Pedram Esfandiary is a partner and trial attorney based in the Los Angeles office of Wisner Baum, where he concentrates his practice on toxic tort injuries, pharmaceutical drug liability, class actions, consumer fraud litigation and police misconduct lawsuits. He was promoted to partner in March 2023. He is the youngest lawyer to earn this distinction at the firm.
He is currently leading the firm’s legal team handling the toxic baby food litigation. Pedram was also appointed by a federal judge in May of 2024 to oversee the Baby Food Products Liability multidistrict litigation (MDL 3101) as a member of the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee. This new mass tort litigation involves allegations against the major brand manufacturers (Nurture Happy Family Organics, Beech-Nut, Hain, Plum Organics, Walmart-Parent’s Choice, Sprout Foods and Gerber) for knowingly selling baby food with “dangerously high levels” of toxic heavy metals. Baby food contains dangerous levels of arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury, toxic heavy metals known to damage neurological development and brain development and associated with autism and ADHD in children. In 2023, The Recorder|ALM|Law.com recognized Pedram as a winner of their California Legal Awards in the category of Lawyers on the Fast Track (under 40) for his track record of success.
Education
- University of Southern California USC Gould School of Law (LL.M, 2016)
- Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, United Kingdom (M.A. Distinction Grade, in Criminology, 2014)
- University of Birmingham Law School, Birmingham, United Kingdom (LL.B 2013)
Court Admissions
- California, 2016
- U.S. District Court, Central District of California, 2017
- U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, 2017
- U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois, 2017
- U.S. District Court, Western District of Wisconsin, 2017
- U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California, 2018
- U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, 2018
Awards and Honors
- The 2025 Lawdragon 500 X – The Next Generation
- Up-and-Coming 100: 2024 Southern California Rising Stars Top List
- California Legal Awards, Lawyers on the Fast Track (under 40), 2023, The Recorder|ALM|Law.com
- Best Lawyers: Ones To Watch, 2021 – 2024
- California Powerhouse, Law360 Regional Powerhouse Series, 2021
- Product Liability Practice Group of the Year 2020, Law360
- 2020 Elite Trial Lawyers Mass Torts Law Firm of the Year, Finalist, ALM and National Law Journal
- The National Trial Lawyers Top 40 Under 40
- Verdicts Hall of Fame Inductee, The National Law Journal and VerdictSearch
- Selected: Southern California Super Lawyers® – Rising Stars, 2019 – 2022
- Top 40 Under 40 Law360 Rising Stars, 2019
- Number 1 Verdict in California in 2019, Topverdict.com (Pilliod et al. v. Monsanto Co.)
- Top 10 Verdicts in California in 2019, Topverdict.com (Pilliod et al. v. Monsanto Co.)
- 2019 Elite Trial Lawyers Mass Torts Trial Team of the Year, The National Law Journal and The Trial Lawyer Magazine
- Trial Team of the Year 2019, The National Trial Lawyers Top 100
- Daily Journal Top Verdicts, 2018
- CVN’s Top 10 Most Impressive Plaintiff Verdicts of 2018
- Number 1 Product Liability Verdict in California in 2018, Topverdict.com (Johnson v. Monsanto Co.)
- Top 10 Personal Injury Verdicts in the U.S. in 2018, Topverdict.com (Johnson v. Monsanto Co.)
- Top 100 Verdicts 2018, ALM, National Law Journal, Verdict Search (Johnson v. Monsanto Co.)
- Senior Editor of Los Angeles Public Interest Law Journal (LAPILJ)
Litigation Leadership
- Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee, Baby Food Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 3101 (United States District Court, Northern District of San Francisco), 2024
- Trial Team Member, Pilliod et al. v. Monsanto.Company (Roundup cancer verdict $2.055 billion), Oakland, California, 2019
- Hardeman v. Monsanto Co. | $80 Million Jury Verdict | Trial Team Member
- Trial Team Member, Dewayne “Lee” Johnson vs Monsanto Company (Roundup cancer verdict $289.2 million), San Francisco, California, 2018
Member
- State Bar of California
- The American Association for Justice; Leaders Forum - Champion; Herbicides and Pesticides Litigation Group; Police Misconduct Litigation Group
- Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles
- Executive Board member, National Lawyers Guild of Los Angeles
- San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association
Practice Areas
Guest Speaker
- American Association for Justice Conferences
- CaseAnalysis.com Webinar
- Harris Martin Webinars
- Mass Torts Made Perfect Webinars
- The University of California, Berkeley, School of Law
- University of California, Los Angeles, (UCLA) School of Law, Emmett Institute on Climate Change & the Environment and The Resnick Center for Food Law & Policy
- Yale University, Yale Law School
Pro Bono and Civic Activities
- Published the Monsanto Papers - During the Monsanto Roundup cancer litigation, Pedram helped declassify and publish internal documents known as the Monsanto Papers, revealing Monsanto’s scientific manipulation to hide the truth about Roundup’s harmful effects. This evidence and the successful plaintiffs verdicts have changed how the world questions the safety of Roundup, resulting in regulatory changes, restrictions and bans of glyphosate across the globe. August 1, 2017 through December 2019
- Executive Board member, National Lawyers Guild of Los Angeles
- Volunteer at Schools, Colleges and Community Outreach Program at Nottingham Trent University, U.K.
Author
- How to Use Deposition Video at Trial, The Trial Lawyer, Fall 2022, The San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association (Co-authored with R. Brent Wisner)
Published Cases
- Astorga v. County of Los Angeles, Fed.Appx. (C.A.9 Cal. 2021) (In Case No. 21-55059, Plaintiffs appeal the denial of a preliminary injunction ordering Defendants to return their property following the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department's (“LASD”) seizure of various items during two protests in September 2020.)
- Painters and Allied Trades District Council 82 Health Care Fund v. Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited. 520 F.Supp.3d 1258 (C.D.Cal. 2021) (Torts – RICO: Class action claims against pharmaceutical companies for violation of Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act were adequately alleged.)
- West v. Shea, 500 F.Supp.3d 1079 (C.D.Cal. 2020) (Civil Rights — Free Speech: Commenter sufficiently alleged that a mayor’s social media profile was a public forum, as required to state First Amendment claim.)
Additional Languages
- Farsi
- Swedish (conversational)
Government Testimony and Public Comments
- Public Comment - Mr. Esfandiary submitted a comment on behalf of Baum Hedlund on December 20, 2021, during the Public Comment period under the scope of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) “Closer to Zero Action Plant: Impacts of Toxic Element Exposure and Nutrition at Different Crucial Developmental Stages,” virtual public meeting held on November 18, 2021. The FDA’s Closer to Zero (C2Z) action plan is meant to reduce exposure to arsenic, lead, cadmium, and mercury from foods eaten by babies and young children-to as low as possible.
- Public Comment – Mr. Esfandiary submitted a comment on behalf of Baum Hedlund on October 8, 2021, during the Public Comment period concerning the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) hearing on the Proposed Rulemaking, Warnings for Exposures to Glyphosate from Consumer Products New Sections 25607.48 and 25607.49 held on September 9, 2021. Our comments pertained to OEHHA’s proposed rulemaking for glyphosate exposure warnings. Glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup weed killer, is a chemical known to cause cancer under California's Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act (known more simply as Proposition 65).
- Virtual testimony - Quasi-legislative formal public hearing: California Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) hearing on the Proposed Rulemaking, Warnings for Exposures to Glyphosate from Consumer Products New Sections 25607.48 and 25607.49, September 9, 2021
- In-person testimony - California Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) hearing on the proposed regulatory “Safe Harbor” No Significant Risk Level (NSRL) for glyphosate, June 7, 2017
