Samer Sami Habbas

Career Highlights

• Firm Founder and Managing Partner: Founded the Law Offices of Samer Habbas & Associates in 2006 shortly after becoming a California attorney. He remains directly involved in the firm’s litigation strategy and management.
• More Than $400 Million Recovered: Under Habbas’s leadership, the firm has recovered more than $400 million for injured clients since its founding.
• Established Personal-Injury Organization: Developed the practice from a newly opened Southern California office into a team of more than 70 people serving clients through offices in California and Arizona.
• Catastrophic-Injury Focus: Represents people and families affected by commercial-truck collisions, traumatic brain and spinal injuries, motorcycle and pedestrian accidents, wrongful death, medical negligence, unsafe properties, elder abuse, and institutional misconduct.
• Longstanding Peer Recognition: Recognized by The Best Lawyers in America since 2018 for plaintiffs’ personal-injury litigation. Selected to Southern California Rising Stars in 2019 and 2020 and to Southern California Super Lawyers from 2022 through 2026.
• Accredited Firm: The firm is accredited by the Better Business Bureau and maintains an A+ rating.

Proven Experience

• $11 Million Truck-Accident Settlement: Habbas and associate Kristina Akers represented a driver who was pushing his disabled vehicle toward the shoulder of the 210 Freeway when a box truck struck him and forced him into his own car. The collision caused catastrophic injuries, including fractures, arterial damage, kidney damage, nerve damage, and multiple surgeries involving limb reattachment. After suing the driver, employer, and truck owner, the legal team rejected a $750,000 mediation offer and secured the defendants’ full insurance limits.
• $3.45 Million Motorcycle-Accident Settlement: Represented a motorcyclist who required surgery for a tibial plateau fracture after another driver turned into his path. Habbas’s investigation established that the driver was performing work for an employer, allowing the claim to reach the company and its insurance coverage. He filed suit, rejected a seven-figure mediation offer, and resolved the case as trial approached.
• $2.5 Million Wrongful-Death Settlement: Represented the minor son of a motorcyclist who was killed after a lane-changing driver knocked him into the path of a semi-truck. Although the child lived in Mexico, Habbas pursued the California claim, filed suit after the insurer refused to pay before litigation, and obtained the available policy limits.
• $2.25 Million Motorcycle-Accident Settlement: Represented a rider who suffered a tibial-shaft fracture requiring multiple surgeries. The insurer attempted to emphasize the client’s lack of a motorcycle license and previous crashes, but Habbas located nearby video evidence supporting the client’s account. He also identified a $2 million umbrella policy in addition to the primary policy and secured the combined limits after filing suit.
• $1 Million Hotel Sexual-Assault Settlement: Pursued claims against a hotel after an employee allegedly entered a guest’s room without authorization and sexually assaulted her. Habbas developed claims involving negligent hiring, training, supervision, and guest protection, rejected an initial $125,000 offer, and obtained an eightfold increase.
• $875,000 Nursing-Home Neglect Settlement: Represented a nursing-facility resident who developed a stage-three pressure wound, sepsis, respiratory failure, aspiration pneumonia, and other complications after alleged neglect. Habbas’s investigation also uncovered repeated falls, dehydration, malnutrition, infections, and poor hygiene. He increased the initial $50,000 offer substantially before resolving the case.
• $750,000 Disputed-Liability Truck Settlement: Represented a driver whom the investigating officer and his own insurer considered entirely responsible for rear-ending a stopped 18-wheeler. Habbas identified evidence that the truck driver had stopped in an unsafe location without using flares and may not have properly inspected the load before traveling. He increased the carrier’s initial $25,000 offer to the full available policy limit without filing a lawsuit.
• $600,000 Funeral-Home Negligence Settlement: Represented family members who discovered that a mortuary had placed the wrong person in their loved one’s casket, leaving their relative’s body in a freezer and forcing the family to endure a second funeral. Habbas rejected an $85,000 offer, filed suit, conducted discovery and depositions, and resolved the case through mediation.
• Published Appellate Victory Preserved a Family’s Right to Remain in Court: In Garcia v. KND Development 52, LLC, Habbas and Adam Kocaj represented a widow pursuing negligence, elder-abuse, and wrongful-death claims arising from her husband’s hospital treatment. The hospitals attempted to enforce arbitration agreements signed by family members, but the California Court of Appeal agreed that the hospitals had not proven those relatives were authorized to surrender the patient’s right to court proceedings. The published decision affirmed the denial of arbitration and allowed the family’s lawsuit to continue in court.