Andy Gillin

‘Clumsy’ is a word many people use to describe themselves, especially if they’re somewhat accident-prone and have a habit of tripping over, knocking into things, or dropping stuff….

Christmas is a magical time of year for millions of families across the United States, with children all over the country often experiencing new food, toys and traditions,…

There are 5 important steps to take after an accident: Seek Medical Assistance, Exchange Contact and Insurance Information, Gather and Secure Evidence, Be Wary of Insurance Adjusters, and Contact a Qualified Attorney

If your loved one has died because of someone else’s actions, you likely want to march into court and demand the responsible party be held accountable for your…

Each year, the holiday season brings excitement about seeing family, eating delicious meals, and even opening a few presents. For some, the season marks a series of events complete with dinner parties and elaborate decorations. In addition to this seasonal mirth, families must consider safety issues related to driving long distances in rough conditions, the potential for shopping mall mishaps, and dangers associated with holiday decorations and lights. To help navigate those additional considerations, we’ve developed a list of some of the most common holiday-related injuries and some precautions families can take to avoid trips to the emergency room this winter.

It has been a big year for class action lawsuits. Most recently, thousands of Toyota drivers have sued the Japanese auto giant for injuries and loss of investment resulting from unintended acceleration, and victims of the BP Gulf oil spill disaster are lining up to take on the British oil conglomerate in court. Both of those budding class action battles pale in comparison to the legal storm about to engulf WalMart, which is being sued for gender discrimination by more than a million women in potentially the largest class action suit ever. To put this in perspective, we decided to round up a list of other massive class action titans over the past two decades.

Gearing up for the holiday weekend, we thought it necessary to revive GJEL Accident Attorneys’ legal humor category. With that, we’ve compiled 9 Seinfeld-related lawsuits, five fictional and four real, to commemorate the 9 years the 90’s mega-sitcom fantastically mocked most aspects, significant and mundane, of real life. And the show’s take on the legal industry was no different. Check out our list.

Car accidents, for the most part, ARE avoidable. However, without fully understanding the cause of car accidents, it can be difficult for individuals to know what they can…

On the air for more than 20 years, the iconic family cartoon sitcom “The Simpsons” has covered just about every topic you can think of. So it’s no surprise that the show has addressed – and mocked – many legal issues. In fact, The Simpsons has managed to cover personal injury law, sexual harassment, false advertising, criminal law, food safety, copyright law, and more. While the plots of these episodes themselves are hilarious, they wouldn’t be quite as great without shuckster attorney Lionel Hutz (Phil Hartman). We’ve compiled a list of our favorite lawsuits in the Simpsons, in chronological order.

Anytime that you are involved in a car accident, or any other serious accident type that necessitates emergency medical care, you should make sure that an accident report is filed with the police (in fact, in the event of a car accident, California law requires that you report the accident if anyone is injured or killed, or damages total more than $750).

$700,000 for a motorcycle vs. auto accident in Marin County.

The film industry is loaded with movies throughout history that have a focus on lawyers and the drama that takes place in the courtroom. Some of the greatest…

Were you or someone you love injured in an accident in Piedmont, California? If so, call GJEL Accident Attorneys today for a free case review. Attorney Andy Gillin…

What comes to mind when you think of traffic laws? There are right-of-way rules that say who yields and who proceeds at traffic intersections and crosswalks. And speed…

One question we field here at GJEL is what the “average” “typical” settlement or jury verdict is for a wrongful death case. The short answer is that there…

These 15 Driving Distractions Could Ruin Your Day. Wouldn’t it be nice to settle in to your morning commute in total relaxation, catching up with a friend in the passenger seat next to you, or with hundreds of friends all at once on social media?

If someone you love tragically dies in an accident or due to a violent crime, it is only natural to want to obtain justice for them and take…

Call an attorney as soon as possible if you were serious injured. Car accidents can be scary and stressful in many ways. Depending on the details of your…

There are so many safety factors to consider when your teenager begins driving. When it comes to teen brain development, distracted driving, and graduated license laws, parents have a strong role in assuring that their children stay safe behind the wheel. Great safety strategies include educating your teen about the dangers of distracted driving, and creating a teen-parent safe driving contract that rewards safe driving behavior. But there’s one aspect for new teen drivers that parents have complete control over: what car (if any) they will drive.

When an accident occurs in California, whether an automobile accident or an accident such as a slip and fall on someone else’s property, the way that injuries are almost always paid for is through liability insurance. Because California is an at-fault state, the insurance company of the person whose negligence caused the accident and related injuries is responsible for paying for the injured party’s damages.

It seems hardly a day goes by without hearing something in the news about an accident caused by texting and driving, in California and throughout the US.

Bike share programs have exploded in cities like Oakland, Washington, D.C. and Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco. The programs have been widely popular thus far, but to…

This blog often champions causes that prevent drivers’ attentions from leaving the immediate concerns of the road. Drunk driving and distracted driving (typically in the form of texting…

If you are seriously injured in a car accident or your accident required hospitalization you are likely better off hiring a lawyer after a car accident. Thankfully for…

Welcome to May, which marks the first full month of Spring, and the League of American Bicyclists’ National Bike Month. The group will celebrate the month with a variety of programs and events, including Bike-to-Work Week May 16-20, and Bike-to-Work Day on Friday May 20. Here on the GJEL blog, we will be posting a series of in depth blog posts on bicycle safety and bike accident statistics here in California and nationwide. To start off the month, we’ve collected data on the states that have pushed ahead of the pack with strict bicycle safety laws: Oregon, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, California, and Maryland.

Victims can hold the person who injured them accountable for his or her negligence in court and receive money damages as compensation. But what happens if the victim…

Summer vacation is coming to an end and the back to school blitz is officially here. With kids getting set to resume their daily commute, and some younger…

GJEL recovered 11.6 Million Dollars for a client in a California wrongful death settlement.

GJEL Accident Attorneys recovered 13.6 Million Dollars for a client which was paid during trial. View more about the wrongful death verdicts and settlements from GJEL.

Getting hit by a car while walking or riding your bicycle is an awful thought. So the image of a pack of cyclists being run over by a SUV is nothing short of terrifying. Last year, four cyclists were injured in San Francisco’s Mission District after a man in an SUV allegedly ran them down in what the San Francisco Chronicle calls a “six-minute rampage.” The driver, David Mark Clark, now faces four counts of attempted murder, and his attorney has unofficially said Clark will seek an insanity plea. Click through for five more important California bike accident lawsuits.

When you are grieving the accidental death of a family member, you may not immediately appreciate the full extent of how that person’s passing may affect your life….

If you do not regularly ride a bike in urban areas, it may sound odd, but a car door can be a lethal weapon. A driver or vehicle passenger suddenly opening a car door as you ride by can lead to a truly devastating injury. This type of accident is often referred to ‘getting doored’. Car door-related bike accidents are far more common than many people realize. Indeed, according to data collected and published by the League of American Bicyclists, approximately eight percent of all bike accidents occur as a result of a biker ‘getting doored’. This leads to an important question: If someone opens a door while you’re riding by on your bicycle, the question becomes, “who is at fault.”

Safe driving behavior begins at the Department of Motor Vehicles. Teen drivers are tested by their local DMV before receiving their license, and all drivers must go through the DMV to renew their license or ask other important questions. California has made sure that residents don’t need to travel far to access DMV services. To help make this even easier, we’ve put together an interactive map of the DMV offices throughout California. Click the DMV office near you for its address and phone number.

When considering representation and suit over a client’s losses arising from the death of another in California you need to start by asking a few questions. Is your…

GJEL has recovered millions of dollars from The Hartford Insurance for injured victims. If you were injured and you think you might have a case against The Hartford…

As one of the most anticipated holidays of the year, Halloween can be lots of fun for people of all ages. But with everyone out and about, things…

Our client had entered the marked pedestrian crossing, with the signal, to cross Stockton Avenue at its intersection with Lenzen Avenue in San Jose. The driver of a…

Case Details: Our client, an experienced bicyclist, was riding westbound on Lone Tree Way in Antioch, California. He was in the #3 lane approaching the on-ramp for northbound…

Our client was a fourteen-year-old girl who was in a car with her two friends, who were also minors. The car they were traveling in belonged to our…

A retired high school teacher and a longtime resident of rural Sonoma County was walking across Franz Valley School Road to retrieve his morning newspaper from the roadside…

Our client was rear-ended in Brentwood while driving his 2005 Land Rover SUV. He was stopped waiting for the traffic ahead to move when his vehicle was struck…

Our 63 year-old client, a self-employed plumber and part-time musician, suffered serious injuries and incurred thousands of dollars of medical bills and lost wages due to the negligence…

About The Accident Our client was assembling furniture for his new residence on the driveway- pavement in front of his space at the garage shared with other condo…

Our client was driving his motorcycle into an intersection in Mountain View, California, when he was struck by a car from his left-side that had entered the intersection…

Our 81 year-old client suffered severe spinal injuries when he fell while trying to uncover patio furniture at a second home in Copperopolis, California, owned by a family…

1. By checking for witnesses, won’t the insurance companies think that you were planning to make the accident a payday from the beginning?” You know, it’s a very…

GJEL Accident Attorneys has recovered over $10 Million Dollars for victims injured and killed in Motorcycle accidents. Here is how GJEL helped one family after a serious motorcycle…

On August 25, 2014 our client was on US-101 Northbound 70 feet South of Rengstorff Avenue in Unincorporated Palo Alto, CA.  Our client was obeying the rules of…

Our 81-year-old client suffered severe spinal injuries when he fell while trying to uncover patio furniture at a second home in Copperopolis, California, owned by a family member….

This comes up a lot. Theoretically, you’re not supposed to ride your bike on the sidewalk. However, that’s not the end of the story. A lot of times,…

The Transportation Authority of Marin (TAM) is making a strong push to add a third westbound lane on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge to alleviate congestion during the morning…

The attorneys at GJEL recently hosted a scholarship program and asked incoming law students why they wanted to go to law school. As a part of this contest,…

Beginning January 2019, AC Transit increased Transbay fares by $1 to $5.50 for a one-way trip to San Francisco and by $36 to $198 for a monthly pass….

MTC’s Restrictive Ford GoBike Contract Impeding Expansion of Shared E-Bikes Overshadowed by the expansion of scooters, shared pedal-assist e-bikes have quietly grown in popularity this year. Across the…

Last week, we brought you some of the most absurd attempts of replicating judicial in the most unlikely courtroom dramas. Ranging from Chicago to Miracle on 34th Street, it was clear that film writers are comfortable fudging the facts and realities when it comes to telling a compelling story. Not surprisingly, the same is true for legal comedies… to an even more outlandish extent. But since comedies typically aren’t bound by realism or attention to detail, the freedoms taken in the films described below are perhaps more forgivable than those taken in courtroom dramas. Take a look at our list, ranging all the way from Legally Blonde to Ghostbusters II.

Several highly-anticipated pedestrian safety improvements recently opened along Oakland’s Grand Avenue. One of the City’s high injury corridors, Grand has long served as a regional relief valve to…

People who follow the news in the United States are not strangers to disturbing legal stories that often dominate the headlines. From the Casey Anthony trial that concluded last month, to the Scott Peterson verdict years before, and even the controversial O.J. Simpson murder case nearly 20 years ago, it’s often difficult to avoid the day’s most followed legal stories. But there are thousands of legal stories that go unnoticed each year by much of the general public, or are nearly forgotten years later. In the four following examples, documentary film makers have exposed and revitalized those stories to create powerful documentary films discussing a variety of troubling legal issues. We’ve compiled the trailers for the films Hot Coffee, Capturing the Friedmans, Deliver Us From Evil, and Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father, along with short descriptions and reviews.

The average personal injury settlement is $52,900, according to Martindale-Nolo Research, but the settlement range is $3,000 to $75,000. Thirty percent of claimants receive nothing, while a good…

Accident Overview In the Spring of 2015, our client’s husband was driving his van at 55 mph, in a 55 mph zone, in a rural county in California,…

Just about everyone agrees that the Bay Area’s congested transportation system is in dire need of reinvestment.

As dockless bike share startups expand across the Bay Area, a new mode of shared mobility has emerged: electric scooters.

A Contra Costa County jury has awarded $11.7 million to the family of a man who died on a badly maintained stretch of county road while trying to…

While LimeBike’s rapid expansion has brought thousands of bikes to dozens of cities across the U.S., not all dockless bike share operators have found success. Bluegogo, the first…

$10.6 million settlement has been reached between the makers and sellers of an “off-road” tire and the parents of a 4- year-old girl killed in a head­ on…

In what appears to be the largest wrongful death settlement for a child in California history, the family of a 4-year- old girl killed in a traffic accident…

In 2015, Oakland enacted a Pedestrian Signal Policy intended to fix its frustrating and nonsensical crosswalk signals, a hindrance to the City’s walkability. The City previously installed hundreds…

For the second time in a year the county took its chances in a court trial and wound up owing more than if it had settled out of…

GJEL Accident Attorneys is a Walnut Creek-based brain injury and serious injury law firm. Our decades of experience and vast expertise allows us to get the maximum settlement for…

One of the most devastating events that can happen is the unexpected death of a loved one. When people are killed because of the negligence or wrongful acts…

While the Bay Area engages in a spirited debate over increasing bridge tolls, AC Transit is quietly moving forward with a big increase in Transbay fares. Despite substantial…

Any kind of head injury could cause severe physical impairments. A head injury can occur when you slip and fall or if you’re hit in the head with…

Walnut Creek, California is a city in Contra Costa County California with a population of only 69,122. Even though it’s located near major metropolitan areas like Oakland and…

The details of your state’s driving laws might not be a major influence on the events of your daily life, but if you or your teenager is getting a license, you want to make calls or text while behind the wheel, or your elderly parents are losing their motor skills, knowledge of the relevant regulations becomes essential. Looking at driver laws nationwide, the trend is moving toward stricter graduated license laws for teen drivers, and heightened regulations against distracted driving. Scroll over this interactive map to see the details of your state’s driving laws and how they compare to others.

Been in a situation where you need to exit a BART station shortly after entering it? If so, chances are you’ve been hit by BART’s Excursion Fare.