John Kristensen

John Kristensen joined Strange & Carpenter in 2011. He returned to Los Angeles, where he began his career, to expand his practice to include prosecution of class action cases.   In 2011, the Daily Journal selected John as one of five associates to watch in the state of California.   He was the sole plaintiffs' attorney to receive the accolade.

Mr. Kristensen spent the previous three years in the Bay Area representing plaintiffs in catastrophic cases with an emphasis on aviation and automobile products liability lawsuits.  He remains in the role as the youngest attorney appointed to the plaintiffs' steering committees in the California Toyota Sudden Acceleration cases.

In May 2010, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration ("NHTSA") accepted Mr. Kristensen's request to open a timeliness query into the 2005 Toyota steering relay rod recall. Mr. Kristensen uncovered that Toyota had received nearly 40 complaints of the rods failing in the United States by October 2004 when Toyota issued the recall for the parts in pickups and 4Runners in Japan, but not the United States. Toyota told NHTSA at the time they had no similar information in the United States and that is why Toyota delayed the recall for nearly a year in America.

Toyota paid the maximum fine in December 2010 of over $16,000,000.00 as a result of Mr. Kristensen's investigation. Mr. Kristensen later obtained a landmark Order compelling Toyota Motor Corporation to produce five (5) of their executives from Japan to travel to California for their deposition.

Good Morning America, USA Today, AP, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, KNBC and the Daily Journal have all reported on Mr. Kristensen's relentless effort to hold manufacturers accountable.

Mr. Kristensen was born in Massachusetts and raised in North Andover. Mr. Kristensen received his Undergraduate degree in Political Science at the University of Oregon. Upon graduation, Mr. Kristensen moved to Los Angeles to work for the California Democratic Party in the 1998 election. In 1999, Mr. Kristensen received a scholarship to attend Washington & Lee University School of Law in Lexington, Virginia.