James R. Kristy

Attorneys James R. Kristy, Esq. and Kurt E. Kananen, Esq. are the co-founders and principal trial attorneys of Kristy & Kananen, with headquarters in Long Beach, California. A top-rated trial attorney with more than 20 years of legal experience, Mr. Kristy represents plaintiffs in civil litigation.

Kristy & Kananen’s practice is focused in the following areas:

• Employment Law, on behalf of employees in wrongful-termination, discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and wage-and-hour (unpaid overtime) cases;
• Insurance Bad Faith, on behalf of policyholders whose claims have been unreasonably denied; and
• Construction Defect Litigation, on behalf of homeowners

After graduating from the University of California, Los Angeles, with a degree in economics, Mr. Kristy worked for more than 20 years in corporate financial management at large U.S. corporations. Since 2000, Mr. Kristy has practiced civil litigation on behalf of plaintiffs. His corporate and legal experience enables him to navigate the complexities of civil litigation against large corporations. Mr. Kristy is dedicated to achieving justice for consumers.

Mr. Kristy attended Whittier Law School in the evening while still working full-time and obtained his Juris Doctor in 2000. At Whittier Law School, he served as editor-in-chief of the Whittier Law Review and published an article in that journal concerning the Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act.

When he began to practice law in 2000, Mr. Kristy worked for prominent Southern California law firms that represented plaintiffs in personal injury, product liability, construction defects, wrongful death, and insurance-bad-faith cases. He then established Kristy & Kananen in 2003 and continues to advocate on behalf of those victimized by employers, home-builders and insurers. Having handled more than 100 cases, he has recovered millions of dollars in settlements and verdicts for those he has served.

Highly active in his legal community, Mr. Kristy is a member-emeritus of the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles (“CAALA”) Board of Governors. Mr. Kristy has organized and presented many continuing legal-education seminars on a variety of topics.

In addition to his admission to practice in California Superior Court, Mr. Kristy is admitted to practice before the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, and the U.S. Supreme Court of the United States of America.