California Personal Injury and Civil Litigation Attorneys

Girardi Keese

1126 Wilshire Boulevard
Los Angeles, California 90017
USA

(213) 977-0211

(213) 481-1554

www.girardikeese.com

Contact Girardi Keese

Law Firm Overview

At the law firm of Girardi Keese, we handle tough, complex cases against formidable opponents with armies of lawyers. Why? We believe every person who has been injured deserves fair and just compensation. We also believe those who do harm to others should be held responsible.

At Girardi Keese, our lawyers and staff are here for the long haul because we are doing work we believe in. Tom Girardi has had two secretaries since 1965. Bob Keese has had one. The firm has had only two bookkeepers in our history. “A company is known by the men it keeps. . .”

In all of their practice areas, from personal injury to business litigation, from intellectual property to product liability, Girardi Keese lawyers have an extraordinary history of pertinent experience.

The firm represents clients throughout California and also nationwide. The firm has been a voice for the injured since 1965, with a passion for righting wrongs and serving their clients.

With protecting people uppermost in our minds, the attorneys at Girardi Keese frequently talk with lawmakers and government agencies in Sacramento, California, and Washington, D.C. We have testified before Congressional committees and we have worked closely with advocacy groups, legislators and executive branches of government.

Areas of Law

Additional Areas of Law: Defective Medical Devices; Anti-Trust; Amusement Park Injuries; Fractures; Molestation Claims; Lender Liability; Professional Negligence.

Areas of Law Description

- Employment Law

Our lawyers have dealt with discrimination in police departments and fire departments. We have represented employees from health care organizations, manufacturing plants and offices. Time and again in employment cases it is the cover-up, the denial that there was ever any discrimination or harassment, that often proves the case.

- Bad Faith Insurance

When insurance companies deny a claim, that is money they do not have to pay the policyholder. That is money that can be added to their profits. Insurance companies even give bonuses to employees who can find a reason to deny a claim. When you pay insurance premiums in good faith, you expect the company to meet the policy requirements. At Girardi Keese, we fight back against insurance bad faith and companies that do not meet their contractual obligations. And we win.

- Medical Malpractice

One of the most common mistakes made by doctors and other health care providers is a failure to diagnose a condition in a timely manner. If a suspicious mammogram is noticed and acted on in the early stages, quick surgery and treatment can return a woman to her normal life in days or weeks. Cancer misdiagnosis can give the cancer time to metastasize and pose a grave danger.

- Birth Injury

Obstetrical doctors and nurses are trained to watch for signs of fetal distress and to act quickly when they see those signs. Without quick action, a baby can lose valuable oxygen and suffer brain damage that causes cerebral palsy and other devastating life-long conditions. When the size of a baby's head and shoulders are too big for a vaginal delivery, failure to perform a C-section can lead to nerve damage that affects the use of an arm for life.

- Personal Injury

Right after an accident, it can be difficult to understand the full extent of injuries. For example, when a client with slight injuries had a numbness in the right hand, we knew that was a sign of a herniated disk and would require enough compensation to cover surgery and pain and suffering. We understand the long and painful recovery from burn injuries, the uncertainty and confusion of brain and head injuries, the complications that can occur with fractures, and the life-long needs of spinal and back injury patients.

- Motor Vehicle Accidents

Sometimes a car accident is just a car accident — one car runs into another and one or more people suffer personal injury. Serious injuries require substantial compensation. Burn injuries can require years of pain and surgery, and permanent life-altering scars. Brain injuries are heartbreaking in the way they change the lives of injured people and their families. Spinal and back injuries can require a lifetime of care. Complex, multiple fractures can require surgery and rehabilitation. All of these injuries cost in terms of medical expenses and future economic losses.

- Premises Liability

Property owners are responsible for maintaining their properties in a safe manner. When they fail, when someone is harmed as a result of negligence, the owners can be sued for premises liability. Premises liability lawsuits, however, can be difficult. At Girardi Keese, we have more than 40 years of experience handling cases involving unsafe property. Each case is unique and requires an investigation into how the accident happened and whether there was negligence.

- Amusement Park Injuries

Amusement park injuries are rarely talked about, because park owners and operators do not want to explain how their rides work. Girardi Keese trial lawyers, acting on behalf of Brandon and his family, sued Disneyland and demanded changes. We are also working to change the laws that apply to amusement park and fair rides.

- Professional Negligence

We are licensed professionals at Girardi Keese, and we expect to be held to high standards. When we hear of licensed professionals who take advantage of clients for personal gain or simply because of professional negligence, we are prepared to seek accountability. Our law firm handles complex medical malpractice cases and birth injury cases that involve medical negligence. We work with experts to prove construction defects that are the result of engineer and/or architect professional negligence.

- Wrongful Death

When an individual or business steals years from someone's life — whether it's 70 years or two years, there is an obligation to pay financial compensation. When a prescription drug causes a heart attack, stroke or any other fatal side effect, the pharmaceutical company should be held responsible. If a defective product causes a fatal accident, the manufacturer, distributor and retailer should pay wrongful death compensation. In a fatal car crash, truck wreck or motorcycle accident, the at-fault party and the insurance companies involved should honor the family's wrongful death claim. If a doctor fails to diagnose cancer and that failure causes a death that could have been prevented, the physician should be held accountable. A worker electrocuted by temporary wiring at a construction site, a drowning caused by a careless boating accident, a fatal fall from a defective stairway — when negligence causes a wrongful death, contact us.

- Burn Injuries

A house fire accident, a car fire injury, a chemical burn or an explosion from a defective product can cause immediate pain, but the pain that is most difficult is the residual pain that comes with surgery and scarring. Because of our experience in representing burn injury victims, our trial lawyers have access to some of the finest physicians and burn centers available. Their advice and expert testimony also helps us explain to insurance companies and juries the extent of the injuries, the needed surgery and the psychological effects that the victims carry with them through life.

- Brain / Head Injuries

For more than 40 years, Girardi Keese attorneys have had experiences with clients suffering from traumatic brain injury (TBI). We know that the problems are very real, but it takes a team of physicians and neuropsychologists using imaging, studies and tests to determine the extent of the brain injury. A skull fracture or hematoma is easier to see, but there remains the problem of establishing the seriousness of the injury and determining possible therapies that might restore some brain capacity.

- Broken Bones

A broken bone can happen in all types of situations — a surgical error, hospital or nursing home fall; a car, truck or motorcycle accident; a playground or amusement park accident. Any fracture should have immediate medical attention. Some take extensive treatment, surgery and rehabilitation.

- Spinal Cord / Back Injuries

Back and neck injuries can cause pain and suffering, be difficult to properly diagnose and require surgery, therapy and rehabilitation. Back and neck injuries can also be difficult to prove. spinal cord injury completely changes the life of the victim and the family. The injuries are obvious — paraplegia or quadriplegia — and the medical and care needs last a lifetime.

- Lender Liability

The stories of individual families and homeowners can often get lost in national economic statistics, but at our law firm we know that those individual stories are the reality, the heart, of the mortgage crisis. We are prepared to handle lender liability lawsuits that place responsibility where it belongs.

- Construction Defects

When a home loses value because of construction defects, that is a disappointment. When the construction defects make the home unsafe, that means a family's health is threatened. In both cases, the business responsible for construction defects needs to be accountable for fixing the problem and paying for the homeowner's expenses associated with the problems.

- Child Abuse / Molestation

There is no compensation that can help a child fully overcome the devastation of abuse and neglect. It is important, however, to punish the abusers and to get as much financial compensation as possible to help the child recover psychologically and physically.

- Elder Abuse

When nursing homes do not meet the appropriate standard of care, when they are challenged in court, when they are made to pay compensation for elder abuse and neglect, there is more of an incentive to treat residents with the care they deserve. Our personal injury attorneys have experience fighting against nursing home abuse and neglect. Elder abuse often happens for two reasons: Seniors can be confused about what is happening, and some individuals and businesses behave like vultures ready to take advantage of that confusion.

- Civil Rights

Most of the time, we can count on the police to protect and defend us against harm. However, when the police abuse their authority and violate civil rights, they need to be held responsible for their actions. Civil rights protections are a part of the law, but they will only be effective if we are vigilant and challenge civil rights violations. The lawyers at Girardi Keese do not back down when we are protecting the rights of our clients. We fight for civil rights cases because it is the right thing to do.

- Business and Commercial Litigation

A commercial dispute can distract a business from day-to-day management and planning for the future. For a small business, not resolving the problem can mean significant losses. The price of resolving the problem, however, includes money, time and considerable risk. Settling a breach of contract dispute or partnership dispute can require many hours of legal work and months or even years of negotiations. When an insurance company denies a claim saying that your loss was not covered, your only option may be a lawsuit for insurance bad faith. Intellectual property can be your business's most valuable asset. If it is stolen or compromised, you may need to take the matter into court.

- Mass Torts / Class Actions

Class action lawsuits are an important part of fairness. In a class action, many people who have been harmed by a big company can band together, find a law firm and file a lawsuit on behalf of that entire class of people. At Girardi Keese, our trial attorneys have an excellent reputation of fighting for people who have been injured by big companies. Big companies would prefer to fight consumers one at a time, knowing that most people cannot launch a major lawsuit on their own. Class action lawsuits level the playing field and give consumers the leverage they need against companies that harm consumers physically and financially.

- Pharmaceutical Litigation

Unsafe medications can cause heart attacks, stroke, pancreatitis, pulmonary embolism, disintegrating jaw bones and other serious medical problems. Pharmaceutical litigation and the resulting multi-million-dollar verdicts are the only language drug manufacturers seem to understand. Current cases our lawyers are preparing for litigation include Avandia, Byetta, Yaz, Yasmin, gadolinium, Ortho Evra, Fosamax and HRT.