There's new blood on Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, and with each new Real Housewife comes a new Real husband. For Erika Gerardi — or, if using her stage name, Erika Jayne — her husband's claim to fame came much earlier than his wife starring on Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. RHOBH 's newest cast member Erika Jayne is married to Thomas Gerardi. If the name doesn't ring any bells, you're clearly not up-to-date on your Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame names, which is OK. I'd be worried if you were. But after this season of RHOBH, you might just be a little more familiar with one of the names.
Gerardi and his wife could not have more different careers. Erika is a pop star, who has had more than one Billboard dance hit in her career (and she's not slowing down). Meanwhile, while Erika is getting people up to dance, her husband is getting big companies to pay up in court. Thomas Gerardi is one of the nation's top trial lawyers, according to his biography on his law firm's website. Practicing law for over 50 years, the 76-year-old has worked on "wrongful death, commercial litigation, products liability, bad faith insurance, and toxic torts." So, while it isn't a job that involves strobe lights and a lot of dancing (like his wife), he's doing a lot of good for his clients and victims.
But, Erika isn't the only one with a job in the spotlight. One of Gerardi's past cases was made famous by a little movie featuring this kind of known actress named Julia Roberts—Erin Brockovich. If you're not familiar with the film, go watch it now. The TL;DR version of the film is that Brockovich, a legal clerk, was instrumental in developing a case against Pacific Gas & Electric Company in 1993. Where does Gerardi come in? He tried the case in '93 and won a $333 million settlement for 650 residents in Hinkley, California.
Beyond that, Gerardi won $785 million for personal injuries suffered by employees in Lockheed's Skunkworks facilities in 1998. There's even more, numbers as big as $1.6 billion, proving that Gerardi is truly one of the top trial lawyers in the nation. He is also the first trial lawyer to be appointed to the California Judicial Council, which I think proves that everyone wants a piece of Thomas Gerardi.
