Hiram Anthony Raldiris

Hiram Anthony Raldiris is a Senior Trial Attorney and native New Yorker of Puerto Rican and Cuban descent who lived his formative years in the Soundview section of the Bronx. He credits the love, support and guidance of his parents, Hiram and Elena, with instilling in him a love of reading, writing and education. He acknowledges that childhood talks with his uncle, Mickey Melendez, a founding member of the Young Lords, ignited his burning sense of Latino pride and his understanding of the importance of social justice. He was a first grader at Blessed Sacrament elementary school on Beach Avenue in the Bronx at the same time that current United States Supreme Court Justice, Sonia Sotomayor, was the Valedictorian of the school. While a 2nd grade student at the school, he won a New York City-wide Schools Poetry Competition and had his poem published in the Sunday Magazine section of the New York Times. He is happily married to his wife, Christine, and is the proud father of four, and grandfather of three.

He graduated from John S. Burke Catholic High School with a New York State Regents Scholarship. While attending the State University of New York, he worked part-time as a professional drummer and is proud to count himself among the lucky few who have performed on stage at the legendary CBGBs in New York City. After graduating college Magna Cum Laude, he was awarded the John J. Schumacher Minority Leadership Scholarship at Southwestern University School of Law where he graduated 4th in his class in the accelerated, two year SCALE program. While still a law student, he became certified to appear in Court in criminal cases under the supervision of a Senior Attorney in the Los Angeles County District Attorneys office. He successfully prosecuted dozens of preliminary hearings in Los Angeles County Superior Court forcing criminal defendants to stand trial for felony crimes.

After law school, Mr. Raldiris worked in the Los Angeles County District Attorneys office. He authored General Office Memorandum 87-82 setting forth the guidelines for determining when to file Second Degree murder charges in drunk driving homicide cases. He wrote an influential article outlining trial strategies for holding drunk drivers guilty of Second Degree Murder which was published in the News Journal of the California District Attorneys Association. Strategies proposed in the article were later adopted by District Attorneys across the State of California and are now commonplace in these types of cases.

Mr. Raldiris is the former litigation partner of the Los Angeles personal injury firm of Sobol & Raldiris. Cases he prosecuted for clients involving police brutality, wrongful termination, homeless rights, and under the Americans with Disabilities Act, received extensive media coverage in various publications including the Los Angeles Times, Ventura Star Free Press and Camarillo Daily News. While handling all types of personal injury cases, he prosecuted precedent setting cases in the area of insurance bad faith. A bad faith case he prosecuted against Allstate Insurance Company received national recognition and was featured in the National Law Journal. He was a member of the faculty at the California State convention of the Consumer Attorneys Association of California (formerly the California Trial Lawyers Association) in San Francisco in 1997. He was honored by having an insurance bad faith case that he had successfully prosecuted against Farmers Insurance selected for a mock trial presentation at the convention. The case was the first of its kind to establish the bad faith liability of an insurance company for use of a “Minor-Impact Defense” against policyholders. His speaking presentation at the Convention was videotaped for future use by other attorneys for Continuing Legal Education credits. His legal work in this area was pivotal in curbing Insurers’ use of the defense against uninsured motorist policyholders in California.

Mr. Raldiris eventually returned to New York City where he has been representing personal injury victims for over twenty years. He has become one of a handful of attorneys in New York State to have secured a seven figure verdict in a one day Summary Jury Trial. He also holds the distinction of having the largest jury verdict ever upheld by an Appellate Court in the State of New York for a single level, non-surgical, spinal disc herniation injury - $600,000. (Martinez v. MABSTOA, 23 A.D. 3d 302 (1st Dept. 2005) He has developed an expertise in bringing Spinal injury and Traumatic Brain injury cases to seven figure jury verdicts and settlements. His efforts in securing a $4,700,000 settlement in the Traumatic Brain Injury case of Lorenzo v. 343 LLC resulted in one of the highest settlements in Bronx County in 2016. In 2017, two of his jury verdicts in Spinal Injury cases arising from motor vehicle accidents were recognized as being among the Top 50 in the State of New York. He is an accomplished Trial Attorney with over thirty years of experience who has secured tens of millions of dollars of jury verdicts and settlements for his clients. He is delighted to be back home in the Bronx fighting for the compensation of personal injury victims.