Bijan Esfandiari

Bijan Esfandiari is a pharmaceutical product liability litigation attorney and a senior shareholder partner at Wisner Baum (formerly Baum Hedlund Aristei & Goldman) in Los Angeles. He has successfully represented clients in state and federal courts across the nation, at both the trial and appellate level, in wrongful death and catastrophic personal injury cases.He has participated in several cases that have shaped and developed the law for the benefit of injured victims and consumers of pharmaceutical products. In one case of first impression (a case that presents a new issue for legal interpretation), the Court agreed with Bijan's argument and held that drug manufacturers owe an affirmative duty to warn regarding risks associated with children's off-label use.Bijan's published cases have also exposed reprehensible corporate conduct. In one instance, a federal court in Pennsylvania allowed Bijan's clients to proceed with their punitive damages claims after finding that internal documents demonstrated the defendant had "acted with a wanton and willful disregard for the safety of its consumers."Where drug makers have tried to convince courts that federal preemption (the doctrine that federal law preempts conflicting state laws) grants them immunity from state lawsuits, Bijan has time and again prevented their escape. In Mason v. SmithKline Beecham Corp., the first and only prescription drug preemption case to be heard by the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, the drug maker argued that FDA approval of a drug shielded its manufacturer from fault even if the company later learned of harmful negative reactions. The court, however, sided with Bijan and held that plaintiffs' claims were not preempted by federal law.Bijan has likewise successfully opposed preemption in numerous other state and federal court cases. He co-authored amicus briefs in support of the respondents in the Supreme Court's landmark cases Wyeth v. Levine, 129 S.Ct. 1187 (2009) and Pliva v. Mensing, 131 S.Ct. 2567 (2011). Bijan received his bachelor's degree (cum laude, 1999) and J.D. degree from UCLA. He has been selected to Best Lawyers®, The National Trial Lawyers Top 100 Trial Lawyers, and Southern California Super Lawyers®. He also - has an rating of 10 out of 10: Superb.