Born in 1953, Timothy W. Nelson was raised on a farm near Redwood Falls, Minnesota. He attended Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota where he obtained his bachelor’s degree in physical education and health in 1975. He also started on the 1974 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference champion football team. Following college, Tim taught physical education and health in a small South Dakota town before returning to Minnesota where he was Assistant Principal at New London-Spicer High School for five years. While at New London-Spicer, he coached football, wrestling, and track, and obtained a master’s degree from St. Cloud State University in 1981. He received his law degree from the University of South Dakota in 1984, where he was a sterling honor graduate. Tim was admitted to the Minnesota bar in 1984 and the South Dakota bar in 1985. His first job as an attorney was with the firm of Gislason, Dosland, Hunter & Milecki in New Ulm. There, he not only represented personal injury victims, and also gained experience in the areas of insurance defense, criminal defense and the general practice of law. In 1986, Tim moved to St. Cloud to work for three years as an associate with Donohue, Rajkowski, Hansmeier, Grunke and Jovanovich. While continuing to gain experience in the field of personal injury, he also did criminal prosecution for the cities of Waite Park, St. Joseph and St. Stephen, and legal work for their corporate client, the Monsanto Chemical Company. In 1989, Tim joined a solo-practitioner, Geoff Gempeler, and helped him build his firm into a successful personal injury practice. In 1991, Tim and Geoff tried a defective products claim against a swimming pool manufacturer, obtaining a $983,000 verdict for a woman injured while diving into a pool. The verdict was believed to be one of the largest in Sherburne County history at the time. In 1992, Tim earned his certification by the Minnesota State Bar Association as a “Civil Trial Specialist”. This honor is reserved only for those attorneys who have been able to meet the rigorous requirements of certification, including demonstrated knowledge and substantial experience as a civil trial lawyer. In 1993, Tim became a partner in Nelson Hanson Personal Injury Attorneys and in 1995, the firm became known as NELSON PERSONAL INJURY ATTORNEYS. Since then, he has committed his practice to helping victims obtain fair compensation for their injures. In October of 2016, Tim was designated Senior Certified Specialist in Civil Trial Law by the Minnesota State Bar Association. He is a member of the American Trial Lawyer’s Association, the Minnesota Trial Lawyer’s Association and the Minnesota State Bar Association. He is also a former member of the Board of Governors of the Minnesota Trial Lawyer’s Association. He has taught continuing legal education classes to other attorneys and is an adjunct professor of Trial Practice at Mitchell Hamline School of Law.

Our experienced personal injury lawyers regularly represent clients suffering from minor, serious, and catastrophic injuries. We have extensive experience negotiating with insurance companies and litigating personal injury and wrongful death claims throughout Minnesota. Whether you were injured in an auto or truck accident, in a collision with an insured or underinsured driver, from a fall on dangerous or neglected property, as a result of medical malpractice, from a dog bite, or in a car accident involving alcohol, we will go to work for you immediately to seek the financial compensation you need and deserve.

Named Best Minnesota Personal Injury Lawyer, John J. Carlson is an experienced, successful trial attorney who has obtained millions of dollars in awards and settlements for his clients. 100% of his practice is devoted to litigation.

Todd Gardner began his professional life as a middle school teacher but opted to go to law school in his mid-twenties. During his time in law school, he clerked in the contracts department at Wells Fargo during the merger with Norwest Bank, clerked for five judges in the Minnesota Office of Administrative Hearings Workers' Compensation Division, and interned with a Hennepin County District Court judge. Following law school, he began working in a Minneapolis small firm representing injured workers and injured persons and later experienced representing insurance companies with a medium-sized law firm in St. Paul. In 2002, he left defending insurance companies and opened Gardner Law Office, LLC, focusing on serving the needs of the injured. With over 20 years of legal experience, Todd is personable and easy to talk to, but will always fight aggressively and ethically for his clients. At Gardner Law Office, we don't get paid unless our clients get paid.

Matt Schumacher is a shareholder in the firm of Randall & Schumacher, P.A. located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is admitted to practice in the State Court of Minnesota, Federal Court of Minnesota and various federal courts thru-out the country in MDL actions. Mr. Schumacher practices on the areas of personal injury and mass tort law. In the individual personal injury arena, Mr. Schumacher has represented persons injured in auto accidents, Slip and Fall cases, dog bite cases, and Trucking accident cases, among others. Mr. Schumacher also has a strong practice concentrated on pharmaceutical and medical device litigation. He successfully managed his Firm’s Fen-Phen and Vioxx cases in both the MDL courts and subsequent claims review process. In addition, he is responsible for managing his Firm’s Pelvic Mesh, metal-on-metal hip cases, Pradaxa cases, Fosamax and Testosterone cases. He is currently working up his Firm’s inventory of Benicar cases. Mr. Schumacher was appointed to perform document review in the DePuy ASR Hip litigation and reviewed records related to design and marketing. In addition, Mr. Schumacher was extensively involved in pursuing cases involving Zimmer Trilogy polyethylene hip replacements. His work in the Zimmer Trilogy hip cases involved drafting discovery requests and reviewing confidential company documents related to design (patent documents), marketing, post-market surveillance, and adverse events. In addition, he took numerous corporate depositions in the Zimmer Trilogy hip cases. Mr. Schumacher worked extensively on a St. Jude heart valve case alleging that a product defect in a leaflet of the valve caused it to break off, causing the death of the plaintiff. This case involved reviewing numerous company work-process and quality documents as well as patent documents related to the device including taking a corporate witness deposition. Mr. Schumacher was also responsible for his Firm’s work-up of C.R. Bard pelvic mesh case selected as a Bellwether trial pick. His work in this case involved reviewing thousands of documents as well as taking the depositions of the implanting and explanting physicians, as well as generic liability witnesses. Mr. Schumacher is driven by his attention to detail and ability to develop themes in a case. Mr. Schumacher has over twenty years of experience in mass tort litigation and is a tenacious advocate for his clients.