Nearly three years after Toyota Motor Corp. recalled more than 10 million vehicles for defects associated with sudden acceleration, a team of three plaintiffs’ attorneys in December reached a $1.3 billion settlement to resolve economic damages claims by consumers. One of those attorneys was Frank Pitre, a name partner at Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, who was in charge of claims brought by independent auto dealers, rental car companies and other commercial plaintiffs who bought Toyota vehicles.

You might call it a high-water mark for the 27-attorney firm in Burlingame, Calif., south of San Francisco. "We had some great verdicts, but nothing near $1 billion," said name partner Joseph Cotchett, a veteran trial attorney, whose previous successes include a $3.3 billion verdict against Charles Keating Jr., a prime mover in the savings-and-loan scandal of the late 1980s. In addition to Pitre and Cotchett, the firm has 24 principals and one associate and offices in Sacramento, Calif., and New York.

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