An injury case is won or lost long before anyone sees a courtroom. The Vertanous Firm has recovered more than $60 Million for injured Californians, including a $22.6 Million jury verdict against the City of Los Angeles, and every case we take is built the same way: for trial, from day one, so the insurance company prices it that way.
Why Trial Readiness Matters
Insurance companies do not pay for injuries. They pay to remove risk. The number a carrier puts on your case is its estimate of what a jury would do, discounted by its confidence that your lawyer will never get in front of one. That is why the same crash, the same fracture, and the same medical bills are worth one number in the hands of a settlement mill and a very different number in the hands of a firm that tries cases. Trial readiness is not a slogan. It is leverage.
We build every case for trial from the first phone call: evidence preserved before it disappears, treating physicians engaged early, damages documented in the daily-life terms a jury can feel. Carriers can read a file. When the file says ready, the number moves. Our largest result, a $22.6 Million jury verdict against the City of Los Angeles for a pedestrian struck on the head by a falling light-pole cap, came after a fourteen-day jury trial, not a phone call. You can read how that case was built.
California law starts from a simple promise: everyone is responsible for an injury caused by their failure to use ordinary care. Civil Code section 1714(a). Our job is turning that promise into a number that reflects what was actually taken from you.
Practice Areas
The Vertanous Firm is a plaintiff-side injury trial practice. If someone else's carelessness put you in a hospital, there is a good chance we have built this exact case before:
The Process
Every case is different. The discipline is the same.
Call, text, or email. The consultation is free, we respond the same day, and we will tell you honestly whether you have a case, even when the honest answer is no.
Photographs, camera footage, witnesses, and preservation letters, sent before evidence is repaired, overwritten, or lost. Cases are won in the first weeks more often than the last.
You treat. We document. Diagnoses, imaging, specialists, and the daily-life effects your family sees at home. Gaps in treatment are how carriers discount claims, so we help you avoid them.
Not a form letter. The demand the carrier receives is the case it will face in front of a jury, with the medicine, the liability proof, and the law attached.
Discovery, depositions, and experts. Most cases settle. The strong settlements go to clients whose lawyers prepared as if none would.
Accepting a settlement or going to verdict is always your call. Our job is making sure it is an informed one, with a straight recommendation either way.
Injured in Pasadena? Tell us what happened.
Free Case ReviewDamages
No honest lawyer quotes a number at the first call. But the components are settled, and building each one correctly is the job:
And if the defense says you were partly at fault, that reduces the number; it does not erase it. California follows pure comparative negligence under Li v. Yellow Cab Co. (1975) 13 Cal.3d 804.
Protect Your Case
Carriers do not need to beat your case if you beat it for them. The five mistakes we see every month:
None of these mistakes is fatal by itself. Cases survive them; they are just worth less than they should be, and the discount was avoidable. If you have already given a statement or signed something, do not panic and do not go silent. Call us, tell us exactly what happened, and let us assess the damage honestly.
The Firm
The Vertanous Firm is built deliberately small. When you call, you talk to Tom Vertanous, the attorney who will build your case, not a case manager reading a script. Tom publishes on the medicine behind injury cases and works with treating physicians, neurologists, and life-care planners so the file the carrier reads is the file a jury would believe. That approach has produced more than $60 Million in recoveries for injured Californians.
We serve clients in English, Armenian, and Farsi from our office at 301 N. Lake Ave in Pasadena, and we represent injured people across the San Gabriel Valley and all of Los Angeles County. We know the local courts, the local carriers, and the defense firms they hire, because we see them across the table every month.
Talk to the lawyer, not a screener.
Get a Free ConsultationDeadlines
Two deadlines govern most California injury cases. The general statute of limitations is two years from the date of injury under Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1. But if a public entity is involved, a city vehicle, a county road, a school district, you must present a written government claim within six months under Government Code section 911.2, long before any lawsuit is filed. Some claims carry different rules; do not assume yours is the ordinary case.
Evidence has a shorter clock than the law does. Camera footage is overwritten in days. Hazards get repaired. Witnesses move. The earlier we start, the stronger the case.
If we don't win, you don't pay.
The consultation is free. The representation is on contingency. If there is no recovery, you owe no attorney fee.
Questions We Hear Every Week
Nothing out of pocket. We work on contingency: the consultation is free, we advance the costs of building the case, and if there is no recovery you owe no attorney fee. The fee comes out of the recovery, never out of your pocket, and you approve any settlement before it happens.
No honest lawyer quotes a number at the first call. Value turns on liability, the medicine, the available insurance, and how well the case is built. The components are settled: medical expenses past and future, lost earnings and earning capacity, and the human damages a jury may award for pain, disability, and loss of enjoyment of life. Build those correctly and the number follows.
Generally two years from the date of injury under Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1. But if a public entity is involved, you must present a written government claim within six months under Government Code section 911.2, long before any lawsuit. Some cases carry shorter or different deadlines. Call before you assume you have time.
No. California follows pure comparative negligence under Li v. Yellow Cab Co. (1975) 13 Cal.3d 804. Your recovery is reduced by your percentage of fault, not eliminated by it. Adjusters use fault arguments to discount claims; juries decide percentages, and the percentage is worth fighting over.
Most cases settle, and the strongest settlements go to clients whose lawyers were visibly ready to try the case. We prepare every case for trial from day one. Whether to accept a settlement is always your decision, not ours, and we will give you a straight recommendation either way.
It depends on the medicine. We do not settle before your injuries are understood, because a case settled early is priced before the MRI, the specialist, and the surgical recommendation. Straightforward claims can resolve in months. Litigated cases often take a year or more. We move the case; we do not let it sit.
Yes. The firm serves clients in English, Armenian, and Farsi, and you will not be handed off to a translator to talk about your own case. Pasadena and the San Gabriel Valley are home to one of the largest Armenian communities in the country, and we are proud to serve it.
Client Reviews
Ani A., Glendalevia Yelp"The guy who hit me had a low max coverage. I don't know what magic Vertanous Firm worked, but I got paid for my damages less than a year out from my accident, and was paid three times more than the policy limit."
Tony K., Burbankvia Yelp"Tom is the absolute best. He knows the law and he also knows medicine. One meeting with Tom and he was able to understand the medicine behind my condition and find the appropriate doctors."
Bobby S., Los Angelesvia Yelp"Tom is a straight shooter and he's whip-smart. He treated my case as though it were his own. He has a gift for compassion that sets him apart from other legal professionals."
Where We Work
From our office at 301 N. Lake Ave in Pasadena, we represent injured people across the San Gabriel Valley and all of Los Angeles County, in English, Armenian, and Farsi.
Contact
Call, text, email, or send a brief message. We respond the same day. Free consultation. No fee unless we win.
