opening and closing arguments, the jury awarded his clients more than seventy-two million, six hundred thousand dollars ($72,600,000.00) between compensatory and punitive damages. The jury award is thought to be the largest in history for a case of predominantly PTSD injuries.

Also in 2021, Mr. Bulone aggressively and tirelessly litigated the case of Eric Murillo v. U-Haul Co. of Arizona et al against one of the country’s largest rental companies and a defense law firm who bitterly contested fault. The case culminated in a forty-two million, seven hundred and fifty thousand dollar ($42,750,000.00) result. The case involved a tragic accident wherein the then thirty-four (34) year old Eric Murillo rented a U-Haul truck from U-Haul Moving and Storage of San Bernardino and drove it only approximately seven miles, before the engine began to billow smoke and catch fire. Mr. Murillo leapt from the cabin at high speed, impacted his head and became forever seriously brain injured and dependent upon twenty-four-hour (24) care. After approximately fifty-five depositions and many hundreds of written discovery requests, Gary Dordick and Christopher Bulone tried the case to a three judge panel of arbitrators who unanimously found that plaintiff proved that the rental truck engine caught fire from poor maintenance and inspection, leading to a likely power steering fluid loss, sudden compromised steering and braking, and the smoke and fire event that caused Mr. Murillo to jump. The panel found one hundred percent (100%) fault on the U-Haul companies. Although the arbitration was bifurcated on liability and damages the U-Haul companies still offered zero (0) before the start of the damages phase. Following the presentation of the still bitterly contested damages phase of the case and during the panel’s deliberations, the U-Haul defendants finally agreed to a combined Forty-one million seven-hundred and fifty thousand dollar ($41,750,000.00) settlement. The settlement was followed by a policy limits demand and settlement of another one million dollars ($1,000,000.00) from the last outside mechanic to work on the truck, bringing the total result to a historic forty-two million, seven hundred and fifty thousands dollars ($42,750,000.00).

Mr. Bulone’s other noteworthy results since joining the Dordick Law Corporation in 2017, include handling the matter of Sosa v. DJI Technology, Inc. culminating in a jury verdict of over thirty-one million dollars ($31,000,000.00). This was the third highest verdict in the State of California during that year. Mr. Bulone handled another traumatic brain injury case resulting in seventeen million dollars ($17,000,000.00) and another resulting in an eight million dollar ($8,000,000.00) settlement. Mr. Bulone tried the case of Holmes v. Perry in Riverside Superior Court to a jury verdict resulting in the third largest multi-vehicle collision accident verdict in California in 2018. He represented the victim of a motorcycle accident resulting in a twelve and a half million dollar ($12,500,000.00) settlement in one of California’s most conservative venues and further obtained results in the multiple seven figures in an insurance bad faith matter, a ride-sharing rape case, and several wrongful death cases.

In 2019 Mr. Bulone beat the odds to take on powerful construction companies on behalf of a distraught mother suffering the tragic death of her son who slipped from the third story scaffolding at his construction job. Mr. Bulone argued that the job site was abhorrently unsafe, that a stucco company had failed to clean the slippery stucco overspray residue from the scaffolding and that their negligence caused Plaintiff’s son to lose his footing and fall to his death. There were no witnesses to the fall and government (OSHA) investigations found no wrong doing by the defendants. During the course of Mr. Bulone’s relentless discovery, however, a cover up by the defendants was revealed resulting in the guilty corporation admitting responsibility for the young man’s death and another multi seven figure result in Orange County.

Mr. Bulone also handled the case of a thirteen-year-old girl who was catastrophically injured by a falling eucalyptus tree. Liability was denied until discovery revealed that the defendants should have known of a dangerous problem with the tree that they did not act quickly to resolve. After defeating several summary judgment motions, Mr. Bulone resolved the matter for fourteen million dollars ($14,000,000.00), also in Orange County.

In June of 2019 Christopher Bulone was identified by the National Trial Lawyers as one of the Top 40 Under 40 Civil Plaintiff Trial Lawyers in California. Mr. Bulone was named a Super Lawyers’ “Rising Star” in 2020, 2021 and 2022. Mr. Bulone has also been named as an Honorary Board Member in the Los Angeles Trial Lawyers’ Charity (LATLC).

Mr. Bulone has lectured to large audiences of fellow trial lawyers on winning brain injury cases at the TBI Med Legal Seminar in San Diego in 2021, on overcoming incorrect or misleading hospital toxicology reports at the Dordick Trial Lawyer’s College and lectured to more than five thousand (5,000) fellow trial lawyers at TBI Med Legal’s seminar recapping the historic result in Murillo v. U-Haul et al.

Email: christopher@dordicklaw.com

Associate Attorney

Terry Cole

Terry J. Cole was born and raised in South Central Los Angeles and is his family’s first attorney. Terry dreamed about being an attorney as a teenager and has always tried to help those less fortunate them him. Terry became an associate attorney in 2018 and has worked for the Dordick Law Corporation for the past 15 years.

Terry J. Cole is an aggressive civil litigator with substantial experience in personal injury matters from inception through resolution. Terry has quickly secured numerous settlements and verdicts for his clients amounting to tens of millions of dollars.

Most notably, Terry co-chaired the Greene, et. al. v. Driz, et. al. case in which the jury awarded a verdict in the amount of $72.6 million dollars. The Greene case involved a brutal assault on a brother and sister who sustained multiple orthopedic injuries and posttraumatic stress disorder.

In Palomino v. Ride Share Company, Terry worked tirelessly litigating a wrongful death and personal injury action, ultimately securing a settlement for $4.5 million dollars. The Palomino case involved a husband and wife who were injured while passengers in a ride share vehicle. The husband was fatally injured. This case focused mainly on establishing liability against the Ride Share Driver and establishing an employer-employee relationship between the Ride Share Company and the Ride Share Driver.

Other honorable mentions include, the McClard matter settling for $2.5 million, the Padilla/Mongoy case settling for $2.35 million, the Moreno matter settling foe $1.875 million, the Grace matter settling for $1.6 million, the Majors matter settling for $1.6 million, the Powell matter settling for $1.5 million, the Ghayuri matter settling for $1 million, the Laterreur matter settling for $1 million, and the Fernandez matter settling for $1 million.

Terry has been named Rising Star by Super Lawyers since 2019 and is just getting started.

Terry earned his law degree at University of West Los Angeles School of Law and his undergraduate degree at UCLA. While at UWLA School of Law, Terry was a member of Delta Theta Phi Law Fraternity, a recipient of the Witkin Award for Academic Excellence for Civil Procedure, and a Dean’s List honoree.  While attending UCLA, Terry studied political science with an emphasis on American Institutions and Political Theory. Terry was a member of Bruin Democrats and CalPirg, UCLA’s premier student public interest activism group.

Civically, Terry serves on the Planning and Environment Commission for the City of Lakewood, CA. Terry has served in the past as an elected and appointed assembly district delegate of the California Democratic Party, and as a committee co-chair for the Empowerment Congress.

Email: terry@dordicklaw.com

Associate Attorney

Douglas Shaffer

Douglas D. Shaffer has been actively practicing in complex litigation cases since 1984.  Having graduated Magna Cum Laude from Pepperdine Law School and Ohio State University.  Mr. Shaffer has been honored as a ” Super Lawyer ” every year from 2011-2018. He was named a Best Lawyer by US News and World Reports in 2017 and 2018. He was nominated for Trial Lawyer of the Year in 2010 by the Consumer Attorneys of Los Angeles (CAALA).

Mr. Shaffer has litigated more than 85 catastrophic injury cases on behalf of Plaintiffs.  He has been prominently mentioned in the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Sports Illustrated, as well as the top legal publication, The Los Angeles Daily Journal, for many of the cases he has worked on over the years.

Mr. Shaffer is active in the community, donates to many charities, and has volunteered to coach his children’s’ youth basketball and football for a decade. He has travelled extensively for business and pleasure. He completed the Tour of France in 2004, the Tour of Italy in 2009, and recently competed in the Alcatraz and Malibu Triathlons.

Email: doug@dordicklaw.com

Associate Attorney

John Upton

John Upton joined Dordick Law Corporation in the fall of 2017, after nearly twenty-five years with one of the larger law firms in the North Orange County, California area. Having handled hundreds of significant personal injury cases from intake through resolution, John brings his valuable insight and experience litigating a wide variety of plaintiff’s claims, including car, truck and motorcycle accidents, premises liability claims, and medical negligence actions to the Dordick Law Corporation.

A long-time Californian, Mr. Upton graduated from University of San Diego School of Law, where he was the recipient of the USD School of Law Merit Scholarship. He studied International and European Communities at the Institute of International and Comparative Law, Magdalen College, University of Oxford. Mr. Upton graduated cum laude from the University of California, Santa Barbara with a B.A. in Economics.

John is licensed to practice law before all courts in the State of California. He is a member of Consumer Attorneys of Los Angeles and the Consumer Attorney of California. On weekends, he can often be found competing in local softball tournaments.

Email: john@dordicklaw.com