Joseph J. Babich knows that the personal injury cases he takes on are often like David taking on Goliath, but instead of using a slingshot against his adversaries, Babich draws upon his deep well of professional experience, his native intelligence and his ability to form connections with people whether they are clients or members of a jury.
His success can be measured not just by the outstanding verdicts he has won for his clients, but also by the recognition from his peers in the legal profession who have given him the top ratings possible for both his legal skills and ethics, including “Lawyer of the Year” in Sacramento in 2013 and again for 2018.
Babich has represented thousands of individuals and families during his 37-year legal career. The wisdom born of experience has taught him what works and what doesn’t, and he has obtained multimillion-dollar verdicts for clients who have suffered injuries or loss. He knows that courtroom theatrics don’t win the day; rather, it is the human connection made with clients and with juries that brings about the best outcomes.
In one recent case, he represented a woman who had the misfortune of driving on a bridge in Sacramento when a counterweight collapsed, crushing the front end of her car and causing serious injuries. The woman, a mother of four young children who was also a late-stage cancer patient, had not been expected to live more than a few years before the accident. After it, those final years would be filled with additional pain and suffering.
Traditionally, actuarial charts that look at earnings based on life expectancy are used to calculate awards but Babich, who himself is the father of four children, knew how critically important the woman’s final years would be to her and her family. “I just put myself in her position. I was trying the case not only for her, but for her kids,” Babich explained. The challenge in that case was to argue that pain and suffering damages based on her limited life expectancy with cancer didn’t tell the whole story.
To convey the depth of her loss, he introduced at trial photographs of the woman coaching her children’s sports teams to show her active role in their lives just before the accident. The jury got it, he added. “I was very pleased with what the jury awarded her,” he said.
Babich employs the same degree of hard work and dedication in his professional life as he does in his private life. He took up running several years ago and embraced the sport by completing nine marathons in four years. Just as in the courtroom, with running there is what he calls a “real discipline and structure to training, and there’s a real sense of accomplishment.”
Bar Admissions:
- California, 1980
Education:
- University of California, Hastings College of the Law, San Francisco, California, Juris Doctor – 1980
- University of California, Bachelor of Arts – 1977
Professional Associations and Memberships:
- Consumer Attorneys of California, Member of the Board , 1995 – 1998
- Sacramento Consumer Attorneys, President , 1993 – Present
- American Board of Trial Advocates, Member , 1997 – Present
Cost
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