Bay Area Personal Injury Attorney
When you’re hurt because of someone else’s negligence, the insurance company is already working against you. We level the playing field for injured people throughout San Francisco and the greater Bay Area—handling every aspect of your claim so you can focus on recovering.
Personal Injury Cases We Handle Across the San Francisco Bay Area
A serious injury can affect your health, finances, and daily life. When someone else's negligence causes harm, you may have the right to seek compensation for medical expenses, lost income, pain and suffering, and other damages.
Our personal injury attorneys represent individuals and families throughout the San Francisco Bay Area in a wide range of accident and injury claims.
We represent injury victims throughout the San Francisco Bay Area in cases involving:
Each type of personal injury case presents different legal considerations. Explore our practice areas to learn more about your rights, potential compensation, and how we can help you pursue a claim.
How We Approach a Personal Injury Case
Every personal injury case moves through the same general stages, but the details — the evidence, the parties involved, the insurer's tactics — are different every time. Here's what working with us looks like.
Step 1:
Free Case Review
Reach out and tell us what happened. Our team takes your information, Gene reviews it, and follows up on the cases he believes he can genuinely help with. He'll give you an honest assessment of whether you have a viable claim and what it may be worth.
Step 2:
Investigation and Documentation
We gather everything that supports your case — police reports, medical records, witness statements, surveillance footage, and any other evidence that establishes how the injury happened and what it has cost you.
Step 3:
Insurance Negotiation
Once we've built the case, we handle all communication and negotiation with the insurance company. You don't take their calls. You don't respond to their letters. That's our job. Insurers routinely open with low offers — our case results reflect what happens when we don't accept them.
Step 4:
Resolution — Settlement or Trial
Most personal injury cases in California resolve through negotiated settlement or mediation. When a fair resolution isn't on the table, we take it to trial. Either way, we prepare as if the case is going to court from the moment we take it on.
What Compensation Can You Recover in a California Personal Injury Case?
If you've been injured because of someone else's negligence, you may be entitled to compensation for more than just your medical bills. California personal injury law allows injured individuals to seek damages for financial losses, physical pain, emotional suffering, and the ways an injury affects everyday life.
The compensation available depends on the circumstances of your case and generally falls into three categories.
Economic damages cover the measurable financial losses: medical bills, future treatment costs, lost wages, and reduced earning capacity if the injury affects your ability to work long-term.
Non-economic damages cover what's harder to put a number on: physical pain, emotional suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, and the impact the injury has had on your relationships and independence.
Punitive damages are less common and apply in cases where the defendant's conduct was especially reckless or intentional. California courts award these not to compensate the victim but to penalize the wrongdoer.
Not every case involves all three categories. During your case review, we'll walk through what applies to your situation specifically.
Stop Talking to the Insurance Company — Seriously
One of the most important things you can do after an injury is stop communicating directly with the other side's insurance company. Their adjusters are trained to gather information that limits what they have to pay you. Statements made early in the process — even casual ones — can be used against your claim.
When you work with us, we handle all insurer communication from the moment you retain us. You focus on getting better. We handle the rest.
Our
case results tell part of that story. In one personal injury case, the insurer's opening offer was $400,000. The final settlement was $3,750,000. That gap is not unusual — it's how insurance companies operate, and it's why representation matters.
No Fee Unless We Win
Here's What That Means in Practice
We represent personal injury clients on a contingency fee basis. That means:
- You pay nothing to get started
- There are no hourly charges while your case is active
- Our fee comes as a percentage of what we recover — and only if we recover
- If we don't win, you don't owe us anything
This structure exists because most injury victims can't afford to pay a lawyer by the hour while they're also dealing with medical bills and time away from work. Contingency means your interests and ours are aligned — we only do well when you do.
We serve clients in English, Russian, and Spanish. If language has ever been a barrier to getting legal help in the Bay Area, it won't be here.
How Long Do You Have to
File a Personal Injury Claim in California?
In most personal injury cases in California, you have two years from the date of injury to file a lawsuit. That window sounds long, but building a strong case takes time — and critical evidence can disappear quickly after an accident.
There are situations where the deadline is shorter. If your injury involves a government entity — a city bus, a poorly maintained public sidewalk, a government vehicle — you may have as little as six months to file an administrative claim before losing the right to sue entirely.
The safest move is to get a case review as soon as possible. The earlier we can assess your situation, the more options you have.
Personal Injury Questions We Hear Most Often
What does a personal injury attorney do in San Francisco?
A personal injury attorney investigates your accident, gathers evidence, calculates your damages, and negotiates with the insurance company on your behalf. If a fair settlement isn't reached, they take the case to court. The goal is to recover the full compensation you're entitled to — not just what the insurer is willing to offer without a fight.
How long do I have to file a personal injury claim in California?
Generally two years from the date of injury for claims against a private party. For claims involving a government entity, the deadline can be as short as six months. If you're unsure which applies to your situation, reach out now rather than later.
How much does a personal injury lawyer cost in California?
Most personal injury attorneys in California, including this firm, work on contingency. You pay no upfront fee and no hourly rate. The attorney's fee is a percentage of the recovery — and if there's no recovery, there's no fee. Your first case review is free.
What if the insurance company says my injuries aren't serious enough?
That's a common tactic. Insurers have a financial interest in minimizing what they pay out, and downplaying the severity of injuries is one way they do it. Don't accept that assessment without an independent legal review. We'll look at your medical records, the circumstances of the accident, and the full impact on your life — and give you an honest picture of what your claim may actually be worth.
Do most personal injury cases go to trial?
No. The large majority of personal injury cases in California resolve through negotiated settlement or mediation before trial. That said, we prepare every case as if it's going to court. Insurers know which attorneys are willing to go to trial and which aren't — and that affects how they negotiate.
Ready to Talk About What Happened?
A free case review costs you nothing and tells you where you stand. Reach out and tell us what happened — our team will take your information and Gene will personally follow up on the cases he can help with.
