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$100,000,000+
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$21,100,000
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$16,000,000
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$12,000,000
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Gammill Law’s results include a $21.1 million wrongful death verdict, a $16 million school sexual abuse verdict, and a $12 million whistleblower retaliation verdict.
Reviewed by David Gammill, California trial attorney · Last reviewed: October 19, 2026
If you were injured in Los Angeles because someone else was careless, California law lets you recover your medical bills, your lost income, and the toll the injury has taken on your life, and it puts a deadline on every one of those claims. Gammill Law Accident & Injury Lawyers is a South Bay trial firm that represents injured people and families across the City of Los Angeles. 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.
Los Angeles is a city of freeways and wide arterials, and both kinds of road produce injury cases with different defendants. The freeways, from the 10 and the 101 through downtown to the 405 on the Westside and the 110 and the 710 down to the Harbor, are state highways: Caltrans owns them and the California Highway Patrol reports the crashes on them. The surface streets, signals, sidewalks and crosswalks belong to the City, and the Los Angeles Police Department writes the report for a crash on them. That split matters from the first day, because it decides who investigated, whose records hold the evidence, and which public entity a claim goes to if the road itself was part of the problem. That does not make any one place responsible for a crash.
The numbers are large enough to be public. By the state crash database, 340 people died in traffic crashes inside the city limits in 2025, 265 of them in crashes reported by the Los Angeles Police Department and 75 in crashes reported by other agencies, mostly the Highway Patrol on the freeways. By LAPD’s own count, the city recorded 290 fatal crashes in 2025, more than its 230 homicides, the third straight year that traffic deaths outnumbered killings; that is a count of fatal crashes, not of deaths, and this page keeps the two measures apart. By LADOT’s 2024 safety study, a High Injury Network of 7.5 percent of the city’s streets accounts for 61.8 percent of the crashes in which someone is killed or severely injured, which is why where a crash happened is one of the first facts we pin down. Hit-and-run is part of the picture too: LAPD took 1,160 felony hit-and-run reports in the first four months of 2026, through May 2, and a felony hit-and-run in LAPD’s category is one that injured someone.
Injuries that do not start with a vehicle follow their own paths. A fall on a broken sidewalk is a claim against the City; a fall or an assault in an apartment building, a store or a parking structure is a claim against the owner or operator; a death at the hands of a police officer is a state wrongful death claim and a federal civil rights claim together. Each of those is covered on its own page below.
Most California injury claims must be filed within two years. Our plain-English guide to CCP § 335.1, California’s two-year statute of limitations, covers the rule and its narrow exceptions. Courts rarely excuse a missed deadline.
Government cases move much faster. If a public entity may share responsibility, a written claim must be presented to that entity within six months, before any lawsuit can be filed, under Government Code § 911.2. In Los Angeles that means the City of Los Angeles for a city street, a signal, a sidewalk, a City vehicle or a City police officer; Caltrans for a freeway or state highway; the County of Los Angeles for a county road, a county facility or a Sheriff’s deputy; and LA Metro for its own buses and trains. The City of Los Angeles accepts a claim only through the Office of the City Clerk, not the City Attorney, and a claim the City does not act on within 45 days is treated as rejected. Once an entity rejects the claim, Government Code § 945.6 gives six months from the rejection notice to file suit. Our guide to the California government claim deadline walks through the sequence.
Where the case is heard. Most injury lawsuits arising inside the City of Los Angeles are filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court’s Central District and assigned to an independent calendar judge at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse, 111 North Hill Street, downtown; the court assigns the courthouse by where the injury happened, so a case from the Harbor, the San Fernando Valley or the Westside can land in another district.
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 serious injury passes that limit before the first week in the hospital ends, so an injury case is in part a search for coverage: the at-fault driver’s policy, an employer’s commercial policy if the driver was working, a rideshare company’s policy if the driver was on the app, the vehicle owner’s policy if the car was borrowed, and your own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, which follows you as a person and pays when the other driver has too little insurance or none at all. When the driver fled, that last policy is usually the one that pays, on strict reporting conditions that your lawyer should handle from the first week.
Car accidents. Our Los Angeles car accident page covers fault, the evidence that disappears in the first weeks, and how the coverage layers stack.
Truck accidents. A crash with a commercial truck is decided by the carrier’s records and by who else stands behind the driver. Our Los Angeles truck accident page explains the rulebook and the port drayage trade that puts those trucks on city streets.
Motorcycle accidents. Lane splitting is not a violation in California and a missing helmet does not end a claim. Our Los Angeles motorcycle accident page covers the assumptions riders have to beat.
Pedestrian accidents. Drivers owe a duty of care to every pedestrian, in a crosswalk or out of one. Our Los Angeles pedestrian accident page explains the right-of-way rules insurers argue about and where the money comes from when the driver’s policy is small.
Brain injuries. A brain injury hides from scans and from adjusters while its costs compound for years. Our Los Angeles brain injury page covers how those cases are proven and why they must be built for the future.
Premises liability. A fall, a fire or an assault on someone else’s property turns on what the owner knew and what it did about it. Our Los Angeles premises liability page covers notice, negligent security, and the six-month rule for City sidewalks and parks.
Wrongful death. When an injury is fatal, California law gives specified family members a wrongful death claim and gives the estate a separate survival claim, each with its own deadline. Our Los Angeles wrongful death page explains who can file and what the claim covers.
Police misconduct. An injury or a death at the hands of an officer is a civil rights case with its own rules, deadlines and defendants. Our Los Angeles civil rights page covers claims against the City for LAPD and against the County for the Sheriff’s Department.
Economic damages are the losses with a receipt: medical bills, future care, lost wages, and lost earning capacity. Non-economic damages are the losses without one: pain, disability, disfigurement, and the loss of the life you had. Where the conduct that caused the injury was malicious, oppressive, or fraudulent, such as a drunk driver, Civil Code § 3294 allows punitive damages on clear and convincing proof; they are never guaranteed, and we evaluate them case by case. Partial fault does not bar your claim. California follows a pure comparative negligence rule: your recovery is reduced by your percentage of fault, never eliminated by it. Insurers exaggerate your share for exactly that reason, and we push back with evidence.
Our office is on Del Amo Boulevard in Torrance, and our attorneys bring more than 40 years of combined legal experience to every case we take. We prepare every case for trial from the first meeting, because insurers price a claim differently when the lawyer across the table will finish the fight in front of a jury.
The firm has recovered more than $100 million for California clients across verdicts and settlements. Separately, its trial results include a $21.1 million wrongful death verdict in a roadway-danger case against a public entity and a $16 million school sexual abuse verdict, each a real jury verdict in a specific case; outcomes always depend on the facts. See our case results.
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.
Injured and unable to travel? We meet clients at the hospital, at home, or wherever recovery requires, and an initial consultation can be held by Zoom video. Call 310-750-4149 any time, including nights, weekends, and holidays.
Start with trial experience, because insurers settle fairly only with lawyers they expect to see in a courtroom. David Gammill has tried over 100 cases to verdict, first as a prosecutor during seven years as a Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney and then as a trial lawyer for injured people. Every case is different, and past results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Then ask two practical questions. Has this lawyer taken a case like mine to a jury, or only settled one? And who will actually handle my file day to day? The answers tell you more than any advertisement.
Two years from the injury for most claims, under CCP § 335.1. If a public entity may be responsible, a written claim is due to that entity within six months under Gov. Code § 911.2; for the City of Los Angeles it goes to the City Clerk, for a freeway it goes to Caltrans, and for a Sheriff’s deputy or a county road it goes to the County. Courts rarely excuse a missed deadline.
Caltrans, if the road itself was part of the problem, because the freeways are state highways even where they run through the city; the Highway Patrol, not LAPD, will have written the crash report. The driver’s own liability does not depend on who owns the road, and most freeway cases are ordinary claims against the driver and the available insurance.
For most injuries inside the city, in the Los Angeles Superior Court’s Central District, assigned to an independent calendar judge at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse downtown. The court assigns the courthouse by where the injury happened, so a case from the Harbor, the Valley or the Westside can be heard in another district.
Nothing upfront and nothing out of pocket. Our fee is a percentage of the recovery, collected only if we win, and the consultation is free. The written contingency fee agreement linked above sets out the arrangement in detail.
Our office is in Torrance, and we represent injured people across the City of Los Angeles, from San Pedro, Wilmington and the Harbor through South Los Angeles and downtown to the Westside and the San Fernando Valley, and throughout the South Bay, including Torrance, Gardena, Inglewood, Carson, Hawthorne, Lawndale, El Segundo, Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach, Lomita, and the Palos Verdes Peninsula. See every South Bay city we serve.
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. No obligation, and everything you share is confidential.
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.
