Peter Klausner

Peter Klausner joined the Los Angeles offices of Baron & Budd in 2016. He is a shareholder in the firm’s Class Action Group and has spent the entirety of his career representing victims of fraud, malpractice and negligence, advocating on behalf of numerous injured clients and state agencies at all phases of litigation, including multiple jury trials that have gone to verdict. The breadth of his work has spanned cases involving big pharma, banking fraud, auto-defects, surgical implantation devices, hazardous materials (PCBs, lead, ethylene/propylene glycol ethers, industrial solvents), and birth injuries.

Most recently, Mr. Klausner played a significant role in several of the large-scale opioid cases being litigated around the country on behalf of states and municipalities, including State of New Mexico ex rel. Hector Balderas, Attorney General, v. Purdue Pharma LP, et al., during which Mr. Klausner participated in a two-month trial against defendant pharmacies Walmart, Walgreens, and Kroger, resulting in eight and nine-figure settlements before closing arguments.

Mr. Klausner was also instrumental in securing a $834,012,000 judgment on behalf of the State of Hawai’i (the largest judgment in Hawai’i history), following a five-week trial against the manufacturers of the anti-platelet drug, Plavix, in State of Hawai’i ex rel. Clare E. Connors, v. Bristol-Myers Squibb, et al., during which Mr. Klausner prepared, examined, and defended the state’s medical and scientific experts, cross-examined the Defendants’ key medical and scientific expert, and made numerous important decisions regarding trial strategy. Mr. Klausner was equally instrumental in securing a $72 million settlement for the State of New Mexico in a case concerning similar allegations in State of New Mexico, ex rel. Hector Balderas, Attorney General, v. Bristol-Myers Squibb, et al. For his work on the Hawai’i Plavix case, Mr. Klausner was a finalist for Public Justice’s “Trial Lawyer of the Year” award in 2022.

Mr. Klausner has also participated in several nationwide class action lawsuits involving banking fraud, including Bias v. Wells Fargo & Company et al., which resulted in a $50 million settlement, as well as Weiner v. Ocwen Financial Corporation, et al., in which Mr. Klausner serves as class counsel in a nationwide fraud case against the country’s one-time largest mortgage servicer.

Mr. Klausner obtained his undergraduate degree from the University of Southern California and earned his J.D. from Loyola Law School of Los Angeles. In his second year at Loyola, he competed on behalf of the school’s prestigious mock trial team, winning the 2009 AAJ regional tournament, while also serving as a chair of his school’s Public Interest Law Forum, where he helped disadvantaged Los Angeles residents obtain their public assistance benefits. In his final year, Mr. Klausner interned at the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office (hardcore gang division), while simultaneously competing on Loyola’s Moot Court team, where he ranked among the top three oralists in the nation at the ABA’s 2010 National Moot Court Competition.

Following law school, Mr. Klausner worked as an associate at Waters, Kraus & Paul, LLP, where he represented numerous victims of toxic exposures and faulty surgical devices. While there, he obtained several multi-million-dollar verdicts at trial on behalf of clients who had been exposed to asbestos while serving in the United States Navy. In addition, he obtained several multi-million-dollar settlements in cases involving birth defects that resulted from exposure to industrial solvents, while also litigating on behalf of cancer survivors whose illnesses could be linked to PCBs manufactured by the Monsanto Company.

When not practicing law, Mr. Klausner enjoys running marathons and exploring the cosmos with his two daughters.

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Publications

• “You Will Be Googled” The Recorder (June 5, 2014)
• “NFL Debate: Employer’s Right to Terminate” Los Angeles Daily Journal (September 23, 2014)