Personal Injury

Paul F. Oliveri proudly serves as Director Emeritus in the New York State Trial Lawyers Association, whose organizational mission is “to promote a safer and healthier society, to assure access to the civil justice system by those who are wrongfully injured and to advance representation of the public by ethical, well-trained lawyers. ”Mr. Oliveri has served on several of its committees, including the New York State Trial Lawyers Association’s Judicial Screening Committee. Mr. Oliveri has addressed legislators and lectured before citizen groups about issues facing accident victims, consumers, the civil justice system, and has actively fought to preserve the rights of the injured. He is also a member of the American Association for Justice, the National Crime Victims Bar Association, the New York State Bar Association, the New York County Lawyers Association and several other Bar groups and associations. Mr. Oliveri has been honored on various occasions by being featured in Who’s Who in American Law and has been recognized by the respected legal services company of LexisNexis® in its Martindale- Hubbell Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers™ with an “AV” rating in the practice areas of Motor Vehicle law, Premises Liability Law, Medical and Dental Malpractice law, Personal Injury Law. Less than 5% of all law firms qualify for this rating, making Oliveri & Schwartz, P.C. one of the most distinguished and respected law firms in the country.

Bobby Walia proudly serves Flushing, New York and the neighboring communities in the areas of Accident & Injury law, Lawsuits & Disputes.

Dennis Spurling is a native of Southern California. He is a graduate of Grambling State University, (B.S. 1997), The Southern University Law Center (J.D. 2000) and the Tulane University School of Law, (LL.M. 2001). He began his legal career as an associate at a small Plaintiff oriented personal injury firm in New Orleans, Louisiana. where he has been licensed to practice law since he was sworn in October 2000. Mr. Spurling is a plaintiff’s oriented civil litigation attorney focused on serious injury claims resulting from motor vehicle, 18-wheeler, motorcycle wrecks, along with dog bite and trip and fall cases. Mr. Spurling now is the owner of a multi-jurisdictional civil litigation firm based in Houston, Texas. He is licensed to practice law in multiple states and jurisdictions, including Texas, Illinois, New York & Louisiana. He is also admitted to practice law before the Supreme Court of the United States of America, The United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, The United States Southern District of Texas, The United States Middle District of Louisiana, The United States Western District of Louisiana, The United States Eastern District of Louisiana, The United States Southern District of New York and The United States Eastern District of New York.

JOHN R. HOWIE, JR., is an accomplished trial attorney who focuses his practice on personal injury cases, including trucking and auto accidents, bad faith insurance practices, product liability, premises liability, medical negligence, nursing home litigation, consumer protection and breach of contract cases. He graduated with a BBA from Southern Methodist University in 1994 and went on to graduate from SMU Dedman School of Law in 2000. During law school, he served as the Notes and Comments Editor (1999) and Co-Managing Editor (2000) of The International Lawyer. John was admitted to the State Bar of Texas in 2000. He is also a member of the Tarrant County, Dallas County and American Bar Associations, and is admitted to practice before all Texas state courts as well as the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. He is a member of the Dallas and Tarrant County Trial Lawyers Associations, American Trial Lawyers Association and Dallas and Tarrant County Associations of Young Lawyers. He is a sustaining member of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association.

Jack E. "Bobby" Truitt was born in Texas, but raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. After graduating from Jesuit High School of New Orleans, he attended Louisiana State University where he obtained a business administration degree with a minor in political science. He then obtained his J.D. from Loyola University School of Law and has been licensed in Louisiana and Texas since. He is admitted to practice in all Louisiana State and Federal District and Appellate Courts and has been admitted to the United States Supreme Court as well. Mr. Truitt began his practice with a small defense firm that practiced primarily admiralty, worker's compensation, and general casualty litigation. However, he soon joined a larger insurance defense firm in Metairie, Louisiana where he began trying many cases on behalf of major national clients such as Kmart, Cox Cable, Tonti Properties, and Walgreens; there, he obtained numerous "zero verdicts" in bench and jury trials. Mr. Truitt soon became a partner in this firm, but was dissatisfied with the "big firm" mentality, so he formed his own firm with two assistant district attorneys, who thereafter returned to practicing criminal law on a full-time basis. The Truitt Law Firm continued with the association of Jack E. Truitt, Bobby's father, who has since passed, and others. The firm continues to represent major national clients successfully at the trial and appellate levels. The firm has significant experience in the areas of pharmaceutical defense, automobile litigation, premises liability, construction litigation, worker's compensation, business litigation, and criminal defense. Mr. Truitt has been a presenter at many continuing education seminars for other lawyers, paralegals, and claims professionals. He is also a former member of the Louisiana Bar Association House of Delegates, the Louisiana Association of Defense Counsel, and the prestigious Defense Research Institute. He has achieved the highest rating from his peers in Martindale Hubbell, and the firm recently was awarded the distinction of approval by A. M. Best Insurance Ratings. Mr. Truitt serves on the Board of Directors for the West St. Tammany YMCA and is involved in other organizations benefitting the community. Mr. Truitt resides in Covington, Louisiana with his wife and three boys.

Attorney Marc Karlin is a partner in the Los Angeles law firm of Karlin & Karlin, Attorneys at Law, practicing throughout Southern California in the areas of Immigration law & Personal Injury law, & Business Litigation. A native of Los Angeles, Mr. Karlin earned his Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of California at San Diego and his Juris Doctorate law degree from Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. While attending law school, Mr. Karlin completed an externship for the Honorable Cynthia Holcomb Hall of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Prior to forming Karlin & Karlin in 1993, Marc Karlin worked as an associate attorney in law firms in San Diego and Los Angeles. Mr. Karlin maintains his commitment to the legal profession and professional growth through membership in several professional organizations, such as the Los Angeles County Bar Association and the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles. In service to the community, Mr. Karlin lends his legal expertise on a pro bono basis to Homeboy Industries, Los Angeles, founded by one of his Loyola High School instructors, Fr. Greg Boyle.

We represent injured victims and workers. Our law firm has a well-earned reputation for providing aggressive and high quality representation, and we know injury law.

I have been a practicing attorney for the past 37 years, concentrating in Family Law, Personal Injury, Probate and Civil Litigation. If your case is contested, whether it be a divorce, custody, personal injury, or almost any matter requiring litigation, you need a trial lawyer in your corner. I have successfully litigated numerous jury trial (injury cases), and non-jury matters(divorce, custody etc.) Call me for a free initial consult.

Kevin Fitzgerald was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio and is proud of his Midwestern roots and work ethic. Although neither of his parents are attorneys, Kevin jokes that he was “raised” by plaintiffs’ lawyers. He first began working at a plaintiff’s injury law firm when he was fifteen years old and a sophomore in high school. For the ten years prior to attending law school, Kevin served as a litigation assistant at a national law practice where he worked closely with the firm’s trial team representing clients injured by asbestos-containing products. Kevin graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in History and Minors in Geology and Geography from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Kevin attended the University of Maine School of Law where he graduated with honors. During law school, he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Ocean & Coastal Law Journal. Kevin was the recipient of the American Bar Association’s Award for Excellence in Land Use and Local Government Law, an outstanding scholastic achievement award in Environmental Law, and the Horace S. Libby Memorial Scholarship. In 2015, Kevin founded the Fitzgerald Law Group, LLC where he continues to concentrate his practice in representing men, women and children injured by medical devices, prescription drugs, over-the-counter products, asbestos, and in wrongful death and serious personal injury cases. Prior to founding the Fitzgerald Law Group, LLC, Kevin worked for another national mass tort law firm for fourteen years, serving as its managing attorney from 2008 to 2015. During his career, Kevin has played an integral role in developing, commencing and litigating significant injury cases from the initial case investigation stage through trial. He has taken or defended hundreds of depositions of plaintiffs, corporate employees, liability and causation experts, sales representatives and other key witnesses. He has helped identify experts in numerous disciplines and assisted in preparing their testimony for deposition and trial. He has also served as a member of the plaintiffs’ trial team in four national pharmaceutical drug cases, including Schedin v. Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceuticals, Inc., et al. in which the jury returned a $1.6 million verdict in favor of the plaintiff. Over the last fifteen years, Kevin has represented thousands of clients in a wide array of medical device and prescription drug cases as well as other consumer protection matters including Actos, Arava, Avelox, Baycol, Bextra, Biomet Hip Implants, Byetta, Celebrex, Depuy ASR & Pinnacle Hip Implants, Effexor, Ephedra, Fen Phen, Fleet Phospho-Soda, Fosamax, Gadolinium, Levaquin, Lipitor, Mesothelioma, Mirena IUD, Nuvaring, Ortho Evra, Phenylpropanolamine (PPA), Pradaxa, Pravachol, Rezulin, Risperdal, Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs), Stadol, Stryker Rejuvenate & ABGII Hip Implants, Talcum Powder, Testosterone Replacement Therapy (“Low-T”), Transvaginal Mesh, Trovan, Viagra, Vioxx, Xarelto, Yaz, Zicam, Zimmer Hip Implants, Zithromax, Zofran, Zoloft, Zometa and Zyprexa. In addition to pharmaceutical and medical device cases, Kevin has experience handling wrongful death, personal injury, data breach, Fair Debt Collection Practice Act (FDCPA), and consumer protection cases. Kevin lives in Portland, Maine with his wife, who is also a lawyer, and their three children. The family are members of Our Lady of Hope Parish in Portland. When he is not working late, he enjoys cooking, hiking and fishing throughout the State of Maine, coaching youth athletics, and cheering on his favorite Cleveland sports’ teams.

Doug Zanes has built a career practicing law in Arizona. He is a Phoenix personal injury lawyer, as well as a Tucson car accident attorney. Doug is only licensed to practice law in Arizona and only represents clients in Arizona. He is not licensed to practice law in Washington State or any other state in the U.S. Doug also practices law in the United States District Courts within Arizona and within the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Doug spent many years defending clients charged with federal crimes and also defended clients accused of violating U.S. immigration laws. He is the founder and owner of Zanes Law Group, PLLC. His firm focuses on representing injury victims in Arizona. Raised in Douglas, Arizona, Doug Zanes went to college at Arizona State University and graduated from law school at St. Mary’s University School of Law in Texas. Doug began practicing law in Phoenix in 1997 and has been inducted into the Million Dollar Advocates Forum, which is one of the most prestigious groups of trial lawyers in the U.S. Membership is limited to attorneys who have won verdicts and settlements exceeding $1 million. Less than one percent of U.S. lawyers are members.