Personal Injury

On May 21, 2020, Marie Thornton tripped over concealed fence wires on the Legion of Honor Side Path in San Francisco. She sued the City and County of San Francisco for negligence, premises liability, and dangerous condition of public property (Gov. Code §835), citing poor maintenance, overgrown foliage, broken fencing, and lack of warnings. Thornton alleged severe, permanent injuries, medical costs, lost wages, and impaired daily function. The City denied liability, asserting procedural defects, statutory immunities, assumed risk, comparative negligence, and failure to mitigate damages. On February 6, 2025, the parties reached a $300,000 conditional settlement, pending City approval, with dismissal expected by June 1, 2025.

On April 13, 2021, in Santa Monica, Liliana Barrios Viamari’s 2019 Honda Civic collided with Sara Toribio-Ruiz’s 2017 Honda Civic as Toribio-Ruiz drove southbound on 21st Street. Plaintiffs alleged Liliana’s negligent driving and Michael Viamari’s negligent entrustment caused the crash, injuring Toribio-Ruiz and affecting her daily life. Her husband, Paul Parra, sought loss of consortium. Defendants denied liability, citing comparative negligence, superseding causes, statute of limitations, and limits on non-economic damages. On June 16, 2025, a Los Angeles jury awarded Toribio-Ruiz $1,295,000, including $595,000 for future medical expenses, $200,000 for past non-economic losses, and $500,000 for future non-economic losses. Parra received no damages.

On October 16, 2021, Regino Gomez-Garcia turned left onto Madison Street in Riverside with a green light. Defendants Gladys and Pedro Gallegos allegedly ran a red light, striking his vehicle. Gomez-Garcia claimed their reckless driving caused serious injuries, medical costs, lost earnings, and lasting pain. Gallegos denied liability, citing comparative negligence, third-party fault, failure to mitigate, and statutory defenses. On June 18, 2025, a Riverside County jury found Gallegos negligent and awarded Gomez-Garcia $8,569,756.35, including $2.3 million for future medical expenses and $5 million for future non-economic damages, plus costs and interest.

On May 27, 2022, bicyclist James Baldwin Jr. crashed on Washington Boulevard, Marina del Rey, allegedly due to a pavement defect. He sued Los Angeles for negligence, dangerous condition of public property (Gov. Code §835), and premises liability, citing serious injuries, disability, medical costs, lost income, and property damage. The City denied liability, claiming Baldwin’s negligence, assumed risk, other parties’ fault, statutory immunities, and procedural bars. On February 7, 2024, they reached a conditional $500,000 settlement, pending City Council approval, with dismissal expected by November 4, 2024.

Lyudmila Maleva sued San Francisco after tripping on a cracked Gough Street sidewalk in March 2022, suffering head and spinal injuries. She alleged the City failed to repair or warn about the hazard. The City denied liability, citing statutory immunities and comparative negligence. The parties reached a $60,000 conditional settlement, canceling the April 2025 trial.

On June 30, 2021, an LAPD bomb squad miscalculated illegal fireworks’ weight and overloaded a containment vessel in a dense Los Angeles neighborhood. The detonation caused a massive explosion that injured residents Luisa Bonilla, Benjamin Hernandez Sotelo, Lessly Alejandra Rios, and minors Alisson and Viktor Sotelo. They sued the City of Los Angeles for negligence and statutory violations, citing severe physical, emotional, and property damage. The City denied liability, raising multiple defenses. On July 15, 2024, the parties reached a $475,000 global settlement, ending the case.

Juan Wilfredo Amaya, a pedestrian, was struck by a car while crossing Foothill Boulevard at Harding Street in Sylmar, Los Angeles County, in October 2020. The unmarked crosswalk, near a busy I-210 Freeway overpass, had a history of citizen complaints about safety hazards. Amaya alleged multiple public agencies failed to remedy dangerous conditions despite prior warnings and site visits by officials. He suffered permanent disabilities, underwent more than a dozen surgeries, and faced lifelong pain and expenses. In April 2024, Amaya reached a $2,000,000 settlement with the City of Los Angeles, County of Los Angeles, California Department of Transportation, City of San Fernando, and State of California, resolving all claims before trial.

A Miami-Dade jury awarded Danielle M. Tirado $906,100.98 for injuries sustained when Publix employee Benedicto R. Alvarez’s truck caused falling branches to strike a motorcycle on which she was riding. The jury found Publix and Alvarez 35% at fault, with the remainder assigned to Miami-Dade County. Publix later satisfied its share of the judgment, closing a high-stakes negligence and vicarious liability case.

In March 2022, Arin Phillips visited the Costco-Kendall store in Miami-Dade County, Florida, for routine shopping. While walking through an aisle filled with household goods, her foot slipped on a wet spot on the floor. There were no cones, warning signs, or employees nearby to alert customers about the hazard. She fell hard, landing on her right hip and shoulder. Other shoppers hurried to help as store workers called for medical assistance. Paramedics arrived within minutes and transported Phillips to a nearby hospital, where doctors diagnosed a fractured hip and shoulder injuries.Phillips later said that her life changed after the fall. The accident disrupted her daily routine, work, and physical well-being. What had begun as a normal afternoon of shopping turned into months of medical care and rehabilitation.Phillips claimed Costco was negligent in maintaining safe conditions for shoppers. She argued that employees failed to inspect the area or clean up the spill in

The case arose from a collision between a bicyclist and a motorist on July 7, 2021, in Essex, Connecticut. Mark C. Diebolt, a competitive triathlete and official member of Team USA, had been riding his bicycle north on Route 154, approaching the intersection with South Cove Lane. The road descended sharply toward the intersection. South Cove Lane, connected to Route 154 from the east.As Diebolt approached the intersection, a GMC Yukon Denali driven by Keith B. Neilson moved forward from South Cove Lane into the roadway. Neilson had been looking to his right to check traffic, advancing past vegetation that obscured his view. Diebolt saw the SUV enter his path and braked hard, but he collided with the vehicle’s driver-side front corner. The force threw him over the handlebars, onto the windshield, and then to the pavement.Diebolt claimed the crash happened because Neilson had failed to yield the right of way and had moved into the main road without ensuring it was safe.

A Fresno County jury ruled in favor of Kay Moseley, a passenger injured on a Fresno Area Express bus in September 2021. The bus braked abruptly, throwing Moseley from her seat and causing serious injuries. She sued the City of Fresno for negligence. On August 28, 2025, jurors found the City’s driver negligent and responsible for her harm, awarding damages for her losses.

Donald Stearns, a resident of Branford, Connecticut, owned a condominium unit at The Greens complex on Peddlers Drive. On the evening of January 18, 2020, snow covered the common parking lot. Stearns walked across it without incident to a grassy area to let his dog relieve itself. Minutes later, a snow plough passed and cleared the lot but left no sand, salt, or other anti-slip material.When Stearns stepped back onto the lot with his dog, he slipped on what he claimed was a slick, icy surface and fell. He alleged that the fall caused severe spinal and rib injuries, leading to long-term pain, loss of mobility, and emotional distress.Stearns claimed the snow ploughing had created a hazardous condition by exposing a slippery surface without treating it. He accused the condominium association, its property manager, and the snow removal contractor of failing to make the area safe or to warn