Thomas Girardi
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Tom Girardi, born 1939, is a founding partner of Girardi & Keese[1], a downtown Los Angeles law firm that has earned a reputation as L.A. County's king of the class action lawsuit.
In 1970, Girardi became the first attorney in the state of California to win a $1 million-plus award for a medical malpractice case. [3] Girardi has handled major cases against the former Lockheed Corp (now the Lockheed Martin Corp.), Pacific Gas & Electric Co, Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and Hollywood's seven major movie studios.[2]
In one of his more well known cases against Pacific Gas & Electric, the utility company agreed to pay $333 million to 650 residents of the desert community of Hinkley, California.[3] The residents blamed incidents of cancer and other diseases on contaminated water leaked from a gas pumping station. [4] This case was the inspiration for the film Erin Brockovich (film) starring Julia Roberts.
Tom Girardi graduated from Loyola High School (Los Angeles) in 1957.[5] He received his undergraduate degree from Loyola Marymount University in 1961, his LL.B. from Loyola Law School in 1964, and an LLM/SJD from New York University in 1965.[6]