Cross-Examining Experts in Medical Malpractice Litigation

Benjamin T. Ikuta is a trial attorney who has been licensed in California since 2008. Ben focuses on cases of medical malpractice, elder abuse, and personal injury. Ben is a preeminent attorney in prosecuting medical malpractice actions who has tried multiple cases to verdict. He has presented and been published many times on medical malpractice issues.

Ben handles complex medical malpractice actions, typically involving serious injury or death. Since 2016, Ben has secured ten 7-figure settlements and fifty-eight 6-figure settlements. He has multiple plaintiff-side jury verdicts in medical malpractice actions. In total, since late 2016, Ben has recovered over $113 million on behalf of clients.

Specifically, Ben has successfully litigated and handled many birth injury cases, including cases of delay in delivery that resulted in neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, acidosis/acidemia, Erb’s palsy, and/or death. Ben has litigated cases in the delay in diagnosis or reporting of lymphoma, hepatocellular carcinoma, colorectal cancer, breast cancer, basal cell carcinoma, and other types of cancer. Ben has also handled cases involving allegations of elder abuse and dependent adult abuse based on neglect leading to the development of decubitus ulcers, falls, or physical and/or sexual abuse by other residents.

For the majority of his career prior to forming Ikuta Hemesath, LLP, Ben worked for firms that defended physicians, hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, residential care facilities for the elderly in actions of medical malpractice and elder abuse. As a defense lawyer prior to forming Ikuta Hemesath, LLP, Ben routinely secured judgments in favor of healthcare providers and insurance companies and provided counseling and presentations on how to reduce or avoid liability. Ben’s experience as a former medical malpractice defense lawyer provides him with a unique perspective in relation to the tactics and strategies implemented by insurance companies, corporations, and defense attorneys.

In 2016, Ben realized that his true calling was not in defending healthcare providers and insurance companies, but rather to work for those injured by wrongdoing. He joined a premier medical malpractice plaintiff-side firm and within five years was made a named partner.

Ben’s extensive experience with the best firms on both the plaintiff and defense side prior to forming Ikuta Hemesath provides him the experience and knowledge to obtain the best possible results.

Ben obtained a B.S. in mathematics and a B.A. in economics from UCLA in 2005. In 2008, Ben graduated from the University of California, Hastings college of the law where he was a member of, and published in, the Hastings Law Journal. In 2018, Ben co-founded the Medical Malpractice Trial Attorneys of California. In 2022 and in 2023, Ben was appointed to the Board of Directors for the Orange County Trial Lawyers Association (OCTLA). Ben was selected as a Super Lawyer in medical malpractice in 2023, 2024, and 2025, as well as a Super Lawyer Rising Star each year between 2014 and 2022. 

Michelle Buxton Hemesath’s practice is focused on representing injured victims and their families. She formed Ikuta Hemesath, LLP in April of 2022 with law partner, Ben Ikuta.

She began her career representing healthcare providers and learned from some of the best defense attorneys on the West Coast. During this time, Michelle. gained invaluable experience and intimate knowledge of how insurance companies handle lawsuits, how to best position a case for trial, and how to wade through complex medical issues.

Michelle treats every case as if its going to trial. Michelle stoutly believes that the only way to obtain maximum recovery in a settlement is for the defense firm and insurance carrier to know that she is willing and able to try cases.

Michelle was raised in Torrance, California. She attended college at San Diego State University. After receiving her Bachelor of Arts in political science, Michelle attended the University of San Diego School of Law. While at there, she participated in the university’s special education clinic advocating on behalf of students and parents to ensure students received the maximum benefits allowable under the law. Michelle graduated in the top twenty percent of her class and received awards in Complex Litigation and Alternative Dispute Resolution. In addition, Michelle received the Maria Shih Award for Diversity Awareness and Service.

Michelle is licensed to practice in the State of California, United States District Court for the Central District of California and United States District Court for the Southern District of California. She is immediate past the President of the Women Lawyers of Long Beach (WLLB) and current Treasurer, as well as a member of the Orange County Bar Association (OCBA), Orange County Trial Lawyers Association (OCTLA), Orange County Asian American Bar Association (OCAABA), and Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles (CAALA). Since 2019, Mrs. Hemesath has served as an attorney coach for the mock trial team at Valley High School. In 2021 and 2022, Michelle was selected as a Rising Star in plaintiff-side medical malpractice, awarded to the top 2.5% of attorneys under the age of 40, by Super Lawyer Magazine.