Eric Ratinoff

Eric J. Ratinoff is a trial lawyer, brain injury advocate and humanitarian. One of the founding partners of Kershaw, Cutter & Ratinoff in Sacramento, California, his law firm represents plaintiffs in personal injury, class actions and mass torts.

Background

Born June 30, 1966 in New York to Jewish immigrants, Ratinoff's father was a doctor from Chile and his mother a nurse from Toronto. He grew up in Southern California, where his father had a small neurology practice that consisted mostly of Hispanic patients on Medical or Medicare. He attributes his father's work to instilling in him the desire to help people through the legal profession. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from U.C. Santa Cruz in 1989, and his Juris Doctor from U.C. Davis in 1993, and was admitted to the California State Bar in December 1993 (California Bar #166204).

Civil Practice

Ratinoff's legal work consists of representing plaintiffs in personal injury lawsuits and mass torts, focusing on catastrophic accidents, such as motorcycle and auto accidents, brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, insurance bad faith, products liability, consumer fraud, and medical malpractice. He teaches trial practice as a faculty member of the Gerry Spence Trial Lawyers College, and has served as president of the Capitol City Trial Lawyers Association. He is AV Rated by peer reviewed legal publication LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell and is included on the Thomson Reuters list of Northern California Super Lawyers.

In 2011, Ratinoff and law partner Brooks Cutter won a $7.6 million jury verdict on behalf of a young Elk Grove woman who became paralyzed after a U.C. Davis radiologist missed an abnormality on her spine. The verdict is believed to be the largest medical malpractice verdict in Sacramento County history. Although many California lawyers no longer pursue medical malpractice lawsuits due to caps placed on non economic damages that date back to the 1975 Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act (MICRA), some of Ratinoff's noteworthy cases have involved medical malpractice, particularly against Kaiser Permanente. Referring to the financial risk involved in accepting medical malpractice cases on contingency basis, Ratinoff has said, "if we weren't doing it, I don't know what would happen to medical care in our state and community." He frequently appears as a legal consultant on CBS Sacramento's "Call Kurtis" consumer watchdog news segment, offering legal advice AbOUT matters ranging from insurance bad faith, product liability, and other consumer protection issues. In 2014, he was chosen by the Consulate General of Mexico in Sacramento to serve on the Consulate's panel of attorneys who assist the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the Government of Mexico, the Consulate General of Mexico in Sacramento, and the Mexican Community in Northern California.

Community Involvement

Ratinoff's efforts supporting the community earned him the "Humanitarian of the Year" award in 2013 by the Capital City Trial Lawyers Association. The award recognized his "heart, soul, and passion as a trial lawyer in service to the community,” and was presented at the CCTLA's annual Spring Fling benefit to raise funds for the Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services. The event raised over $30,000 for the food bank. He hosts regular charity events that support a different Sacramento area non-profit every month. Titled "#Network4Cause," the events highlight a variety of charity partners who are achieving outstanding successes in the community. The mixers have raised money for organizations such as Volunteers of America, Brain Injury Association of California, The California Food Literacy Center, and the Center for Migrant Rights. He served as President of the Board at Sierra Forever Families, an organization that helps children and youth in foster care find permanent families, or reunite with their biological family, and currently serves on the board for the Brain Injury Association of California and Consumer Attorneys of California. He is a member of Cien Amigos, an organization that works to encourage the mutual prosperity of both Mexico and California.