Panish | Shea | Ravipudi LLP attorneys Jesse Creed, Brian J. Panish, and Hunter Norton have been named recipients of the 2025 California Lawyer Attorneys of the Year (CLAY) Award by the Daily Journal for their work on Garcia v. Newport-Mesa Unified School District. This is the fifth consecutive year attorneys with Panish | Shea | Ravipudi LLP have been recognized with a California Lawyer Attorneys of the Year (CLAY) Award and the seventh overall CLAY Award recognition for the Firm.
In the Garcia v. Newport-Mesa Unified School District matter, Mr. Creed, Mr. Panish, and Mr. Norton obtained a $31,000,000 settlement for plaintiff Emanuel “Manny” Garcia, a former Corona del Mar High School freshman football player who suffered a traumatic brain injury as a result of a negligently maintained field by the Newport-Mesa Unified School District. Manny was participating in a regularly scheduled practice when he was injured on the uneven terrain. The 15-year-old Corona del Mar High School student was wearing a helmet and suffered a life-altering brain bleed resulting in a traumatic brain injury with severe cognitive defects and emotional harms. Manny went from a top student to barely passing and suffered a lifetime of mental, physical, and emotional challenges.
Newport-Mesa Unified School District had received repeated notice of the dangerous conditions of its natural turf fields from various field coaches, including football coaches, soccer coaches, and lacrosse coaches. These coaches warned specifically about the risk of head injuries, stating in one 2016 email that “due to the lack of grass and the lack of watering, the field has become too hard and will directly lead to an increase in head injuries.” Another parent called for the District to do industry-standard testing of field hardness to ensure the fields were safe, which the District did not do. Notice about the dangerous field conditions continued up to the 2021 football season.
Despite repeated notice of the condition, the District failed to take action to make the natural turf fields safe and continued to allow, and require, student athletes to practice and play there. Manny’s injuries were a result of Newport-Mesa Unified School District’s negligence.
The 29th Annual CLAY Awards are awarded to a select group of attorneys throughout the state “for achievements with a significant impact on public policy, the law, the profession, or a particular practice area.”
Subscribers to the Daily Journal can login to the publication’s website and view the full list of 2025 CLAY Award recipients.