– Navigating Client, Counsel and Guardian Dynamics in Cases Involving Minors.
Geoffrey S. Wells has succeeded in obtaining impressive recoveries for his clients, resulting in more than 250 multimillion-dollar verdicts and settlements in complex legal actions. These include cases Segal v. Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority – $7.7 million; Willis v. Figueroa – $4 million; motor vehicle injury, Quezada v. Motor Coach Industries – $8.15 million; Mehdipour v. The City of Santa Monica – $2.65 million; wrongful death and Murillo v. U.S. Border Patrol – $3.3 million; a confidential settlement in a wrongful death case of $8.6 million.
Among the high-profile cases that Geoff has handled is a $36.1 million jury verdict he secured on behalf of an injured child in a trial involving negligence by a school bus driver. He was named a Finalist for CAOC’s Consumer Attorney of the Year Award in 2018 for that verdict in the case of Escamilla v. Durham School Services. Geoff also represented plaintiffs in the Santa Monica Farmers Market crash, which resulted in a total settlement of over $26 million.
Additionally, Geoff was one of the lead plaintiffs’ counsel in the Castillo v. DYK case involving multiple plaintiffs, which resulted in a combined settlement and jury verdict of over $40 million. He also succeeded on behalf of the victim in an amusement park ride lawsuit. The plaintiff, who fell approximately 35 feet to the ground when the lap bar on a Ferris wheel ride at Pharaoh’s Lost Kingdom Amusement Park failed, was awarded $4.9 million in a binding arbitration agreement.
Geoff is an elected member of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) and was given ABOTA’s Lee Wenzel Civility Award in 2019. He is also a member of the Consumer Attorneys of California, the American Association for Justice, and was the president of the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles in 2014. Geoff is a frequent lecturer on trial preparation and practice in California. Other professional organizations that Geoff is a member of include the Los Angeles County and American Bar Associations, Santa Monica Bar Association, and Eighth Street Trial Lawyers, served as the 2019 CAOC Executive Committee Secretary and is currently the 2022 2nd VP-elect. From 2004-2022, Geoff was named a Super Lawyer by Law & Politics’ Southern California Super Lawyers, which lists the top five percent of established Los Angeles and Orange County attorneys. From 2007 to 2021, Geoff was also named by Super Lawyers as one of the Top 100 Lawyers in L.A. County. In 2006, Geoff was named to the Lawdragon 500 New Stars, New Worlds list. He was also named one of the Best Lawyers in America by Woodward/White, Inc. based on a survey of his peers.
He is a graduate of the University of Washington (B.A., 1981) and was a pitcher on the college baseball team. Geoff received his law degree from Pepperdine University School of Law (1985) and was a member of the Pepperdine Law School National Trial Competition Team. After being admitted to the bar in 1986, he began his legal career as a defense attorney with a focus on medical malpractice, hospital liability, and special event and auto racetrack liability. Geoff worked for a plaintiff’s sole practitioner for five years, where he tried 20 cases to verdict before joining GBW in 1992.
Geoff is actively involved in volunteering as a judge for mock trial advocacy. He is a current board member for Fund Her, an organization dedicated to getting more women involved in elected political office. He is a member of the University of Washington’s Diamond Dawg Group, which supports the University of Washington Men’s Baseball Program. He is a member of the Sierra Club. Geoff is also a supporting member of the Manhattan Beach Education Foundation and is an active PTA member. He and his wife Janet Ray support a variety of community causes including music, the arts, and the Cardiac Arrhythmia Foundation.
As CAOC President, GBW partner Geoff Wells is championing consumer rights and calling on the legal community to uphold integrity, accountability, and justice in the face of growing legislative and societal challenges. In recent articles for FORUM Magazine, Geoff writes about the pressing legislative threats, public perception challenges, and the vital role lawyers play in defending justice and protecting vulnerable communities.
Geoffrey Wells was one of four attorneys from Greene Broillet & Wheeler, LLP to be featured in a special issue of Attorney at Law Magazine, highlighting how athletics contributed, at least in part, to their professional success.
Learn MoreAt their annual meeting in San Francisco, consumer attorneys urged colleagues to push back against misleading or gaudy legal advertising, warning that jurors now see trial lawyers through the lens of billboards, private jets and boastful posts.
CAOC is urging an urgent State Bar probe into DTLA Law Group over allegations of paying people to file false sex abuse claims, amid broader concerns about unethical attorney solicitation practices.
California lawmakers, local officials and labor leaders are demanding an audit of Los Angeles County’s historic $4-billion sex abuse settlement as well as a State Bar investigation into a law firm that represents thousands of alleged victims.
Geoffrey Wells, incumbent president of the Consumer Attorneys of California says the civil justice system is the only way to hold corporations accountable for things like defective products and toxins, and for the way they handle their employees.
Partner Geoff Wells testified at legislative hearings in support of SB 274, also known as “The Passenger Charter-Party Carriers’ Act,” which is now a law aimed at improving the safety and operating requirements on charter buses.
