Jesse D. Marr

Jesse D. Marr is of counsel in the Firm's Los Angeles office. Mr. Marr defends clients in catastrophic personal injury lawsuits and class actions, as well as in labor and employment and products liability matters. He specializes in representing transportation companies, retailers, and cemeteries and funeral homes.

Mr. Marr is a skilled trial lawyer who has obtained successful verdicts for his clients in courts throughout California.

In April 2021, Mr. Marr defended a car dealership in a sexual harassment and retaliation case in Sacramento in which the plaintiff sought over $2 million in damages. The jury awarded the plaintiff $55,000, which was substantially less than the dealership's pre-trial offer, and the court denied the plaintiff's attorney's request for fees.

Mr. Marr defended Corona Cemetery Association from 2014 to 2020 in a class action arising out of alleged desecration of graves and wrongful burial. Mr. Marr defeated the plaintiffs' motion for class certification and obtained summary judgment against all but one of the individual plaintiffs. After a month-long trial, the jury returned a verdict in favor of Corona Cemetery Association. 

In a May 2017 trial involving a suit by MPG client Big 5 Sporting Goods against a product supplier who had refused to defend Big 5 in an underlying products liability matter, Mr. Marr obtained a $295,000 judgment against the supplier. Big 5 paid nothing to the plaintiff in the products liability matter.

In an April 2017 trial involving an allegation of discrimination by MPG client Los Angeles Community College District, Mr. Marr obtained a judgment in favor of the District.

In 2016, Mr. Marr and partner Geoffrey Brethen convinced a Fresno jury to return a defense verdict in favor of Big 5 Sporting Goods despite plaintiff’s multiple surgeries and claim of more than $1.8 million in damages.

In a 2013 case in which Mr. Marr’s client admitted liability and the plaintiff sought $2 million for an alleged traumatic brain injury and neck and back injuries which allegedly required surgery, Mr. Marr convinced a jury to award the plaintiff only $8,000.

Mr. Marr’s defense verdict in 2011 in the first expedited jury trial in Riverside County history was profiled in the Daily Journal and Verdict.

In 2008, Mr. Marr tried five cases to verdict and the jury in each case returned a defense verdict.

In 2007, Mr. Marr obtained a 12-0 defense verdict in a case involving an auto versus pedestrian accident in which the plaintiff pedestrian suffered two broken legs and a fractured eye socket.

Mr. Marr has also successfully represented clients in administrative hearings, private arbitrations and other alternative dispute resolution proceedings.

Community

Mr. Marr is frequently asked to speak on topics relating to labor and employment and civil trial practice. While a student at the University of Maryland, he served as an intern at the White House Office of Public Liaison.

In addition, Mr. Marr is involved in the following community activities:

• Millikan Rams Touchdown Club, 2023 to present
• Los Angeles County Mock Trial Competition, 2018 to present
• Community Legal Aid SoCal, 2017 to present
• Grand Cru Wine Competition to Benefit the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, Board of Directors, 2010-2012
• Leadership Long Beach, Class of 2007

Admissions & Associations

State Bar of California

American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA), Member

Long Beach Bar Association, Member, Scholarship Chairman 2006-2009