Timothy J. Wheeler, the managing partner of the Firm, has extensive trial experience in a variety of areas including product liability, general negligence, auto product liability, wrongful termination, employment discrimination, legal malpractice, road design, and insurance bad faith. Tim was named the Personal Injury Trial Lawyer of the Year in Los Angeles by Best Lawyers in 2012 and was similarly honored as the Product Liability Trial Lawyer of the Year in Los Angeles by Best Lawyers in 2013. Tim has been listed in Woodward & White’s “The Best Lawyers in America” since 1995. He was a three-time finalist for the prestigious Trial Lawyer of the Year Award, presented by the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles (CAALA), for his outstanding trial record and involvement and commitment to consumer rights. In 2004 Law and Politics published its inaugural issue of Southern California Super Lawyers Magazine/Los Angeles Magazine, which lists the top 5 percent of lawyers practicing in Los Angeles and Orange Counties as nominated and voted upon by their peers. Tim was named to its list of Super Lawyers in 2004-2021 and to its Top 100 LA County Lawyers in 2005, 2008, and 2015. In 2019 he was named by Lawdragon as one of the 500 Leading Plaintiff Consumer Lawyers in the U S and was also listed as one of America’s Top 100 Personal Injury Attorneys.
His representation of plaintiffs’ actions has resulted in more than 150 verdicts and settlements in excess of one million dollars. During his career, Tim’s effort and trial skills produced some landmark verdicts including the then-largest personal injury verdict against the City of Los Angeles. Throughout his career of representing people wrongfully discharged from their jobs, juries have compensated Tim’s clients with record awards for emotional distress and contract damages. Tim’s experience at handling traumatically brain injured cases resulted in a Riverside County (California) jury returning the county’s largest verdict for a brain injured teenage girl. Among Tim’s published decisions is the landmark California Supreme Court decision in Juarez v. Superior Court (1982) 31 Cal.3d 759 which held that any nine jurors may decide any question submitted to them on a special verdict form. He has lectured and written on all aspects of trial practice throughout California. Tim has served on the Board of Governors of the Consumer Attorneys of California (CAOC). He is also a sustaining member of CAOC, CAALA, American Association for Justice (Formerly the Association of Trial Lawyers of America) and Association of Business Trial Lawyers of Los Angeles.
A graduate of Loyola Law School, Los Angles, Ca. (J.D., 1978), Tim attended Santa Clara University (B.S., Political Science, 1975), and was a recipient of the Jesuit Scholarship. While at Loyola High School, Tim’s excellence in all areas of student life was recognized by the faculty, which bestowed upon him The Loyola Award. His commitment to Loyola continues and he currently serves as a member of both the Loyola Law School Board of Overseers and is a member of the Loyola Law School Advisory Board. Tim and his wife Nancy, who have been married since 1975, have four children, Matt, Tim, Danny, and Mary; three beautiful daughter-in-law’s, Jackie, Danielle and Megan, son-in-law Ryan and six wonderful grandchildren.
Representative Cases
- Brezovec v. State of California
- Tartakoff v. City of Los Angeles
- Juarez v. Superior Court, 31 Cal.3d 759 (1982)
Bar Admissions
Education
- Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, California
- Santa Clara University
- B.S. – 1975
- Honors: Recipient, Jesuit Scholarship
- Major: Political Science
Published Works
- All Aspects of Trial Practice
Professional Associations & Memberships
- Consumer Attorneys of California (CAOC), Board of Governors
- CAOC, Member
- CAALA, Member
- American Association for Justice, Member
- Association of Business Trial Lawyers of Los Angeles, Member
- Litigation Counsel of America, Fellow, 2009 – Present
Classes / Seminars
- Lecturer, All Aspects of Trial Practice, Throughout California
Honors & Awards
- Named One of 500 Leading Plaintiff Consumer Lawyers in the US by Lawdragon, 2019 – 2023
- America’s Top 100, Personal Injury Attorneys, 2019
- Southern California Super Lawyers 2004 – 2023
- Best Lawyers in America, Best Lawyer, Personal Injury Litigation – Plaintiffs, 1995 - 2023
- Named by Woodward/White’s, Inc. as One of the “The Best Lawyers in America”, 1995 – 2013
- Best Lawyers in America, Personal Injury Litigation- Product Liability Litigation – Plaintiffs, 1995 - 2023
- Named a Top 100 Lawyer by the National Trial Lawyers, 2012 – 2013
- Named “Personal Injury Lawyer of the Year” in Los Angeles by Best Lawyers, 2012
- Named “Product Liability Lawyer of the Year” in Los Angeles by Best Lawyers, 2013
- Three-Time Finalist, Prestigious Trial Lawyer of the Year Award, Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles (CAALA)
- Top 100 LA County Lawyers, 2005, 2008
- One of the 3000 Leading Lawyers in America, Lawdragon
- Advocate, The American Academy of Trial Counsel
- Top 100 Southern California Super Lawyers, 2005, 2008, 2015
