Torsten Bassell
Top rated Insurance Coverage attorney in Los Angeles, California
Lari-Joni & Bassell, LLP
Practice Areas: Insurance Coverage, Personal Injury; view more
Licensed in California since: 2007
Education: Southwestern Law School
Languages Spoken: English, German, Persian (Farsi), Spanish
Selected to Super Lawyers: 2014 - 2025 
Selected to Rising Stars: 2012 - 2013 Call today:
877-438-5299
Virtual Appointments Lari-Joni & Bassell, LLP
11661 San Vicente BlvdSuite 203
Los Angeles, CA 90049 Visit website
Details
Torsten Bassell is a partner and co-founder of Lari-Joni & Bassell, LLP, located in Los Angeles, California. He is a litigator, trial lawyer, and appellate attorney, whose practice focuses on representing policyholders and consumers against insurance companies. Having secured significant settlements, verdicts, and judgments in matters involving coverage disputes, catastrophic losses, and insurance bad faith, Mr. Bassell has a reputation in the legal community as a dogged champion of policyholders' and consumers' rights. In addition to notable settlements and verdicts at the trial court level, Mr. Bassell also personally handles appeals on behalf of his clients. His work has secured significant appellate victories, including, but not limited to, the Court of Appeal opinions in Century-National Insurance Company v. Olivo et al., National General Premier Insurance Company v. Haro, and Hedayati v. Interinsurance Exchange of the Automobile Club.
Since starting his law practice, Mr. Bassell has tried cases throughout Northern and Southern California. His verdicts have been featured by The Recorder and The National Law Journal as some of the "Top 100 Verdicts" in California and the nation. He is a past finalist for CAALA's Rising Star Award, CAALA's Trial Lawyer of the Year Award, and CAOC's Street Fighter of the Year Award. He has been repeatedly selected as a Southern California Super Lawyer for over a decade, and his work on behalf of consumers has been recognized by the Los Angeles Daily Journal and the Santa Barbara News Press.
As for his reputation within the legal community, Mr. Bassell holds AVVO's top peer-review rating – 10.0 "Superb" – and has been listed in the directory of Ethical Lawyers of America for more than a decade. He also serves as an elected member of the Board of Governors of the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles, which is the largest local bar association of plaintiffs' attorneys in the country with a membership of approximately 3,000.
Mr. Bassell is also a ranked member of the American Board of Trial Advocates, which is an invitation-only organization that limits its membership to those attorneys whose trial experience has been vetted and who exhibit the virtues of civility, integrity and professionalism in the practice of law.
Beyond his work in the courtroom, Mr. Bassell contributes his time to CEB (Continuing Education of the Bar • California), which is a self-supporting program of the University of California. Founded in 1947 to educate veterans returning to the practice of law after service in World War II, CEB offers three, six, and 24-hour continuing legal education (CLE) courses and practice guides. It is a prominent legal resource to attorneys in the California community. In addition to providing seminars to attorneys on various topics, Mr. Bassell serves as one of CEB's update authors for the preeminent legal treatise on evidence law - Jefferson's California Evidence Benchbook.
Practice areas
Insurance Coverage, Personal Injury - General: PlaintiffFocus areas
Animal Bites, Assault, Bad Faith Insurance, Brain Injury, Construction Accident, Insurance, Motor Vehicle Accidents, Personal Injury - Plaintiff, Premises Liability - Plaintiff, Sexual Abuse - Plaintiff, Slip and Fall, Trucking Accidents, Wrongful Death
- 60% Insurance Coverage
- 40% Personal Injury - General: Plaintiff
First Admitted: 2007, California
Professional Webpage: http://ljblaw.com/torsten-bassell/
- Southwestern Law School Trial Advocacy Honors Program, Advisor
- $12,000,000.00 Judgment - Failure to Defend and Failure to Settle - Insurance Bad Faith
- $3,500,000.00 Jury Verdict - Motorcyclist hit by left-turning driver causing complex left leg fracture
- Declaratory Relief Judgment - Insurance policy exclusion invalidated and permissive user coverage established
- $30,000.000.00 Settlement - Insurance Bad Faith Case for Failure to Settle
- Jury Verdict Increasing Insurance Coverage - Establishing vicarious liability against employer in bifurcated trial, increasing available insurance from $50,000-$5,000,000
- $3,890,625.46 Jury Verdict - Auto accident causing injuries to a woman's lumbar spine - Santa Barbara, California
- Jury Verdict Defeating Insurer's Release - Established that insurance company's settlement release was counteroffer and not binding contract
- $26,255,367.84 Jury Verdict - Described by the National Law Journal as one of the top 100 jury verdicts in the United States in 2014, this verdict arose out of a pedestrian/automobile accident
- $1,015,000.00 Jury Verdict - Facial fracture and repair from auto accident
- $1,000,000.00 Settlement - Policy Limits for a woman with a neck injury arising out of an automobile accident - Los Angeles, California
- $1,000,000.00 Interest Award (Appeal) - As a result of defeating an appeal by the defendants in a case, the plaintiff ended up receiving an additional $1,000,000.00 in post-judgment interest separate and apart from the underlying jury award - Santa Barbara, California
- $1,000,000.00 Settlement - Policy Limits for Back Injury Arising Out of Automobile Accident - San Bernardino, California
- $500,000.00 Settlement - Vehicular accident causing injury to a woman's foot - Los Angeles, California
- $1,000,000.00 Settlement - Policy Limits for Tibia/Fibia Fractures Arising Out of Motorcycle Accident - Santa Barbara, California
- Certificate of Completion of the International Entertainment Law Summer Program at the University of London, 2005
- Certificate of Polish Studies from Jagiellonian University (Krakow), 2002
- Advocacy Commendation for Trial Excellence, City of Lancaster, 2011
- Oralist Award From Southwestern Law School for Intramural Moot Court Competition, 2005
- Selected to SuperLawyers® Rising Stars 2012 List (top 2.5% in California)
- Top 100 Million Dollar Verdicts – The Recorder
- Rising Star Award Finalist, CAALA, 2016
- Inaugural ABOTA Sidebar Invitee (Los Angeles Chapter), 2014
- Trial Lawyer of the Year Nominee, CAALA, 2011
- Finalist at San Diego Defense Lawyers' National Trial Advocacy Competition, 2005
- Selected to SuperLawyers® 2014 List (top 5% in California)
- Street Fighter of the Year Award Finalist, CAOC, 2015
- Top 100 Verdicts Nationally of the Year, National Law Journal, 2015
- Million Dollar Advocate Forum, Invited Member, 2010
- Southwestern Law School's Mock Trial Team, California Association of Criminal Justice's National Trial Advocacy Competition (CACJ), Head Coach, 2011
- Selected to SuperLawyers® Rising Stars 2013 List (top 2.5% in California)
- Los Angeles Magazine (LAMag) – Top Young Lawyers 2012 and 2013
- Trial Lawyer of the Year Finalist, CAALA, 2015
- Associate Rank, ABOTA
- University of Kansas, B.A. in English, 2004
- Author, Cross-Examining the Accident Reconstruction Expert in Multi-Vehicle, Disputed Liability Cases, Advocate Magazine, 2012
- AAJ
- ABOTA
- CAALA
- CAOC
These comments were made by fellow attorneys during the annual nomination process.
“Excellent lawyer - excellent results.”
Office location for Torsten Bassell
11661 San Vicente Blvd
Suite 203
Los Angeles, CA 90049
Phone: 877-438-5299
Selections
- Super Lawyers: 2014 - 2025
- Rising Stars: 2012 - 2013
