Congratulations to Arash Homampour, who was named 2015 Trial Lawyer of the Year during our May 2016 Dinner Meeting. The other nominees for the award were John Howard (Lowthorp, Richards, McMillan, Miller & Templeman) and the team of Gregory Johnson and Jody Moore (Johnson Moore).
In 2015, Mr. Homampour tried a difficult liability case against State of California, Department of Transportation in Ventura County Superior Court. A group of motorcyclists was traveling northbound on Route 33 in Ojai when another group of riders traveling southbound crossed over the dividing line, hitting plaintiffs’ father/husband head on, killing him. Plaintiffs, represented by Mr. Homampour, alleged that the riders traveling southbound had taken the curve too fast because there were no warning signs about the curve. Mr. Homampour established that the State knew the location needed critical warning signs and that preventable accident after preventable accident occurred at this specific location because of its unusual characteristics. The State contended that the incident was solely the fault of an inexperienced motorcyclist. The jury disagreed and awarded the family $14.2 million in wrongful death damages and allocated 90% fault to the State.