What we handle
Catastrophic injury
Traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, amputation, severe burns, and other injuries that permanently change how a person lives and works. These cases turn on lifetime care planning and future earnings analysis, and they require expert work most firms are not equipped to fund.
Wrongful death
When negligence takes a family member, California law allows surviving family to recover for their loss. We handle these matters with the care they require and the aggression the defense expects.
Vehicle and commercial trucking collisions
Passenger vehicle crashes, commercial truck and delivery vehicle collisions, motorcycle and pedestrian injuries. Trucking cases involve federal safety regulations, driver logs, and telematics data that must be preserved early — often within days of the crash.
Sexual abuse
We represent survivors of sexual abuse and assault, in claims against the individuals responsible and against the institutions — schools, employers, youth organizations, care facilities, religious organizations — that enabled the abuse or concealed it.
These cases are handled with discretion. You control the pace, what gets shared, and whether a case is filed at all. A first conversation is confidential and commits you to nothing.
California's filing deadlines in this area have changed repeatedly, and two separate revival windows for otherwise expired claims are open right now — one of them closing at the end of this year. If you were told years ago that it was too late, that may no longer be the case. See the deadlines section below.
Premises liability
Falls, inadequate security, and unsafe conditions on property that an owner knew about or should have found.
Civil rights and law enforcement
Excessive force, wrongful death in custody, and other violations by public entities. These cases carry short claim deadlines under the Government Claims Act.
Reading the medical evidence
Most injury cases are won or lost on medical proof, and most of that proof arrives as thousands of pages of records written in a language the defense assumes plaintiffs' lawyers cannot read fluently.
We can. David Markevitch came to law from pharmaceutical research, and his litigation background includes medical device and pharmaceutical injury cases — work that requires reading charts, imaging, operative reports, and treatment notes directly rather than waiting for a summary. Joseph Barrett and litigation manager Jordan Luber bring the same fluency from decades of catastrophic injury work.
That capability shows up in three places. We spot the entries that matter in a record other firms skim. We can discuss a case with a treating physician on substantive terms, so the medical picture we build together is accurate and complete rather than approximate. And when we work with expert witnesses, the exchange runs in both directions: we arrive understanding the medicine well enough to give an expert the full factual and technical context of the injury, and they sharpen our understanding of the causation and prognosis questions the case turns on. That collaboration produces better-supported opinions and a case built on a genuinely shared understanding of the facts.
How we work
Free consultation. No cost, no obligation, and no fee unless we recover for you.
Build the case beyond the initial claim. We look past the first offer to the evidence and the full impact of an injury. That starts with early investigation: preserving vehicles, surveillance footage, and witness accounts before they disappear, then developing the medical and financial proof the case needs.
Experience before a jury. Joseph M. Barrett, Of Counsel, brings the experience of more than 100 jury verdicts over his career. That courtroom experience informs how we evaluate evidence, prepare witnesses, and explain a case to a jury.
Your interests guide the decisions. We consider how an injury affects your health, work, family, and future. We explain the choices and tradeoffs so you can make informed decisions about your case.
Prepared to go to trial. A fair settlement can resolve a case, but the possibility of trial must be real. We prepare the evidence and arguments with that in mind and are ready to take the case to a jury when necessary.
Personal attention and direct access. You will have the phone numbers and email addresses of the people handling your case. We take the time to understand your circumstances, answer your questions, and keep you involved as the case moves forward.
Deadlines
California generally allows two years from the date of injury to file a personal injury lawsuit, and claims against public entities require a written claim within six months. Other deadlines apply in specific circumstances, and some are much shorter. If you think you may have a claim, the safest course is to speak with a lawyer promptly rather than assume you have time.
Sexual abuse claims — separate rules, and two windows now open
Sexual abuse claims follow their own statutes, and California has amended them repeatedly. Two separate revival windows are open at the same time under Code of Civil Procedure section 340.16, each with its own eligibility rules.
The ordinary deadline. For an assault occurring on or after your 18th birthday, the later of ten years from the last act, or three years from when you discovered — or reasonably should have discovered — that an injury or illness resulted from it.
Window one: closes December 31, 2026. Claims based on conduct occurring on or after January 1, 2009 that would otherwise be time-barred are revived and may be filed until the end of 2026. This does not apply to claims already litigated to a final judgment, or settled in writing, before January 1, 2023.
Window two: open through December 31, 2027. A second window, added by legislation effective January 1, 2026, revives adult sexual assault claims that were otherwise barred before that date. It reaches claims against an institution where someone is legally responsible and an entity concealed or attempted to conceal earlier allegations against the perpetrator — and, separately, claims against the perpetrator where an institution or other person shares legal responsibility. The statute defines concealment to include the use of nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) and confidentiality agreements. This window does not apply to claims against public entities.
Importantly, this second window also revives related claims arising from the same assault, including wrongful termination and sexual harassment. If you were pushed out of a job after an assault and were told years ago that it was too late, that may no longer be true.
For abuse suffered as a minor, section 340.1 sets different rules again, and they turn on when the abuse occurred. Ask rather than assume.
Which window applies — and whether any does — depends on facts specific to your situation. If a deadline is the question, it is worth one conversation to find out.