Thomas Seabaugh

The Law Office of Thomas C. Seabaugh

Thomas Seabaugh Personal Injury Lawyer

The Law Office of Thomas C. Seabaugh

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Firm Summary

From the County of Del Norte on the border with Oregon to San Diego on the border with Mexico, civil rights attorney Thomas C. Seabaugh has represented clients from diverse locales and backgrounds throughout the State of California.

Mr. Seabaugh’s practice consists primarily of civil litigation on behalf of individuals who have been affected by the wrongful conduct by others, including civil rights violations, wrongful death, police brutality, racial discrimination, and other forms of official misconduct and abuse. Since establishing THE LAW OFFICE OF THOMAS C. SEABAUGH in early 2016, Mr. Seabaugh has had the honor of representing clients in several cases of local and national significance.

Together with the law firms of Chain Cohn Stiles and The Law Offices of Dale K. Galipo, Mr. Seabaugh represented the family of David Sal Silva, who was beaten and asphyxiated by police, in a civil rights case that garnered international media attention and culminated in a $3.4 million settlement for the victim’s family members in May 2016.

In 2017, Mr. Seabaugh filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of a poet who was wrongfully ticketed for exercising her right to free speech in the City of Palm Springs. In addition to substantial monetary compensation for the victim, the widely publicized settlement includes an agreement that the city will take steps to respect the rights of street performers in the future.

Before establishing his own practice, Mr. Seabaugh worked as an associate attorney for trial lawyer Dale K. Galipo from 2012 to 2016, in which capacity he handled numerous civil rights cases involving police brutality and wrongful death. Before working with Mr. Galipo, Mr. Seabaugh served as an associate attorney at Norris & Galanter in downtown Los Angeles, where he was involved in handing a variety of business and entertainment matters.

With Mr. Galipo, Mr. Seabaugh handled the Beaird v. City of Los Angeles case. Brian Beaird, an unarmed and disabled National Guard veteran, was shot and killed by LAPD officers while attempting to flee on foot. His tragic death was captured on live television. The case settled for $5 million, the largest civil rights settlement involving the City of Los Angeles in the recent period, and was reported on the front page of the Los Angeles Times in August 2014.

Mr. Seabaugh second-chaired the damages phase of the trial in Contreras v. City of Los Angeles (2012), which resulted in a $5.7 million verdict for an unarmed youth who was shot in the back by Los Angeles sheriff’s deputies. Police bullets struck Robert Conteras’s spine, paralyzing most of his body and confining him to a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

Mr. Seabaugh’s experience includes appellate litigation in both federal and state court. Mr. Seabaugh briefed and argued the case of Vazquez v. County of Kern before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in July 2019. That case, which was joined by the American Civil Liberties Union on appeal as amicus curiae, was one of three civil rights cases in which Mr. Seabaugh represented young women who alleged that they were subjected to sexual abuse while they were wards at the James G. Bowles Juvenile Hall in Bakersfield, California.

Mr. Seabaugh holds a bachelor’s degree with honors from the University of Notre Dame and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Michigan. Mr. Seabaugh’s interests include classical music, history, philosophy, literature, and travel. He speaks English and Russian. In the years 2016 through 2021, he was selected for the Rising Stars list by Superlawyers, representing the top 2.5 percent of attorneys under 40