David Ongaro is the founder and managing partner of Ongaro PC. David has successfully tried high-value cases to verdict throughout the United States and is frequently called into cases solely for the purpose of trial. With more than 25 years of experience, he has been involved in over 40 trials, taking 15 of them to verdict. David handled the first all-Zoom jury trial in California in 2020.
Some of David’s significant victories include:
- Defense verdict in a double wrongful death mesothelioma trial in Los Angeles, where the plaintiff asked the jury to award 95 million.
- Defense verdict in the first ever Zoom jury trial in Alameda, California. A living mesothelioma case involving a young plaintiff with a young family, Plaintiffs sought 77 million from the jury.
- A directed verdict following the close of the Plaintiff’s case in mesothelioma case in Alameda California. David convinced the Court that it had to apply Kansas law to the case. Following the cross examination of the Plaintiff’s causation, expert David convinced the Court that the testimony was insufficient to establish causation under the Kansas standard and the court granted a directed defense verdict.
- Defense verdict in a living mesothelioma case in Los Angeles, California. After two months of trial and two days of deliberation the Jury rejected Plaintiff’s request for 26 million and returned a defense verdict.
- At the last minute, David took over as lead counsel for the defendant in a criminal trial involving fraud, embezzlement and tax evasion. The state of California spent several million dollars in the prosecution of the case. After two months of trial, the defendant was acquitted of all the felony charges.
- Defense verdict in a case involving a horrific accident-causing permanent disfigurement of a three-year-old. Plaintiffs asked the jury to award 8 million dollars. David obtained a defense verdict in less than thirty minutes.
- Representing a Plaintiff in a business dispute over the sale of commercial solar sites, David obtained a 69-million-dollar verdict for his clients.
David has tried cases for defendants in jurisdictions identified by the ATR as judicial hellholes, including Los Angeles, Alameda, San Francisco and Philadelphia.
David has been selected to the list of Northern California Super Lawyers for many years. David received the prestigious BTI client service award in 2013 and in 2014, he was named as ITL’s top class action lawyer for wage and hour class actions in California.
Education:
- J.D., University of San Francisco School of Law, 1991
- B.S., University of California, Davis, 1988
