AUTOMOBILE ACCIDENT (Dillard v. Perillo)

Plaintiff was travelling eastbound on 2nd and Clay Street in Oakland, CA. Defendant entered the intersection without yielding to traffic, including Plaintiff crossing through the intersection and striking Plaintiff’s vehicle. Matter was settled for $68,000.

“DOG BITE” (Hasri v. Tinsley)

Plaintiff was walking her family dog to a park in Bay Point, California. The Defendant’s dog was off-leash and entered the park where he attacked Plaintiff’s dog. Plaintiff tried to separate them and was bitten on the leg.

Under the old rule, a dog bite victim had to prove the dog had a history of biting. Under the new rule, dogs no longer get “one free bite.” California Civil Code section 3342 (a) imposes liability on the owner for injuries suffered by any person who is bitten by the dog regardless of the former viciousness of the dog or the owner’s knowledge of such viciousness. We were able to settle the matter for $60,000 for failure to control their dog.

MOTORCYCLE ACCIDENT (Allen v. Finnegan)

Plaintiff was riding his motorcycle in Alameda, California and came to a full legal and proper stop behind the vehicle in front of him. The Defendant approaching from behind fell asleep and rear-ended him causing injuries to Plaintiff. The case settled for $325,000.

MOTORCYCLE ACCIDENT (Redmond v Nair)

Plaintiff was driving his motorcycle northbound on Redwood Road near Castro Valley. Defendant was operating his car in the lane adjacent to Plaintiff.

Defendant merged quickly into the already occupied lane, and struck the Plaintiff, knocking the motorcycle over and injuring Plaintiff. Matter was settled for the maximum of insurance, $100,000

DOG BITE (Holstein v. Wright)

Plaintiff went to the Defendant’s home for a bar-b-que. The front door was open so she let herself in. The Defendants small pit bull was inside the house. Plaintiff reached down to pet the dog, and was bitten on the lip. The Defendant claimed the dog did not bite the Plaintiff, but jump up and split her lip with his head. The matter was settled in the sum of $135,00)

PEDESTRIAN/AUTOMOBILE ACCIDENT (Robinson v. Alvarez)

Plaintiff was a pedestrian walking in the crosswalk with a green light for pedestrians.
Defendant’s car collided with the pedestrian, violently knocking her to the ground and causing injuries. Matter was settled for $100,000, the maximum available.

PEDESTRIAN/AUTOMOBILE ACCIDENT (Palacios-Demartinez v. Masood)

Plaintiff was a pedestrian walking southbound on the east sidewalk of Grand Avenue in the City of Oakland. Defendant was driving northbound on Grand Avenue and attempted to park the vehicle in front of Grand Avenue. Defendant lost control of vehicle, causing it to leave the roadway and strike the Plaintiff on the sidewalk, causing severe injuries. The defense initially claimed he had no insurance. After extensive investigation and work, the matter was settled for $287,500

BICYCLIST/AUTOMOBILE ACCIDENT (Perry v. Paksad)

Defendant went for a bike ride from her home in the Oakland Hills and came to a stop at a cross street. The Defendant intended to turn left on to the street where Plaintiff waited. The Defendant claimed the Plaintiff did not see her and proceeded into the intersection where she was struck. Plaintiff testified she was stopped at the intersection when Defendant cut the corner and struck her. After extensive work, we were able to show the Plaintiff was stopped and the matter was settled for $125,000.

PASSENGER AUTOMOBILE ACCIDENT (Belghaus v. Hartz)

Plaintiff was a passenger in friend and Defendants car driving toward Yosemite on a wet road. The Defendant entered a curve at too high a speed, slid and lost control of the vehicle and crashed. Matter was settled for $100,000, the maximum insurance available.

CONTESTED WILL (Babcock v. Babcock)

This was a fascinating case involving two brothers. When older brother was a baby, mom and dad, unmarried, broke up. Dad agreed that if anything happened to him, older brother had an interest in the family home. Dad remarried and had another son. Older brother’s mom passed away. Several decades later, dad passed away. His Trust left everything to younger boy, including the family home. We brought a claim against the younger boy arguing that, even though decades had passed, dad had no right to give younger boy the interest he had agreed to give the older boy. At mediation, the matter was resolved.

BURNING INJURIES (Breiten v. Gunderson)

Plaintiff (Minor) was seriously burned at a slumber party in Defendants’ Vacaville home. Defendants did not alert firefighters and police to Plaintiff’s injuries instead made him and his friends hide in a bedroom until after firefighters and police left the home. Neither Defendant notified the minor’s parents. A settlement was reached for $300,000.

DRUNK DRIVING ACCIDENT (Liebig v. Dumas)

Defendant voluntarily drank alcohol and consumed other legal and illegal substances to the point of intoxication. While under the influence, Defendant operated a motor vehicle traveling northbound on Camino Pablo, Orinda CA when she crossed over a double yellow line into the path of oncoming traffic and smashed violently into the vehicle occupied by Plaintiffs causing severe injuries. The matter was settled for $100,000.

PREMISES LIABILITY CASE (Moses v. SaveMart)

Plaintiff was shopping at a Food Max store in Antioch, California. It was a very wet rainy day as he entered the store. The area where carts are returned was actually inside the store. With the rain, carts with wet wheels and carriages were being returned, and the tile floor was wet and slick. Plaintiff slipped and fell after entering into the store.
The Defendant was negligent in not ensuring that the floor was dry. Further, it was negligent to have the carts inside the store. In the process of bringing the carts from outside to where they were kept, rainwater was carried from outside to inside created a dangerous condition. A settlement was reached for $75,000.

STROKE INJURY FROM MASSEUSE- $ 1,2000,000 (Case Confidential)

Plaintiff was a medical doctor who, several days after having a massage, had a stroke.  With extensive searches of medical literature, and retention of nationally recognized neurologists, we establish the cause of the stroke was the massage, during which Plaintiff’s vertebral artery was dissected. Plaintiff was rewarded a large settlement.

PREMISES LIABILITY CASE- $ 950,000 (Case Confidential)

Plaintiff and his girlfriend took a vacation out of state to a timeshare. Upon their return, Plaintiff became violently ill and was ultimately diagnosed with Legionnaire’s disease.  We were able to trace the disease back to the hotel water supply.

COMMERCIAL TRUCK ACCIDENT INJURY- $ 1,200,000 (Case Confidential)

The Plaintiff, a plumber, was walking down the sidewalk on his way to work.  A public works truck passing by hit a drop box and lost control, riding up on the sidewalk and struck the Plaintiff.

AUTOMOBILE ACCIDENT- $ 676,000 (Case Confidential)

Plaintiff was driving down the road in Oakland when a pizza delivery driver turned left in front of him and caused a collision.  Plaintiff had extensive pre-existing physical problems and limitations and the defense offered only $ 15,000.00, arguing all of the Plaintiff’s problems were present prior to the accident.  With the jury out, the Defendant offered $ 200,000.00, which the Plaintiff rejected.  The jury awarded a large settlement.

MOTORCYCLE  ACCIDENT- $ 186,000 (Case Confidential)

Plaintiff, on a motorcycle, was driving from Berkeley into Oakland on Adeline Street in the right lane. The driver of a small truck just ahead of the Plaintiff in the left lane merged to the right in front of the Plaintiff, knocking him off the motorcycle.  Two independent witnesses in the car behind the truck insisted the Plaintiff passed them and was speeding and driving recklessly, and that the truck had already merged into the right lane when the motorcycle rear-ended them.  Based on those witnesses, the Defendant’s offers were paltry prior to trial.  We were able to prove the witnesses had to be wrong and could not have seen the motorcyclist and the jury agreed and awarded Plaintiff.

POLICE MISCONDUCT – $1,070,000 (Greer vs. City of Hayward)

James Greer was pulled over by a Hayward police officer on the evening of May 23, 2014 for suspicion of driving under the influence. He was dead an hour later, after a scuffle with several Hayward Police Department (“HPD”) officers, and one officer from the Bay Area Rapid Transit District (“BART”). A BART Officer recorded the encounter on his BART-issued body camera (“bodycam”). Greer’s son, the Plaintiff, brought this action against the City of Hayward, BART, and the officers alleging 42 U.S.C. § 1983 claims for violation of the Fourth and Fourteenth amendments to the Constitution of the United States and for wrongful death under state law.  Case was settled with both police agencies.

“DIRTY DUI” (Plaintiffs v. Contra Costa County)

We successfully represented two of the victims in the notorious “Dirty DUI” cases from Contra Costa County. Undergoing bitter divorces, their wives hired Christopher Butler, a former police officer, to set up our clients for driving under the influence. They would use the convictions to gain an advantage in pending divorce proceedings. Mr. Butler would set up meetings in bars between models and our clients. The models would encourage the men to drink to excessively. After dinking, the men were asked to follow them in their car. In the meantime, Mr. Butler would pre-position law enforcement colleagues and have the women drive by. The men would get pulled over and arrested.  Confidential large six-figure settlement were paid by the police agencies and their wives.