LEILA J. NOËL

Ms. Noël has tried or co-tried most of the firm’s largest cases, and has obtained verdicts and settlements in excess of $500 million on behalf of her clients. She has been co-lead counsel in class and mass action cases that have resulted in tens of millions of dollars in compensation to class members

She was named one of the “Top 75 Women Litigators” in California for 2011 and one of the “Top 100 Women Lawyers” in California for 2013 by the Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily Journals. She also was named Southern California Super Lawyer in 2012, 2013 and 2018-2022. She is consistently listed in the “Who’s Who of Professional Services” by the Pacific Coast Business Times and was named one of the “Top 50 Women in Business” every year from 2016 through 2021 by the paper. She has been included in  The Best Lawyers in America since 2020 for her legal skills in mass tort litigation and plaintiff class action representation.

Ms. Noël is one of the court appointed co-lead counsel in connection with multiple lawsuits against Plains All American Pipeline for the 2015 rupture and oil spill along the Santa Barbara and Southern California coast. In 2022, she and her co-lead counsel negotiated a $230 million settlement for fishing industry members and shoreline residents who were damaged by the spill. Also in 2022, Ms. Noël was appointed lead counsel in the class action against Southern California Edison filed in connection with the 2017 Thomas Fire that swept through Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.

Her jury verdicts include a $70.8 million verdict for a small aircraft manufacturer against General Electric Capital Corporation, and a $23.1 million wrongful termination verdict against Johnson Controls, Inc.

Ms. Noël represented the parents of a 4 ½ year old boy who drowned in an exclusive athletic club due to the negligence and willful misconduct of the club and its employees; the jury returned a verdict of $16.2 million, one of the largest in the country’s history for a child wrongful death case. Ms. Noël also has been co-lead counsel in class and mass action cases that have resulted in tens of millions of dollars in compensation to class members.

As co-lead counsel, she represented hundreds of victims of cancer and their families in a protracted litigation against Boeing for toxic air contamination in neighborhoods surrounding Boeing facilities in the Simi and San Fernando valleys, just north of Los Angeles. The 8 ½ year case resulted in a multi-million dollar settlement for the individuals harmed and the families of those that died.

Ms. Noël was co-lead counsel with Mr. Cappello in an Unruh Civil Rights Act class action against Wells Fargo Bank. In 2011, a jury returned a multi-million-dollar verdict penalizing the bank for lending discrimination and compensating Los Angeles area minority borrowers in the class. The bank appealed the jury verdict, but the appellate court ruled in the borrowers’ favor. This sweeping decision is a blueprint for stopping discrimination against minority borrowers.

Ms. Noël was co-lead counsel to parents of a teenager killed in a wrong-way-driver accident. She argued that the inappropriate actions of a Santa Barbara County Sheriff led to the death of the teenager, and she defeated the defendants’ claim of statutory pursuit immunity–a turning point in the case. Santa Barbara County and the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department settled with the teen’s parents for $4.8 million.

Besides her trial work, Ms. Noël has successfully completed numerous settlements on behalf of the firm’s clients resulting in more than $130 million in loan discounts and cash payments. Ms. Noël obtained $2 million in settlements for medical product liability claims against an orthopedics company, and she litigated and negotiated a favorable $54.8 million buyout of a multi-complex real estate subdivision.

In 2016, Ms. Noël personally donated $250,000 to the Marshall-Wythe School of Law at William & Mary, to establish an endowment to provide scholarship support for students attending William & Mary Law School. The memorial scholarship endowment is named for one of Ms. Noël’s classmates from William & Mary Law School, and will provide need-based scholarships with a preference given to African-American students or students of color.