We are consistently rated as one of the top law firms nationwide by judges and other lawyers. Detailed information about what each distinction means and how we are rated follows below.

US News Best Law Firms

GJEL was named a Tier 1 Personal Injury Law Firm (highest ranking) in the San Francisco metropolitan area.

(The following is excerpted from the US News Best Law Firms Website)

Client and lawyer surveys collected mostly reputational data. Using a scale of 1 (weakest) to 5 (strongest), clients voted on expertise, responsiveness, understanding of a business and its needs, cost-effectiveness, civility, and whether they would refer another client to a firm. Lawyers voted on expertise, responsiveness, integrity, cost-effectiveness, and whether they would refer a matter to a firm and whether they consider a firm a worthy competitor.

…….

All of the quantitative and qualitative data were combined into an overall U.S.News – Best Lawyers overall score for each firm. Firms with the highest overall scores were included on metropolitan lists that covered as many as 81 practice areas in 171 metropolitan areas and 7 states and national lists covering 39 practice areas. Because firms were often separated by small or insignificant differences in overall score, they have been tiered rather than ranked sequentially. In general, the first tier includes those firms that scored within a certain percentage of the highest-scoring firm(s); the second tier, those firms that scored within a certain percentage of the next highest scoring firm(s), etc.

Visit GJEL’s US News Profile »

Northern California Super Lawyers ®

Only 5% of the total lawyers in the state are selected for inclusion in Super Lawyers. All five attorneys at GJEL were selected as Super Lawyers in 2010.

(Excerpted from SuperLawyers’ Website)

Super Lawyers is a listing of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. Polling, research and selection are performed by Law & Politics, a publication of Key Professional Media, Inc. Law & Politics has been publishing legal magazines since 1990 and Super Lawyers since 1991.

No other legal publisher goes through the unique multi-step process that Super Lawyers employs to find evidence of peer recognition and professional achievement.

Final candidates are segmented according to firm size. Those with the highest point totals from each category are selected. Only 5 percent of the total lawyers in the state are selected for inclusion in Super Lawyers.

View Super Lawyers profiles for Andy Gillin, Ralph Jacobson, Luke Ellis, Jim Larsen, and Kristin Lucey.

National Law Journal

GJEL Accident Attorneys received special recognition from the National Law Journal in 2009 as a Top 100 Verdict in the Nation.

Best Lawyers in America®

(Excerpted from the Best Lawyers Website)

Best Lawyers is the oldest and most respected peer-review publication in the legal profession. For a quarter century, we have helped lawyers and clients find legal counsel in unfamiliar jurisdictions or unfamiliar specialties. Best Lawyers compiles lists of outstanding attorneys by conducting exhaustive peer-review surveys in which thousands of leading lawyers confidentially evaluate their professional peers.

Because lawyers are not required or allowed to pay a fee to be included, a listing in Best Lawyers is widely regarded within the legal profession as a signal honor, conferred on a lawyer by his or her peers. For 25 years, Best Lawyers lists have earned the respect of the profession, the media, and the public, as the most reliable, unbiased source of legal referrals anywhere.

GJEL Attorneys Andy Gillin, Ralph Jacobson, Luke Ellis, and Jim Larsen have all been named to Best Lawyers in America.

Jim Larsen: Best Lawyers in America®, Lawyers of the Year, East Bay

(Excerpted from the Best Lawyers Website)

After more than a quarter of a century in publication, Best Lawyers is designating “Lawyers of the Year” in high-profile legal practice areas in large legal communities.

Only a single lawyer in each practice area in each community is being honored as the “Lawyer of the Year” for 2011.

Best Lawyers compiles its lists of outstanding attorneys by conducting exhaustive peer-review surveys in which thousands of leading lawyers confidentially evaluate their professional peers.

The lawyers being honored as “Lawyers of the Year” were selected because they received particularly high ratings from most of their peers. In some cases, they also received particularly effusive comments from some of those same peers. The selected lawyers have earned a high level of respect among other leading lawyers in the same communities and the same practice areas for their abilities, their professionalism, and their integrity.

AV®-Rated by Martindale-Hubbell®

(Excerpted from the Martindale-Hubbell website)

AV® Peer Review Rating – An AV® certification mark is a significant rating accomplishment – a testament to the fact that a lawyer or law firm’s peers rank them at the highest level of professional excellence.

For over a century, lawyers have relied on the Martindale-Hubbell® Law Directory for authoritative information on the worldwide legal profession. The Martindale-Hubbell® Peer Review Ratings^TM play an integral role in this service to the legal community.

Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review Ratings attest to a lawyer’s legal ability and professional ethics, and reflect the confidential opinions of members of the Bar and Judiciary. The legal community respects the accuracy of ratings because it knows that its own members – the people best suited to assess their peers – are directly involved in the process.

Lawyers and consumers need to have confidence in the individual under consideration. Using ratings, they can select counsel with superior ethics, as well as the desired level of professional experience.

Plaintiff Magazine Feature

GJEL Accident Attorneys’ Managing Partner Andy Gillin was featured in the April 2010 issue of Plaintiff Magazine.  The author of the article interviewed a number of Andy’s peers, as well as Andy himself.  Click here to read a PDF version of the article »

Frequent Lecturers for California Bar Associations and other Legal Organizations

GJEL Attorneys are frequently asked by our peers to lecture to other lawyers, and we’ve published a number of scholarly articles regarding California personal injury and tort law. California attorneys routinely consult us for our expertise in handling catastrophic injury cases, particularly those involving auto accidents and motorcycle accidents.

Below are just a few of these instances:

• Andy Gillin, Lecturer, Catastrophic Injury Cases: Handling the First 100 Days, Consumer Attorneys of California
• Andy Gillin, Lecturer, Civil Litigation, California Continuing Education of the Bar
• Andy Gillin, Lecturer, Civil Litigation, California State Bar Association Education Institute
• Andy Gillin, Lecturer, Civil Litigation, California Trial Lawyers Association (now CAOC)
• Andy Gillin, Lecturer, Civil Litigation, Women Lawyers of Alameda County
• Andy Gillin, Lecturer, Civil Litigation, Alameda-Contra Costa County Trial Lawyers Association
• Ralph Jacobson, Author, Uninsured Motorists Cases: Notice of Action
• Ralph Jacobson, Contributing Author, Litigation in the Fast Lane
• Luke Ellis, Lecturer, Trial Practice, California Trial Lawyers Association
• Luke Ellis, “Maximizing Settlements,” Alameda Contra Costa Trial Lawyers Association
• Luke Ellis, “Cross-Examination,” San Francisco Bar Association
• Luke Ellis, “The Defective Sulzer Hip Litigation,” Alameda County Superior Courts
• Luke Ellis,  ”Handling Products Liability Cases,” Continuing Education of the Bar (CEB)
• Luke Ellis, “Use and Admissibility of Demonstrative Exhibits,” San Francisco Trial Lawyers’ Association
• Luke Ellis,  ”Demonstrative Evidence,” California Trial Lawyers Association (now CAOC)
• Luke Ellis, “Opening Statements,” California Trial Lawyers’ Association
• Luke Ellis, “Automobile Cases,” California Trial Lawyers’ Association
• Luke Ellis, “Selected Evidentiary Issues,” California Trial Lawyers’ Association
• Luke Ellis, “Jury Selection,” California Trial Lawyers’ Association

Have questions? Consultations are always free-call 1-866-218-3776.

For a free consultation with a GJEL Accident Attorney, call 1-866-218-3776, or e-mail us at lawfirm@gjel.com. We have offices throughout California to meet with clients. Please visit the Contact Us page to find our local office nearest you.

GJEL Accident Attorneys were once again honored by inclusion in the 2009 Edition of Best Lawyers in America. Below is the cover story about GJEL from the Summer 2009 issue of San Francisco’s Best Lawyers magazine.

Gillin Jacobson Ellis & Larsen’s Well Publicized Fight Against Unnecessary Heart Surgeries

Some years ago in the town of Redding in northern California, an unusually high number of residents were advised by doctors at a local hospital to undergo major heart surgeries including double or triple-bypasses. Hundreds took the doctors’ advice and had the surgery—and many ended up with serious health problems. Rumors began to circulate about the doctors and Redding Medical Center, where the surgeries were performed. Were these operations necessary? Or were they being pushed by the corporation that owned the hospital, Tenet Healthcare Corporation, in order to make higher profits?

Tipped off by a Catholic priest who almost underwent surgery at the hospital before learning from other doctors that his heart was completely healthy, the FBI launched a three-year investigation that culminated in a raid by federal officials of Redding Medical Center. What resulted was a series of legal actions against Tenet and its chief administrators by a number of different groups, including the Securities and Exchange Commission and the United States Department of Justice. In 2003, Tenet agreed to pay a fine of $54 million related to charges of medical necessity fraud; namely, that it billed the government for surgeries that patients did not need. Tenet did not admit any wrongdoing, and the resolution pre-empted any civil or criminal charges against Tenet by the federal government. Tenet also sold the hospital which has since been renamed. According to the New York Times, it was the largest settlement in history for such a cause of action.

As one of the biggest medical fraud cases in U.S. history, the Tenet investigation was featured on a 2003 CBS News 60 Minutes story and also detailed in the 2007 book Coronary: A True Story of Medicine Gone Awry, by former New York Times editor and reporter Stephen Klaidman. Ultimately, a number of top corporate officials left Tenet, which had been the second-largest publicly traded healthcare company in the country. In addition to the government’s actions, civil lawsuits by private law firms were a key part of the effort against Tenet, as hundreds of patients filed cases claiming they’d undergone unnecessary heart surgeries so the corporation could make more money.

For the personal injury law firm Gillin Jacobson Ellis & Larsen in Orinda, California, its role in the Tenet case set a high mark in its 25-year history of helping seriously injured plaintiffs. The firm represented 186 people who claimed unnecessary cardiac operations at Redding Medical Center. A total of about 800 people sued the corporation, with three other personal injury law firms representing the bulk of the rest of the patients.

Most of the civil lawsuits made the same basic claim. “It turns out they were doing unnecessary bypasses. Hundreds of people had their health ruined, and many people died,” says Andrew R. Gillin, one of the firm’s founding partners. “They were doing double or triple the number of cardiac procedures” as normal, he says, but at first no one noticed anything amiss. “Redding is a relatively poor, rural community. Maybe that’s part of the reason that people didn’t question these surgeries as much as they might have in metropolitan area.”

The civil litigation continued for about three years before settling 60 days before trial was to start. The Gillin firm obtained a settlement of $111.7 million for it’s 186 clients, while the other plaintiffs’ firms landed similar enormous settlements for their clients (The cases were not a class action but remained individual lawsuits against Tenet).

It was not the first time the Gillin firm was involved in a case involving public policy and consumer rights. In May of 2002, partner Luke Ellis was one of the lead negotiators in a $1 billion settlement against a medical device manufacturer on behalf of 3,500 people who needed replacement of defective hips. In another case that helped increase safety procedures in the natural gas industry, Ellis obtained a $10.65 million for the family of a pipeline worker killed in an explosion. “whether the amount involved is small or large, our goal is to obtain justice for those who deserve it and heighten standards of corporate responsibility,” says Ellis.

Since the Gillin firm was launched in 1972, it has obtained many recoveries, but the Tenet case stands out. “We’re pretty proud of that one,” says Gillin, who, like other members of the six-lawyer firm, began his legal career as a public service attorney working for low-income people in need, and sees his current focus as an extension of that work. “It is certainly one of the most gratifying cases we’ve done.”

We pride ourselves on jumping on our clients’ cases immediately.  People who are seriously injured, losing work, and running up medical bills do not need an overburdened lawyer who lets their case sit.  At GJEL we do just the opposite.

Due to our extremely low case loads and high staffing ratio, every case gets immediate personal attention.  That personal attention is directed at not only getting the largest monetary result possible, but getting it in the shortest time period possible.

There are several techniques that we employ in this regard, but the key to the speed with which we obtain our results has to do with the fact that we are committed to moving our clients’ cases as quickly as possible.

We put appropriate pressure on insurance companies to do the right thing within a timely period.

We also enlist the help of the courts to move our clients’ cases along quickly.  There is no reason for a case to wait in line on a two year court calendar, if the injured person has a pressing need.

When properly presented, courts are very open to motions to advance cases for early trial dates.  We have made such motions successfully in many cases over the years.

The speed and diligence with which we begin to work on your case will be apparent from your first phone call or email to our office–we’ll put you in touch with a GJEL Accident Attorney within minutes of your inquiry.  To schedule a free, immediate consultation with a lawyer at GJEL, simply call us at (866) 218-3776 or email lawfirm@gjel.com.

We help clients get back on their feet and get their lives back. The number of medical specialists our clients see is often overwhelming, let alone trying to figure out their property damage issues with their cars or motorcycles, getting investigative reports and medical records, or securing a rental vehicle.

We let our clients focus on what is really important–their health. We set up appointments with doctors and medical specialists who will provide you with the absolute best care. We coordinate accident investigations. We communicate with your health insurance company. We follow up with the insurance company of the person who hit you, as well as your own car insurance company. In a nutshell, we handle all the details of your case, so that you can focus on your health and your family.

Below are just a few of the steps we take to ensure as smooth a transition as possible back to a normal life.

Coordinating Your Health Insurance

Many people who suffer severe injuries in an automobile or car accident lose their job and therefore lose their health insurance.  Losing health insurance when you need medical care is one of the worst things that can happen to a person.  We have successfully assisted hundreds of clients in getting the health insurance they are entitled to, regardless of whether the first response from their employer or their insurer is “you are no longer insured.”

There are many techniques that we have successfully employed for our clients to either hold on to their health insurance, or obtain alternate health insurance.  We provide both short term and long term solutions.  The short term solutions are for the purpose of getting through a period of time where the client has the most acute need for health insurance.  The long term solutions often involve Medicare, Medi-Cal, or other government programs that many people do not realize are even available to them.

In our 25+ years of experience in California personal injury and auto accident law, we’ve helped clients with virtually every kind of major  injury get the care and assistance they deserve from every major primary care provider and health insurance company in the state.

Securing a Rental Car

When a person’s car is no longer drivable as a result of the fault of another that person is entitled to a rental car for a reasonable period of time.  Certain insurance companies will attempt to avoid their responsibilities, hoping that the injured person will just give up.  For over twenty-five years we have seen to it that insurance companies live up to their responsibilities in this regard.

Keeping Your Insurance Rates Low

Some insurance agents try to convince their clients not to make an uninsured or underinsured motorist claim by telling their clients that their insurance rates will go up. This is absolutely incorrect. Under Proposition 103, enacted by California voters, an insurance company is not allowed to raise rates for an accident which is not the fault of the person who holds the insurance contract.  This means the insurance company cannot raise your rates, cannot drop you, or cannot give you any negative consequences for an accident in which you were found not to be at fault.

If you are not at fault for an accident and your own insurance company takes the position that you were at fault, as part of taking your case, we will take on your insurance company without risking a rise in your own insurance rates.

When we handle a case, the police report is only the starting point.  With budget cuts affecting every police agency in California, police reports are often written quickly and without a full investigation.  We have a team of sophisticated investigators, including retired city police offers and California Highway Patrolmen, who dig much deeper into the facts than the average police report does. 

With over 25 years’ experience in catastrophic injury and serious car accident cases, we also routinely work alongside California’s foremost accident reconstruction experts.

Our use of expert testimony and analysis in depositions and in the courtroom, including  this $10.65 million recovery for the family of a man killed in a pipeline explosion and this case in which we recovered $1.75 million for the family of a woman killed on Interstate 80 often lead to larger verdicts or settlements that firms without our experience and expertise are unable to obtain.

We bring all of these resources to bear on each client’s case in order to see to it that our client is fully compensated for their injuries.

Staff Size and Organizational Strength

Our staff-to-attorney ratio is double that of the average personal injury firm.  All of these resources are poured into each of our client’s cases.  Because we are far more selective than the average personal injury firm and have a much larger staff than the average personal injury firm, our clients’ cases get enormous and immediate personal attention from the full force and effect of our office.

We believe this is the right way and the professional way to run a law firm.

GJEL was founded by partners Andy Gillin and Ralph Jacobson in 1970′s. The two met in East Palo Alto working at the Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County, a non-profit that provides free legal services to low-income people and their families. After becoming friends and working together for three years, they decided to form their own firm, and GJEL was born.

Andy and Ralph have always been committed to “fighting for the little guy,” and that hasn’t changed one bit over the years. The firm grew, and partners Luke Ellis, Jim Larsen, and Kristin Lucey joined the team. The cases have gotten bigger and more complex, but the firm still stands up for the rights of injured people against large insurance companies. All the attorneys are careful not to take on more cases than they can handle because building connections with clients and giving each case the full attention it deserves enables us to represent our clients in a more effective manner. Though GJEL could theoretically handle more cases, only so many cases can be handled the right way, and handling cases the right way is something we’re committed to, personally and professionally.

One of the advantages of practicing personal injury law is that it allows GJEL to take cases on a contingency fee basis, meaning we do not charge our clients until we win or settle their case. This structure is critical to the health of our legal process, because it allows individuals, no matter their income level, to take on major commercial enterprises and nation-wide insurance companies, even if they cannot afford the up-front cost of hiring a lawyer.

We’re committed to our clients and the Northern California communities in which they live and work. I encourage you to read some of the things our clients have had to say about us over the years-they offer the most insight into what it’s like working with GJEL. We hope you’ll never need an accident attorney, but we want you to know we’re here to help if you do. In the meantime, visit our blog often to find out what’s going on at GJEL and in the communities we serve.

AM: No problem, Dave. Let’s see, it’ll be…7 years this August. Wow—it sure doesn’t seem that long! (laughing)

DM: Do you have an official job title here?

A: I’m officially a “legal assistant.” I handle reception, some HR duties, and some general office managerial-type stuff too. I wear many hats, as they say!

DM: How’d you end up at GJEL?

AM: Well, I’d just finished college and was working at the coffee shop downstairs for awhile. I was interviewing for different jobs and kind of figuring out which path was best for me. Andy was one of my favorite customers. Actually, come to think of it so was Luke. They were ALWAYS trying to get me to interview with them. They liked my people skills and kept telling me I’d make a great addition to their team. “When are you coming up, Amy…we’d love to have you…blah blah blah” Seemed like every day they’d ask me to come up for an interview—they were relentless!

DM: So it sounds like you’d been planning to go into law for quite a while then, and just kind of lucked out that the coffee shop was close to a law firm?

AM: No, actually I majored in Sociology. That’s why I was a little hesitant to interview for a law firm. I was planning to work for an organization that helped people, in one way or another, and for whatever reason law just didn’t to strike me as a profession where that happened very much. I was thinking maybe Planned Parenthood or Equal Rights Advocates. I didn’t have much exposure to the world of law so I didn’t really consider working in it.

DM: What changed your mind?

AM: Andy. He finally convinced me by explaining how the firm really helps their clients get back on their feet and get their lives back. People really go through a lot when they sustain an injury. Even after working here for as long as I have, it’s amazing the number of medical specialists they have to see. They need help figuring out their property damage issues, they need help getting investigative reports and medical records. It’s hard to handle all of these things AND recover from a serious injury at the same time. As Andy told me, that’s where we come in. We let our clients focus on what is really important—their health. We really help people here. That’s what changed my mind about working here and it keeps me working here. I feel like we really make a difference in the lives of our clients, helping them get through a rough time. It makes me feel good to help them the way we do.

DM: Do you have a favorite client that you can tell us about?

AM: ;Of course. I have tons of favorite clients! But I think I should talk about Al Bigham—

DM: —What’s his story, why is he one of your favorites…—

AM: I just love telling Al’s story. He was involved in a tractor rollover about…25 years ago. The accident left him a quadriplegic. He was only given something like four years to live. Then Al ended up losing his wife, who he justadored, to cancer. Somehow this man found a way to smile every single day. He beat his death sentence by years and years. Al came to the office about once a month. You could feel the warmth of his smile before he even turned the corner. What a doll. He and Andy were really close friends. Andy was there for Al after his accident, and seeing the way he faced life really helped Andy when Al went to visit him in the hospital one time. They had such an obvious bond. Al passed away a couple years ago but I swear you can see his spirit in his kids and grandkids. To this day Andy still helps his family with any and all legal issues they have. Al was an inspiration to me, too. He truly appreciated everything he had, even though he had had so much taken away. We really miss him.

We’ve had so many terrific clients over the years that bring us food or gifts even after their cases settle. They are always so appreciative of the work we do for them. It’s really sweet, it definitely makes you realize why you work here. Sometimes clients call up and say, “Is Andy there? He helped me with a case 30 years ago and he said that he would always help me if I needed him. Well I need him.” The funny thing is, when I tell Andy who’s on the phone, he always remembers who they are and the details of their case that he settled 30 years ago! It cracks me up.

DM: Wow, what a great story about Al. We should get Andy to talk about Al at the next Christmas party for all of us new folks who don’t know the story.

AM: Yeah, definitely.

DM: So can you describe for people the general atmosphere of our office? It might be hard for people to get a sense of the place without actually visiting…

AM: Everybody here works super-hard, but it’s such a friendly place. It definitely starts with Andy and Luke and Ralph and Jim and Kristin. When people of their quality are the lawyers, it’s pretty easy for the staff to follow suit.

I love my work family. We’re a tight-knit group of very talented people. Maybe a good example is that I invited the entire office to my wedding, that’s how close we are. I spend lots of time outside the office with so many people here. I get to work alongside my best friend Lexi—we met here at the office. Our team is solid. I mean, together we’ve accomplished things that usually only big firms would even undertake. I’m proud I’m a part of it. I’m glad I finally caved to Andy and Luke and quit the coffee shop!

DM: Their loss, our gain. Well thanks again for doing this, Amy. We’ll have to do it again for your 10-year anniversary in ’09.

AM: I’ll be here, thanks Dave.

The plaintiffs claimed that doctors at Redding Medical Center performed unnecessary cardiac catheterizations and bypass surgeries on them. The scandal erupted after FBI agents raided the medical center in October 2002 and discovered that hundreds of its surgical patients’ medical records did not support the need for surgery. Some of the plaintiffs’ complications from the surgeries included stroke, paralysis, and heart attack. Many patients now require assisted living, and 94 of the patients have died. The plaintiffs sued for fraud, battery, negligence, and elder abuse, as most of the plaintiffs ranged in age from 65 to 90. The estates of the 94 patients who died sued for wrongful death.

The amount each plaintiff received, which remains confidential, differed depending on the severity of treatment, age, and complicating factors.

As a result of its investigation by state and federal authorities for its practices in Redding, Tenet Healthcare settled with government investigators during the summer of 2004, and agreed to pay an additional $54 million fine. Tenet has since sold the hospital.

More information about the case is contained in two news stories below:

Tenet Settles Over Unnecessary Surgeries

By Erik Cummins, San Francisco Daily Journal

Tenet Healthcare Care Corp., the country’s second-largest hospital chain, agreed Tuesday to pay $395 million to settle complaints that doctors at its former facility in Redding performed unnecessary heart procedures on healthy patients.

The Texas company will establish a fund to compensate 769 plaintiffs who filed suit in Shasta County Superior Court. In re: Tenet Healthcare Cases Ill. JCCP 4301.

“This is a huge amount of money – it’s fair,” said Luke Ellis, an Orinda lawyer representing 186 former Tenet patients. “I think [Tenet] really stepped up to the plate. We could have been litigating this for decades.”

Trevor Fetter, Tenet’s president and chief executive officer, said the settlement puts an end to a sad chapter for the hospital chain and patients of the former Redding Medical Center.

“By settling all the cases at once, we put this matter behind both the plaintiffs and us, and we bring closure to this unfortunate event,” Fetter said.

Nancy Hersh, a plaintiffs personal injury lawyer with Hersh & Hersh in San Francisco, likened the outcome to recent multimillion-dollar settlements in Catholic priest molestation cases.

“But here, you have intentional injury for profit,” said Hersh, who represents plaintiffs in medical device and drug cases. “The conduct in the Redding case was quite egregious.”

Russell Reiner, a lawyer with Redding’s Reiner, Simpson, Timmons & Slaughter, represents 345 former patients of Redding Medical Center. “My clients and their families suffered horrible complications,” Reiner said. “These were completely healthy people with no heart problems.”

Ellis, a partner at Gillin, Jacobson, Ellis & Larsen, said his clients suffered complications including stroke, heart attacks, infections and paralysis. Ninety-four of the 769 plaintiffs have died.

Problems at the hospital began to surface in 2002, when a former patient tipped off the FBI that the facility had been billing the state and federal governments for unnecessary angiograms and heart bypass and valve surgeries.

At first, news of the investigation outraged residents of the region, who supported the doctors and the hospital. Many former patients and their families rallied at the Shasta County courthouse and a local mall against the allegations, Reiner said.

The doctors, he said, had been advertised by Tenet as among the country’s best, and they had performed thousands of operations during the 1990s and the early part of this decade.

“Some of our clients were at those rallies – until they found out they had been lied to by these surgeons and in no way needed the surgery,” Reiner said.

Public opinion began to change several months following an October 2002 FBI raid, when Tenet paid $54 million to settle the billing fraud investigation.

Next, the Department of Health and Human Services said it would cut federal funding for the hospital unless Tenet sold the facility. In June, Tenet completed a sale to Hospital Partners of America, Inc.

In January, Dr. Chae Hyun Moon, a cardiologist and members of the center’s former Cardiology Associates of Northern California settled with their former patients for an undisclosed amount. Moon is no longer practicing medicine.

With the latest settlement, Reiner said, “the community will see this was a horrific tragedy.”

The settlement does not resolve claims against a group of former surgeons at the Redding hospital, now called the Shasta Regional Medical Center.

“We intend on seeing the matter through the court system,” said Robert Zimmerman, a Sacramento lawyer for Dr. Fidel Realyvazquez, Jr., the doctor who led the Redding cardiovascular surgery team. “We have no intention of settling these cases.”

Realyvazquez “is a skilled and caring physician, only providing necessary and appropriate cardiovascular care,” he said. “He hopes to return to his practice.”

Ellis said the surgeons were most at fault for his clients’ injuries.

“They had the responsibility and opportunity to understand and see,” he said.

Realyvazquez has taken time off from his practice to help defend the case, Zimmerman said. The first trial against Realyvazquez and three fellow surgeons is set for July 25 in Shasta County Superior Court.

Tenet Settles Bogus Heart Surgery Claims

By Jeff Chorney, The Recorder

Tenet Healthcare Corp. has agreed to pay $395 million to settle 769 claims that doctors at its Redding hospital performed unnecessary heart surgeries.

The massive settlement – which must still be approved by 95 percent of the plaintiffs and a Shasta County judge – will end litigation against the health care giant in connection with the surgeries.

Once approved, the settlement money will immediately go into an interest-accruing fund, and plaintiffs can expect to see payouts as early as January, said Luke Ellis of Gillin, Jacobson, Ellis & Larsen of Orinda, which represents 186 of the plaintiffs.

Ellis noted that the cases were resolved relatively quickly. The questionable surgeries came to light when FBI agents raided Tenet’s Redding Medical Center in October 2002, and many of the lawsuits were filed just last year.

“You could spend years litigating these cases,” Ellis said. Since the alleged victims range in age from mid-60s to 90, he said, a protracted legal battle would have meant that many of them would “never get a chance to have [their] day in court.”

In a statement, Trevor Fetter, Tenet’s president and chief executive officer, characterized the settlement as “the fair and honorable way to conclude this very sad chapter.”

How much money each plaintiff will receive is confidential, and Ellis declined to discuss attorneys’ fees. The lawyers did not seek class action status, he said, because it’s hard to make personal injury fit into that rubric. “Every injury is different,” said Ellis. “Every injury is complicated.”

Since the Redding scandal erupted, Tenet has come under fire for its medical and business practices at other California hospitals. The company has since sold the Redding facility.

Along with the plaintiff suits, Tenet was also under investigation by state and federal authorities for its practices in Redding. It settled with government investigators over the summer for $54 million.

In addition, plaintiff lawyers sued a number of physicians in connection with the heart operations. They reached a confidential agreement with cardiologists several months ago, and litigation against four surgeons is slated to begin next summer. Ellis said there are 10 “test” cases against the surgeons. As soon as those play out, the other cases against the surgeons will likely settle.

Of the 769 plaintiffs, most are former patients, but 94 are surviving family members who filed wrongful death cases.

Ellis said he didn’t expect to have any trouble getting plaintiffs to sign on to the agreement.

“I think when people realize what this means to them,” they will agree, he said. “It will change their life in a major way.”

The procedures at issue include bypasses, valve replacements, and catheterizations. Ellis said they often created additional medical problems and caused depression in those who underwent them.

“The heart is a metaphysical part of your body. It’s not just an organ,” he said.

The lead plaintiff is Redding’s Reiner, Simpson, Timmons & Slaughter. Also representing plaintiffs are Barr & Mudford of Redding, and Moriarty & Leyendecker of Houston, Texas.

San Francisco behemoth Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein represents 10 plaintiffs. Ellis said they were also included in the settlement.

The case is In re Tenet Healthcare Ill, J.C.C.P. 4301.

PLAINTIFF ATTORNEY: Luke Ellis and Andrew Gillin

PRODUCT LIABILITY (DEFECTIVE TIRE) – INJURIES AND DEATH – MINOR

Plaintiffs in this case were Ms. J. Smith, a 35-year-old nurse’s aide, and Mr. J. Smith, a 35-year-old carpenter, of Hayward, the parents of S. Smith, four-years-old at the time of her death.

In September, plaintiff’s mother was injured and her daughter suffered fatal injuries at the time of the car accident. H’s left front tire blew out and his vehicle swerved to the left, crossed a raised median strip, and crashed head-on into plaintiff mother’s auto.

Defendant driver was driving a Chevrolet Blazer with oversized tires and suspension lifts in the front and rear, so that the Blazer was raised nine inches above its normal center of gravity. A previous owner of the vehicle purchased the tires from defendant Grand Auto two years before the subject accident. Defendant Denman Tire of Warren, Ohio, manufactured the tires and defendant TBC Corporation of Memphis, Tennessee, distributed them.

Plaintiff father sued for loss of consortium. Plaintiff mother sued for her own injuries and Dillon v. Legg emotional distress, and both plaintiffs sued for the wrongful death of their daughter.

Plaintiffs contended that the automotive defendants designed, manufactured, distributed, and sold a defective tire; that no vehicle manufacturer recommended these monster tires, which could only be used on highly modified vehicles, for use of any vehicle; that the subject was stamped with a recommended inflation pressure of 45 pounds per square inch (PSI), while the guidelines of the Tire and Rim Association recommended no more than 30 PSI for the size and category of the subject tire; and that the 50% over inflation of the tire, combined with its history of off-road use, made it dangerously rupture prone.

Experts for both plaintiffs and defendants agreed that the defective tire suffered rupture damage sometime before the night of the actual blowout.

During discovery, plaintiffs obtained a 10-year-old memorandum signed by defendant distributor’s president and sent to tire distributors, including Grand Auto, stating that the use of a tire size not recommended by a vehicle manufacturer could lead to instability of the vehicle and possible accidents.

Plaintiffs did extensive testing of modified and unmodified vehicles to determine how such tires affected loss of control after a blowout, but a modified vehicle with the subject tires could not be controlled. Plaintiffs also obtained a court order allowing them to close the roadway at the accident scene to film a nighttime recreation of the car accident.

Automotive defendants contended that the use of the subject tires was safe and proper; that the 45-PSI recommended air pressure stamped on the tire was proper and would not lead to tire failure; that the guidelines of the Tire and Rim Association were only recommendations; and that the subject accident was due to defendant driver’s failure to maintain his vehicle properly.

INJURIES: Mrs. Smith – Plaintiff suffered a fractured femur and patella as well as Dillon v. Legg emotional distress. Mr. Smith – Plaintiff claimed loss of consortium and emotional distress.

SPECIALS: Mrs. Smith – Medical $54,630. Wage Loss $26,208.
Sencera Smith – Medical and Burial $26,360.

RESULT: The case settled for a structure with a lifetime payout of $10,800,000; present cash value $4,200,000).

$10.6 Million Settlement – Wrongful Death

by Michael Taylor

Attorneys agreed yesterday to a $10.6 million settlement of a lawsuit over a car crash in which a 4-year-old girl died while her seriously injured mother lay helplessly pinned in the same car, trying to calm her dying daughter.

The settlement award went to Judy and Joe Smith, a Hayward couple whose daughter Sencera was killed in September, when a Chevrolet Blazer driven by Kent Haskovec blew one of its huge, over-sized tires and crashed into the Smiths’ Ford Pinto, demolishing it.

According to Berkeley attorney Luke Ellis, who represented the Smith family, the three-foot-tall tire was mislabeled and “could not be used on any vehicle without first making dangerous modifications – raising the car’s center of gravity about 30 percent, rendering the car highly unstable.”

Ellis reached the settlement with Denman Tire Corp., of Warren, Ohio, the firm that made the tire; Tire and Battery Corp., of Memphis, Tenn.; and Grand Auto, the auto supply chain that sold it.

Hugh Doucette, assistant to Denman’s president, defended the company’s product and said “it’s one of the best on the market. And it’s safe, if not misused.”

Alameda County Superior Court Judge Richard Hodge, who oversaw the settlement, said that “what made this case unusual is that the parent was confined in the car while the child was dying, and experienced the agonies that the child experienced.”

Ellis said the accident happened when the two vehicles were each traveling at about 40 miles per hour on Mission Boulevard in Hayward.

The Blazer began to shimmy and then its left-front tire blew out. Haskovec lost control and collided head-on with the Smith car, the lawyer said.

Judy Smith was knocked unconscious. When she came around, she said later in a deposition, “it was dark and I was calling for Sencera to answer me, and I was telling her that it was OK, that I was there, for her not to be afraid, and that I was calling out to her: ‘Sencera, please answer me. Sencera, this is Mom. This is Mommy. Please answer. And… she wouldn’t answer me. I reached out with my hand, as much as I could, and it was so dark I couldn’t find her.”

The girl was crushed when the Blazer hit her mother’s car and she died two days later.

Pipeline Explosion Cases settle for over $90 million dollars; GJEL client receives largest single death award of $10.65 Million.

On November 9, one of the most tragic industrial accidents in California history occurred when a backhoe punctured an underground fuel pipeline causing an explosion and fireball that burned for nearly a week. The explosion killed 5 workers and seriously injured a number of others, as well as causing property and equipment damage. About twenty separate lawsuits were filed in Contra Costa County and were coordinated by the State Judicial Council into one proceeding entitled the “Gas Pipeline Explosion Cases”.

GJEL was appointed by the Court to the Plaintiffs’ Discovery Committee which was responsible for litigating the coordinated action on behalf of all 20 cases. Ultimately, over $90 Million dollars was paid by a number of defendants. GJEL attorneys Luke Ellis and Jim Larsen represented the family of the construction foreman, whose family received the largest single wrongful death award totaling $10.65 Million. This award represents the largest settlement or verdict for a wrongful death in the history of Contra Costa County.

The accident occurred on South Broadway Street in Walnut Creek during the construction of a major water pipeline extension project undertaken by EBMUD. The general location of the underground gas pipeline was known, however it was not marked on the ground surface or properly located prior to construction. The Defendants included EBMUD; Carollo and CDM, the design engineers hired by EBMUD; Kinder Morgan, the owner and operator of the underground gas pipeline that was punctured; Comforce Technical Services, an inspection contractor working for Kinder Morgan; and MCI Inc, the excavation contractor that was digging, trenching and installing the water pipeline for EBMUD.

Over 100,000 documents were produced and about 40 depositions were taken. Additionally, independent investigations were conducted by CAL/OSHA as well as The California State Fire Marshall, Division of Pipeline Safety.

The defendants tried to contend that our client, as foreman of the MCI construction crew, was comparatively at fault for the accident since he had access to the plans which revealed the general location of the underground gas pipeline; he was directing the trenching crew at the moment of the puncture; and his company was responsible for determining the exact location of the underground pipeline before trenching in the area.

The deposition testimony revealed that at the time the gas pipeline was struck, our client ran towards the workers in the trench to warn them. Moments later, he was engulfed by the explosion and fire. He is survived by his wife and two adult children who were the plaintiffs in the lawsuit.