Anatomy of a Record Verdict: Building and Trying a Disputed Mild TBI Case
Free to attend, live on Zoom. Can't make it? The session replays on TLU On Demand.
Tuesday, October 13
10:30 AM PDT
$20.7 million
Oliveira v. Marriott International, et al. — San Francisco Superior Court, 22 July 2026. A hotel guest sitting outside was struck by a metal stud that fell from renovation scaffolding above her. The defense contested liability and contested that the brain injury existed at all. After nearly seven years, a mistrial and a five-week retrial, the jury rejected both and found the construction companies had failed to protect the public from falling debris.
Tried by Thomas Feher with Alex Ballard and Austin Wallick. Covered by the San Francisco Chronicle, the Daily Journal, SFGATE and Legal Reader.
Read the full case record- $16MFuture non-economic damages
- $2.5MPast non-economic damages
- $2.2MFuture medical expenses
Sixteen million of it was future non-economic damages — on an injury the defense called mild.
He already teaches this room.
Tom teaching at CAALA Las Vegas, September 2026 — experts for the auto case, and crossing the defense expert.
Recorded at the CAALA convention, Fontainebleau Las Vegas.
Meet Tom.
Tom Feher tries cases. He is the founder and CEO of Feher Law, APC, handling catastrophic injury, wrongful death and employment cases throughout California, and he has taken more than 50 jury trials to verdict since being admitted in 2011.
In July 2026 a San Francisco jury returned $20.7 million in Oliveira v. Marriott International — a record mild traumatic brain injury verdict in California. It took nearly seven years, a mistrial, and a five-week retrial against a defense that disputed both liability and whether the brain injury existed at all.
He spent eight years trying another firm's cases before starting his own seven years ago, and built it deliberately so he could stay in trial. When a referring lawyer sends him a case, they get the lawyer who tries it.
Tom is a graduate and an instructor at the Gerry Spence Method. He sits on the boards of the Brain Society of California, Consumer Attorneys of California and the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles, and teaches trial strategy at CAOC, CAALA, OCTLA and Trial Lawyers University.
Legal knowledge.
Academics
- J.D., Pepperdine Caruso School of Law
- B.A., University of California, Santa Cruz
- California State Bar, admitted 2011
- U.S. District Court, Central District of California
Recognition
- The Best Lawyers in America, 2027
- Southern California Super Lawyers, 2022–2026
- CAALA Rising Star, 2018
- OCTLA Young Gun, 2017
- CAOC Street Fighter of the Year, 2016
Community service
- Instructor and graduate, the Gerry Spence Method
- Board member, Brain Society of California
- Board member, Consumer Attorneys of California
- Board member, Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles
- Board member emeritus, Los Angeles Trial Lawyers Charity
- American Association for Justice
Record Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Verdict in California
How Tom Feher proved a brain injury the defense said was not there.
Send him the case.
Brain injury, catastrophic injury, wrongful death — anywhere in California. Tell him what you have and he will tell you straight whether he can help.
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