Honors and Awards:

• Recognized by the Sonoma County Courts for his work as a Pro Tem Judge presiding over jury trials and as a settlement conference panelist.
• Rated by Martindale Hubbell, the highest rating for both professional ability and ethics.
• Selected a Northern California Super Lawyer by San Francisco magazine from 2005 -2009.   This honor is limited to 5% of all attorneys in Northern California.
• Selected as one of the top 500 plaintiff attorneys in the United States by Lawdragon, a national publication

Bar/Professional Activity:

• President, Local chapter of CAOC, then known as Redwood Empire Trial Lawyers
• Member, AAJ
• Member, CAOC

Pro bono/Community Service:

• Sonoma County YMCA
• Sonoma County Legal Services Foundation

Scholarly Lectures and Writings:

• He is a frequent speaker at continuing education seminars in the areas of civil discovery, law and motion practice, trial practice and mediation.
• Adjunct Professor, Sonoma State University, Paralegal Studies teaching evidence and civil discovery

Verdicts and Settlements:

• $500,000 recovery for bicyclist injured when unleashed dog chased him and caused fall resulting in orthopedic injuries. Recovery was funded by the dog's owner.
• $500,000 (policy limits) settlement in wrongful death case arising out of the death of 25 year old husband and father in single boat accident.
• $400,000 recovery for customer of restaurant injured in slip and fall causing hip fracture and need for surgery.
• $500,000 for back injuries requiring surgery suffered by worker injured in slip and fall on icy ramp.
• $750,000 recovery for a roofer who fell through a skylight on a commercial roofing project. The evidence we developed showed the client fell through an unmarked, unbarricaded skylight, which was inadequate under state law to withstand weight. The general contractor and prime roofing contractor who employed our client's employer funded the recovery.
• $500,000 (policy limits) settlement for death of young wife and mother in head on collision on two lane highway. The physical evidence of point of impact was inconclusive and the defendant claimed our client crossed the center divider causing the crash.
• $725,000 recovery for injuries suffered by Canadian tourist in the Napa Valley. This case involved severe orthopedic injuries suffered by our client in a left turn collision. The case involved issues of Canadian insurance law as well as the usual issues of negligence, causation and damages.
• Defendant fell asleep at the wheel, drove onto the shoulder and struck our clients, killing them both. The case involved unique issues of recovery of damages to survivors outside the US.
• $2,100,000 recovery for the death of two vineyard workers who stopped on the shoulder of a state highway to help a friend whose car broke down.
• $1,950,000 recovery for severe facial and brain injuries suffered by a young girl when an out of control van and vehicle chasing the van crashed into the car she was in. The majority of the recovery came from the driver of the vehicle chasing the van as we proved he was in the course and scope of his employment during the chase.
• $1,000,000 (policy limits) recovery for the death of 22 year old college student killed in collision with commercial truck.
• $1,850,000 recovery for family members whose van was hit by a truck in Southern Oregon. The crash was caused by a freak hailstorm that deposited hail on the road moments before the crash. The defendant driver rounded a curve and lost control of his trailer. Despite the investigating officer's opinion the driver couldn't do anything to avoid the collision, we were able to show the driver was in violation of Federal Regulations and the trucking company's own documentation required by the ICC found the driver to be responsible.
• In a second case involving the same location and same dangerous conditions we recovered $350,000 for a family suffering various injuries.
• 1,950,000 recovery for the family of a 21 year old wife and mother whose car hydroplaned off a state highway into a ravine, causing her death. After review of thousands of documents, and numerous depositions, the defendant public entity admitted liability for the dangerous condition caused by water running across the highway caused by road construction. This is the only case we are aware of in California in which the State has admitted liability for a dangerous condition of its property in an unwitnessed single vehicle accident.

Educational Background:

• UCLA, California, Los Angeles