Record-Setting Verdicts. Life-Changing Results.

Led by principal attorney Paul Matiasic, the lawyers at the firm shattered all previous records for Lake County, California cases by procuring a $9,250,000 settlement on the brink of trial. This amazing result is 4.5 times larger than both the previous highest verdict and settlement in Lake County. Taking into account the future payments to the firm’s client, the total recovery will exceed $ 10,550,000.

The case stemmed from an unfortunate collision in 2017 when a gentleman within the course and scope of his employment with a commercial irrigation company had a fatal heart attack, causing his vehicle to cross the double yellow line and careen into the firm’s client, a local resident riding his new motorcycle home from the grocery store. Esoteric legal issues abounded in the case, including the application of the sudden emergency doctrine, which clouded the liability landscape. After a vigorous investigation and robust discovery efforts, Paul and his team were able to effectively argue that the adverse driver’s medical emergency and ensuing accident were entirely foreseeable, rendering the sudden emergency doctrine inapplicable.

The firm further argued that the driver’s employer had constructive notice of their employee’s unfitness to operate the commercial truck he was driving at the time of the accident. The firm’s client sustained catastrophic, disabling injuries ranging from numerous serious orthopedic injuries, to a severe degloving injury to his lower leg, raising the prospect of amputation. While the result is the largest ever in Lake County, it also represents one of the highest documented recoveries outside of the major metropolitan cities of California.

The attorneys at The Matiasic Firm recovered a $3,000,000 settlement on behalf of a 22-year-old woman for the wrongful death of her mother. The Decedent, a 51-year-old-off-duty postal worker, was broadsided at an intersection by a commercial delivery truck. The truck driver and his employer denied liability, claiming the truck driver had the right-of-way.

The attorneys at The Matiasic Firm conducted an immediate and extensive factual investigation into the accident, that included: locating and obtaining written statements from all known witnesses; obtaining video-tape footage of the accident scene from a witness’ camera phone; locating and documenting the condition of both vehicles prior to any repairs; and obtaining a DMV “abstract” for the truck driver.

As a result of The Matiasic Firm’s investigative efforts, it was confirmed the truck driver intentionally accelerated through the intersection against a red traffic signal and did not possess a valid driver’s license. The settlement occurred at mediation, just one month after filing of the complaint. The evidence generated by the firm’s investigation was provided to the local District Attorney’s Office to assist with the prosecution of manslaughter charges against the truck driver.

The firm garnered a $2.95 million settlement in a motorcycle versus automobile accident in San Luis Obispo County while in court on the cusp of trial. After relentless investigative and discovery efforts by our attorneys, we uncovered that the Defendant teenage driver was communicating with her mom via cell phone immediately prior to the crash. As a result of this devastating collision, the firm client’s suffered a below the knee amputation.

The firm obtained a settlement worth north of $2,600,000 on the third day after the scheduled beginning of a trial involving the sexual abuse of a student at the hands of her elementary school teacher. The school district Defendant denied liability on the basis that it did not have the requisite actual knowledge of the teacher’s propensity to engage in abuse and argued that the abuse Plaintiff suffered was relatively minor in nature. Paul was able to prove that the school district had actual knowledge of the teacher’s propensities to engage in abuse and that the abuse Plaintiff suffered was much more substantial than admitted to by the district.

Family’s 16-year-old son was walking home after an evening of skateboarding with friends when a motorist (“JM”), driving under the influence of alcohol and at an excessive rate of speed, struck and killed the 16-year old. JM had allowed his auto liability insurance to lapse, and was subsequently prosecuted for vehicular manslaughter.

Through extensive investigation and discovery, The Matiasic Firm was able to develop evidence that JM worked as a waiter at a local restaurant; the restaurant’s bartender would occasionally “comp” alcoholic beverages for wait staff after the close of business hours; after completing a dinner shift, JM was served 4 to 5 screwdrivers within a 2-hour period in the restaurant’s bar; and JM was visibly impaired when he left the restaurant premises to drive home on the night of the incident.

Based on the above evidence, The Matiasic Firm pursued negligence claims against JM’s employer and was able to obtain a $2,500,000 settlement for the family of the 16-year-old. The result represents one of the highest reported settlements for the wrongful death of a minor in the Central Valley.

The Matiasic Firm secured a judgment worth $2,225,000 in San Mateo County Superior Court stemming from the inappropriate sexual battery perpetrated by an anesthesia technician on an anesthetized patient. The firm was able to convincingly argue that the while the Plaintiff did not have a contemporaneous awareness of the sexual abuse, the consequences, and damages of the sexual battery were no less profound.

Specifically, the firm posited that this lack of contemporary awareness of the abuse, while it happened, occasioned even greater damages given that Plaintiff was subjected to the unbridled imagination of his mind’s eye in envisioning the harm perpetrated upon him.