Los Angeles Real Estate Attorney | California

John S. Peterson is a trial lawyer who focuses on eminent domain, inverse condemnation and other complex real estate and business cases with an emphasis on jury and non-jury trials. He has substantial experience in the representation of real estate valuation, business valuation, landslide, subsidence, California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), environmental, land use, subdivision, lease, construction defect and developer agreement disputes.

He is the founder of Peterson Law Group Professional Corporation, a law firm that was established with the goal of providing quality service, personalized attention, creative approaches and a results oriented philosophy in handling client matters.

Mr. Peterson was born in Glendale and raised in Los Angeles, California. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics, magna cum laude, from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1978, as a member of Phi Beta Kappa. As an undergraduate, he interned for the Senate Transportation Committee. He received his Juris Doctorate from the UCLA School of Law in 1981. He was admitted to practice in California in 1981. He is also admitted to practice in the United States Court of Federal Claims, the United States District Court for the Central, Southern, Eastern and Northern Districts of California and the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Mr. Peterson has served as trial counsel in several successful jury trials. As examples, he won a $10.5 million jury verdict in an eminent domain matter where the original offer was $5.4 million and a $4.0 million verdict where the original offer was $840,000.

In 2010, Mr. Peterson was elected as a Member of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), where eligibility to membership requires completion of a prescribed number of jury trials and nomination and election by the membership which includes some of the best lawyers in America. He is Martindale-Hubbell® AV Rated, the highest rating available to an attorney.

With more than 29 years of practice experience and a solid record of success in trials, Mr. Peterson has achieved hundreds of strong results for his clients. He recently won a $28 million result on behalf of an owner client in an eminent domain case where the original offer was less than half that amount.

In a recent inverse condemnation matter on behalf of an owner client, he achieved a $4.6 million result paid by the city for repair of a landslide where liability was disputed.

Mr. Peterson has been a featured speaker on eminent domain in several broadcast media segments, including Marketplace on National Public Radio, Patt Morrison’s KPCC radio show, and a KNBC news segment on inverse condemnation. He has been quoted in the Los Angeles Times and in the Los Angeles Business Journal in articles involving his cases.

Mr. Peterson is a participating member of the Condemnation and Land Valuation Committee of the Los Angeles County Bar Association and is a member of the Real Property Section of the State Bar of California and the Los Angeles County Bar Association. He is a member of the American Bar Association.

In condemnation actions, he emphasizes representation of real property and business owners. Cases have included auto mall property, shopping centers, swap meets, industrial properties, commercial properties, hotels, motels, apartments, retail centers, development properties, farm land, homes, subdivisions, tracts, landfill property and others.

He has represented a wide variety of businesses in litigation and relocation, including: restaurants, fast food, recording studios, pharmacies, manufacturers, retailers, equipment vendors, food processors, tire retreading, furniture manufacturing, molded and injected plastics manufacturers, boat yards, marine equipment supply, liquor stores, convenience stores, gas stations, car rental agencies, mechanics, auto body shops, auto dismantlers, recyclers, metal dealers, roofers, contractors, chemical plants, mortuary, truck wash, car wash, container storage and repair, printers, metal stamping, textiles, clothing manufacturing, attorneys, doctors, dentists, optometrists, metal workers, wood workers, glass workers, oil companies, developers, and many other businesses.