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Reviewed by David Gammill, California trial attorney · Last reviewed: September 12, 2026
Gammill Law Accident & Injury Lawyers represents people in Torrance and across the South Bay who suffered a catastrophic injury: a traumatic brain injury, spinal cord damage, an amputation, severe burns, or an injury that ended a career. These cases are different in kind, not just in degree. The question stops being who pays for the hospital bill and becomes what a lifetime of care, lost work, and a changed life actually costs, and the answer is almost never in the first offer. The firm has recovered more than $100 million for California clients across verdicts and settlements. Its results include a $21.1 million wrongful death verdict, a $16 million school sexual abuse verdict, and a $12 million whistleblower retaliation verdict; every case is different, and prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. What decides a catastrophic case is proving fault, proving the future, and finding every policy that can pay for it.
Facing a life-changing injury in Torrance? Get your free case evaluation or call 310-750-4149. There is no fee unless we recover for you.
There is no bright line, but the injuries that belong in this category share one feature: they change the rest of a person’s life, and they change the lives of the people around them.
Traumatic brain injuries. From a concussion that does not resolve to a severe injury with lasting cognitive, emotional, and physical effects. Brain injuries are often invisible on the first scan and dismissed by insurers for exactly that reason. Our Torrance brain injury attorney page covers how these cases are proved.
Spinal cord injuries. Paraplegia, quadriplegia, and incomplete injuries that leave lasting weakness, pain, or loss of function. These cases carry the largest future care costs of any injury claim.
Amputations and crush injuries. The loss of a limb, or of its use, with a lifetime of prosthetics, revisions, and adaptation.
Severe burns. Grafting, reconstructive surgery, scarring, and the psychological injury that accompanies disfigurement.
Career-ending and permanent injuries. Orthopedic injuries that leave a tradesperson unable to work, vision or hearing loss, and organ damage. The injury may not sound catastrophic in a headline; the lost working life is.
In an ordinary injury case, the medical bills and a few months of lost wages describe most of the loss. In a catastrophic case, they describe the smallest part of it. Most of the loss is in the future: surgeries not yet scheduled, attendant care not yet needed, a wheelchair-accessible home not yet built, a career that will not resume, and decades of pain that no bill records.
Building the case properly means bringing in a life-care planner to project every element of care over the client’s expected lifetime, medical experts to explain what the injury will do over time, vocational experts to establish what work is no longer possible, and an economist to translate all of it into present-value numbers a jury can act on. It also means refusing the early settlement that looks large until you set it against forty years of care. Insurers make those offers early for a reason: the number is anchored to what has been spent, not to what the injury will cost.
The at-fault party depends on how the injury happened, and in serious cases there is often more than one. A car crash on Hawthorne Boulevard or the 405 may involve a driver, the driver’s employer, and the vehicle’s owner. A truck crash adds the motor carrier, the broker, and the maintenance contractor. A motorcycle, bicycle, or pedestrian crash produces catastrophic injuries far more often than a crash between two cars, because there is nothing between the person and the pavement. A rideshare crash brings the company’s insurance into the case. A fall from a height or on a dangerous property brings in the owner and the manager. When a dangerous public road, sidewalk, or facility contributed, a claim may lie against the public entity under Government Code § 835, with its own six-month deadline.
California follows pure comparative negligence (Li v. Yellow Cab Co. (1975) 13 Cal.3d 804): a claimant’s recovery is reduced by their percentage of fault, never eliminated by it. In a catastrophic case that percentage is worth a great deal of money, and the defense will spend accordingly to raise it. We build the fault case with the same rigor as the damages case.
A catastrophic injury outruns an ordinary insurance policy almost immediately. California requires drivers to carry only minimum liability coverage of $30,000 per injured person, $60,000 per accident, and $15,000 for property damage (Vehicle Code § 16451, for policies issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2025). A single night in a trauma center can exceed that.
The recovery is built by stacking every source that applies. If the at-fault driver was working, an employer’s commercial policy may apply, often with limits many times larger. If the driver was borrowing the car, the owner’s policy may apply. Your own underinsured motorist coverage, on your policy or a household member’s, can pay when the at-fault driver’s limits are too small. Commercial property owners and their managers carry liability policies of their own. Finding and documenting every one of those layers before anyone settles is the core of the work in a catastrophic case.
Two years for most claims. Under CCP § 335.1, most California injury lawsuits must be filed within two years of the injury. Our guide to CCP § 335.1, California’s two-year statute of limitations, covers the rule and its exceptions.
Six months when the government is involved. If a City of Torrance vehicle, a Torrance Transit bus, or a dangerous public road or facility caused the injury, you must present a written claim to the right entity within six months before you can sue. Our guide to the California government claim deadline walks through the sequence.
The deadline runs while you are in the hospital. A catastrophic injury does not pause the clock by itself, and a family focused on survival and rehabilitation can lose a claim to a date nobody was watching. Getting a lawyer involved early protects the deadline and the evidence at the same time.
The fault case is built the way every serious case is built: preservation demands the day we are retained, corridor and business cameras before they overwrite, vehicle event data before the car is repaired, witness accounts, and accident reconstruction where the physics matter. The damages case is built with the client’s treating physicians and with retained experts: a life-care plan that itemizes every future need, a vocational assessment of what work remains possible, and an economic analysis of lifetime loss. We also document the human loss, the activities and roles that are gone, because a jury awards for that too.
The police report and the first medical records are a starting point, not the case. Brain injuries in particular are under-documented in the first days after a crash, when the visible injuries take priority. When a record understates the injury, we build the proof independently.
When a catastrophic injury ends in death, California gives specific family members the right to bring a wrongful death claim for their own losses, and the deadlines have traps of their own. Our Torrance wrongful death attorney page explains these cases, and our complete guide to the California wrongful death filing deadline covers the timing rules.
Catastrophic cases are the ones insurers fight hardest, because the numbers are largest. David Gammill is a California trial attorney who prepares every case as though a Torrance jury will decide it, and these are the cases his trial results come from. The firm’s results include a $21.1 million wrongful death verdict and a $16 million school sexual abuse verdict, each a real jury verdict in a specific case; outcomes always depend on the facts.
We work on a contingency fee: nothing upfront, no hourly bills, and a fee only out of the recovery, under a written contingency fee agreement that complies with California law. The firm advances the cost of the experts a catastrophic case requires. Our guide to what a personal injury lawyer costs in Torrance answers the money questions plainly.
Call any time, including nights, weekends, and holidays: 310-750-4149. Catastrophic injury clients are usually in a hospital or a rehabilitation facility when they first call. We meet you there, or at home, and we connect clients with Torrance-area doctors who work on a lien basis, paid from the recovery rather than upfront.
Economic damages cover documented and projected losses: emergency and acute care, surgeries, rehabilitation, attendant care, medical equipment, home and vehicle modifications, medications, future treatment over a lifetime, lost wages, and lost earning capacity.
Non-economic damages cover the human losses: physical pain, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, permanent disability or disfigurement, and, for spouses, loss of consortium. In a catastrophic case these are often the largest component of the verdict.
Punitive damages may be available where the defendant’s conduct was malicious, oppressive, or fraudulent under Civil Code § 3294, most commonly when the at-fault driver was drunk.
The first offer in a catastrophic case is anchored to the bills to date and routinely reflects only a fraction of the lifetime loss. Before you sign anything, use the free case evaluation to learn what your claim is actually worth.
Ask whether it will still be affecting your life, your work, or your need for care in five years. Brain and spinal cord injuries, amputations, severe burns, and injuries that end a career answer yes. When the answer is yes, the case has to be built on the future, not on the bills so far.
Not before the future losses have been projected. A number that looks large against today’s bills can be a small fraction of forty years of care and lost earnings. Early offers in catastrophic cases are made early for that reason.
No. That is the driver’s policy limit, not your claim’s value. Employer policies, vehicle owner policies, your own underinsured motorist coverage, property owners’ policies, and public-entity claims are where a catastrophic recovery is built.
Two years from the date of the injury for most claims, under CCP § 335.1. If a government vehicle or dangerous public property is involved, a written claim is due within six months under Gov. Code § 911.2; see our government claim guide. Courts rarely excuse a missed deadline.
Nothing upfront and nothing out of pocket. Our fee is a percentage of the recovery, collected only if we win, under a written agreement that complies with California law, and the firm advances expert costs. Full details: what a personal injury lawyer costs in Torrance.
Camera footage overwrites within days, repaired vehicles lose their data, and the filing deadlines run whether or not you are ready. The sooner we start, the more of the fault case we can preserve while your family focuses on your recovery.
A catastrophic injury is the hardest thing a family can face, and the insurance claim should not be the second hardest. Your free case review includes a real evaluation with an experienced attorney, a clear explanation of your options, and an honest assessment of what your claim is worth, with no obligation. For any other injury, begin at our Torrance personal injury attorney page.
Get your free case evaluation or call 310-750-4149 now. There are no upfront legal fees; a fee is collected only if we win.
This page is attorney advertising and general information, not legal advice for any specific situation. Deadlines and outcomes are fact-specific; consult a licensed California attorney about your own circumstances. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
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Left with few options
Stuck with bills you can’t pay
Anxious to put your injury behind you
Serving the South Bay and all of California.
My name is David Gammill. I am a California trial lawyer and the founder of Gammill Law Accident & Injury Lawyers. Our firm has recovered more than $100 million for California clients. Our results include a $21.1 million wrongful death verdict, a $16 million school sexual abuse verdict, and a $12 million whistleblower retaliation verdict. I learned to try cases in front of juries early in my career as a Deputy District Attorney, and trying cases remains the backbone of my practice.
