Vehicle Insurance

Cory A. Santos, Sr., Esq. is the owner/manager of Santos Law, PLLC. Attorney Santos has a long and distinguished history of helping clients throughout Nevada by equalizing the playing field for his clients. Practicing mainly in Workers’ Compensation, Entertainment Law, Personal Injury, and Criminal Law, he has helped thousands of clients over the last two decades. Mr. Santos has litigated several cases up to the Nevada Supreme Court. He was successful in a major precedent setting case in workers’ compensation. In Flamingo Hilton v. Gilbert, 122 Nev. 1279, 148 P.3d 738 (2006), the treating physician stated that the injured worker required ongoing medications to maintain maximum medical improvement (MMI), however, then inappropriately stated that the injured worker needed to pay for the medications with his own private insurance once the case closed after he took his Permanent Partial Disability (PPD) settlement. After several appeals, the Nevada Supreme Court agreed with Attorney Santos’ argument and now injured workers are able to accept their PPD and the insurance company has to provide ongoing medical maintenance if the physician recommends it to maintain MMI status. This case opened the door for injured workers to finally not have to utilize their PPD settlement or their own private health insurance to pay for maintenance that the workers compensation insurer is responsible for. Additionally, the Court held that when a doctor provides an opinion which goes beyond a medical opinion but becomes a legal conclusion, it is an improper opinion (in Gilbert, the treating physician stated Mr. Gilbert should use his private health insurance to provide for his medications). Lastly, the Court clarified that when an insurance company issues several determinations regarding a subject (in Gilbert it was claim closure) in a certain time frame, an injured worker need only appeal the last in time determination to perfect an appeal. This decision was a big win for injured workers in Nevada. In another case in which Attorney Santos represented an injured worker before the Nevada Supreme Court, CCSD v. Marshall, (Supreme Court No. 41374 (2005)), the injured worker had surgery on his shoulder and eventually was sent for a PPD evaluation. The first PPD doctor stated that Marshall was entitled to a 10% PPD award. The 10% PPD award was denied by the self-insured CCSD and it had another doctor review the information. The second doctor agreed with the first doctor and stated Marshall should get a 10% award. However, CCSD still refused to pay the 10% award and had a third doctor review the file. The third doctor stated Marshall should only get a 5% PPD award which CCSD then offered to him. Attorney Santos stood behind his client and argued to the Nevada Supreme Court that his client deserved the full 10% PPD award based on the first two doctors’ opinions. The Nevada Supreme Court agreed in an unpublished decision ruling for Marshall. At the forefront of Nevada Workers’ Compensation policy, Attorney Santos has testified before the Nevada Legislature regarding workers’ compensation issues and has written on Nevada Workers’ Compensation law in the Nevada Justice Association magazine, “Advocate”. Attorney Santos has had success in other areas of law for his clients. For example, in the area of Personal Injury, he successfully represented a person injured in the nationally covered infamous Mizpah Hotel Fire in Reno, Nevada obtaining a settlement for his client after a battle with the insurance company. In the area of Entertainment Law, he has been legal counsel for 2 feature films (1 Interrogation, Project: Puppies for Christmas), represented entertainers, producers, directors, musicians, athletes, and well known casting director Marilee Lear of Lear Entertainment. He has a background in acting, having worked in commercials and on several films (https://www.imdb.com/name/nm8435386/) which augments his courtroom representation of his clients. In the area of Criminal Law, he has represented individuals charged with misdemeanors, gross misdemeanors and felonies. Charges have ranged from battery, assault, domestic violence and driving violations. He has also represented clients with traffic tickets all across Nevada (Goldfield, Tonopah, Hawthorne, Fernley, Searchlight, Las Vegas, Reno). Attorney Santos’ legal career started out as a law clerk for several law offices in Reno and Las Vegas. The son of Jeannette Santos and legendary trial attorney and Boxing Hall of Fame inductee Herbert J. Santos, Sr., Esq., he learned trial techniques and tactics at a young age watching his father in the courtroom. During law school, he was fortunate to law clerk for several experienced litigation firms. At one firm, he worked on the infamous Equinox pyramid scheme lawsuit. At another firm, he worked on motor vehicle accidents, trip/slip and falls, and premises liability. He also clerked at an insurance defense firm. While at these positions, he learned from some of the most experienced attorneys in southern Nevada. He took this valuable knowledge with him when he was admitted to the Nevada and Utah state Bars, respectively. In 2002, he made the choice to represent injured workers when he accepted a position as a Deputy Attorney for the State of Nevada at Nevada Attorney for Injured Workers where he worked in the Las Vegas office until 2008. He then litigated cases with his brother Joel for ten years. In 2018, he opened Santos Law, PLLC. where he now represents clients in northern and southern Nevada. A native Nevadan, Attorney Santos is proud to be a member of the prestigious charter class of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) William S. Boyd School of Law. At Boyd, he received several scholarships, most notably, the Nevada Trial Lawyers Scholarship and the Boyd School of Law Community Service Scholarship. Prior to receiving his Juris Doctorate (J.D.) from Boyd, he received his Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) from the University of Nevada, where he received several academic scholarships in history. Graduating on the Dean’s List, he majored in history with a minor in criminal justice. At the University of Nevada, he was a member of the Nevada Boxing Team from 1993-1996, wrote for the university newspaper, and was a member of several university organizations. Prior to that, he graduated from Robert McQueen High School in Reno, Nevada in 1993 where he participated on the football and track teams. Attorney Santos is married to an attorney and has four children. He is a member of the Knights of Columbus, The Prospectors' Club in Reno and the FBI InfraGard. Over the years he has been active in various non-profit activities such as serving on the Board of Governors for Bishop Manogue High School in Reno, Nevada, the Board of Directors for the UNLV Interfaith Student Center, and on the Child Abuse Prevention Council for Olive Crest Homes a

Our firm has been fighting for the rights of the injured and disabled of Colorado since 1977. Tom Bulger has been a member of the firm (then known as Silvern Law Offices, PC) 1996 when he moved to Colorado here from Philadelphia, where he had worked for a large personal injury law firm. He is a graduate of Canisius College (honors in History, and International Affairs) and Rutgers University School of Law (1993). He has worked as a clerk for a United States District Court Judge and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in its criminal and Organized Crime Divisions. He has been successful as sole trial counsel and also before appellate courts. His record in jury trial includes verdicts for our clients of $640,000.00 (motorcycle accident), $160,000.00 (auto accident); and over $500,000 (slip and fall on ice in the mountains). Recently his appellate advocacy on appeal preserved a $470,000.00 judgment that he had won in Adams County in a slip and fall case. He has also obtained millions of dollars in quiet, confidential settlement for our clients, and has received a rating of 4.4 of 5 from the Martindale-Hubble peer review process (Distinguished) and 4.8 of 5 (Preeminent) based on client surveys. Tom has handled cases all over Colorado, from trials in the Denver Metro area (Denver, Arvada, Wheat Ridge, Boulder, Lakewood, Littleton, Thorton and Broomfield) to the mountains. He is currently the managing member of the firm. In addition to his background in personal injury law, he has developed a strong employee benefit practice which focuses on long term disability, short term disability, medical (and other insurance benefits), and ERISA cases (the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974). He has helped hundreds of Colorado workers obtain needed insurance benefits.

Jason Epstein is a partner at Premier Law Group, PLLC, a Bellevue personal injury and employment law firm representing victims of negligence and wrongful conduct. A Seattle native, Jason received his B.A. in Philosophy from USC and his J.D. from Pepperdine University. He has dedicated his practice solely to helping accident victims and their families achieve full recoveries. Over the course of his career, he has had extensive experience and success in cases involving both catastrophic and fatal injuries, medical malpractice issues and motor vehicle accidents of all types. He is frequently asked to speak on personal injury and trial practice topics to other groups of attorneys and is a member of several professional organizations, including the American Bar Association, the Washington Bar Association and the American Trial Lawyers Association. Jason is also a published author.

Ted Whittenburg has 22 years of litigation experience and specializes in helping those who have suffered personal injuries as the result of other’s negligence. He represents clients who have been injured in motor vehicle crashes, construction accidents, slip and falls, and all other types of negligence cases, as well as those who are injured on the job. A growing number of Ted’s clients are bicyclists and pedestrians who have suffered injuries at the hands of distracted and inattentive drivers. He has represented clients in numerous catastrophic injury cases, as well as claims involving connective tissue neck and back injuries typically sustained in motor vehicle collisions. His early experience representing insured defendants has given Ted valuable insight into how insurance companies evaluate personal injury cases, which has proven invaluable in negotiating settlements for his clients.

Joshua P. Myers is a founding partner of the Premier Personal Injury Law Firm, Schultz & Myers, LLC. Mr. Myers exclusively focuses his practice on Personal Injury Law and specializes in Tractor-Trailer Semi-Truck Accident cases. He is known throughout the community as a fierce advocate for injury victims and takes a no-nonsense “guerilla warfare” approach when fighting the insurance companies. Throughout his career, Josh Myers has devoted 100% of his time to fighting for injury victims. This intense focus on injury law as the foundation which has led to his successes. In just the past several years alone, he has helped obtain tens of millions of dollars in settlements and judgments. In particular, his practice specifically focuses on two areas – commercial motor vehicle collisions (tractor-trailers) and insurance litigation such as bad faith and coverage determinations. Given his notoriety in these areas, the Missouri Bar Association has asked him to train other lawyers on how to properly investigate and litigate commercial motor vehicle cases. In 2010, the Missouri Lawyers Weekly named him as one of Missouri’s “Up & Coming Lawyers”. He was later honored by Missouri Lawyer’s Weekly as on of the “Winningest Lawyers” based upon his trial results. From 2010 – 2013, he was recognized by Super Lawyers as a “Rising Star”. From 2014 through the present, he has been honored annually as a “Super Lawyer”. In 2018, he was named as one of the “Best Lawyers in America” by U.S. News and World Report in the field of Insurance Litigation.

Robert Lantzy is a graduate of Central Michigan University and graduated cum laude from the Detroit College of Law at Michigan State University in 1997. Robert is an experienced trial attorney and concentrates his practice in many areas of civil litigation, including truck accidents, motorcycle accidents, motor vehicle accidents, dog attacks, lead paint exposure and child lead poisoning, mold exposure and cases involving other general environmental contamination. He is a member of the American Bar Association, the Michigan Association for Justice, and the Macomb County Bar Association. Robert spent the first years of his legal career as a defense attorney handling cases for insurance companies and their insured. He was named a Partner at a preeminent insurance defense law firm before joining Buckfire & Buckfire, P.C. Lantzy has developed a successful track record of significant trial verdicts. He is well-received by juries due to his detailed trial preparation and his presentation which provides jurors with great insight into his integrity and his compassion for helping his injured clients. He has been named a “Super Lawyer” for his accomplishments. Clients consistently provide excellent feedback in the form of five-star reviews and thoughtful and compassionate praise of his file handling and resolution of claims on behalf of his clients. Robert has been a featured speaker for Mothers Against Drunk Driving, hospital case managers, city and county health departments and motorcycle advocate organizations.

Todd C. Barsumian has been named a Super Lawyer in the field of Plaintiff's Personal Injury by Super Lawyers Magazine since 2018. In 2017 he became the recipient of America's Top 100 Attorneys Lifetime Achievement Award. Prior to turning 40, he was named a Rising Star by Super Lawyers on multiple occasions. Todd has also been selected to The National Trial Lawyers Association: Top 40 under 40 and The National Trial Lawyers Association has since been named Todd a “Top 100 Civil Plaintiff’s Attorney”. In 2018, he was also named to the Nation's Top One Percent by the National Association of Distinguished Counsel. Todd started his legal career at a large Evansville law firm, where he was a litigation partner typically hired to defend claims brought by the injured, including multiple cases that made it to the Indiana Supreme Court. In 2010, he started Barsumian Law. In 2013, Todd returned to his roots, opening an office in his hometown of Newburgh. In 2018 he opened offices in Evansville and the Indianapolis suburb of Fishers and in 2021 he and Jonathan Armiger founded Barsumian Armiger Injury Lawyers. Since 2000, Todd has also been licensed in Kentucky, where he has handled cases from trial courts up to the Kentucky Supreme Court. Todd represented a severely injured child in a negligence and product liability case that prompted a national recall of a product purchased off the shelf of a Tri-State retailer. He once defended corporations in similar cases and counseled manufacturers on product safety and recall issues. Shortly after opening his Newburgh office, Todd was part of the trial team for a Gibson County man who was severely injured when the vehicle he was traveling in was struck by another vehicle that had disregarded a stop sign on a county road. After settling the case with the other driver’s insurance company, Todd and his co-counsel turned to his client’s own insurance company. When the insurer balked at paying much more than the man's medical expenses, they took the case to trial in Princeton and recovered their client’s full policy limits, roughly twice what had been offered. Todd has served as the Chair of Medical Review Panels in the past, but now represents victims of medical malpractice before the Indiana Department of Insurance and in courts in Indiana and Kentucky. He also routinely handles serious injuries caused by car accidents, truck accidents, slip and falls, and nursing home negligence, as well as wrongful death claims.

Early in his career, Ronny defended big insurance companies at large law firms before devoting his practice solely to helping injured people win claims against insurance companies. Ronny focused his legal education in insurance law, graduating second in his class, magna cum laude from Mercer University’s Walter F. George School of Law, where he was elected to Law Review, inducted into the Brainerd Currie Honor Society, and won the Guerry R. Moore Insurance Law Award. Recruited by Georgia’s top insurance defense firms, Ronny learned what insurance companies fear and what makes them pay fair compensation to injured parties. Recently, Ronny received state-wide recognition for obtaining a $1 million recovery for a high school track coach struck by a truck while jogging with her students. He recovered ten times the available policy limit after the insurer refused to treat his client fairly. More recently, Ronny represented a pedestrian who was killed when a vehicle left its lane on I-985, and recovered over $1.9 million for the victim’s family.

Sam G. Caras (samcaras@caraslaw.com) was born and raised in Dayton, Ohio. After a youth marked by participation in sports, Sam attended Wright State University, from which he graduated cum laude. During his last two years of undergraduate education he worked as a legislative aid for the Honorable C. J. McLin, and as a laborer in several industrial plants. Sam enrolled in the University of Dayton Law School in 1977 and graduated in 1980. During law school he enjoyed the privilege to clerk for the Honorable George J. Gounaris of the Civil Division of the Montgomery County Common Pleas Court for three years, while working part-time for two years with the City of Dayton Prosecutor's Office. Following graduation from law school he entered into private practice as an associate in an insurance defense firm, focusing on civil litigation defense of motor vehicle accidents, products liability, insurance, and professional liability cases. For several years after becoming partner in the insurance defense firm his practice concentration increasingly developed in plaintiff's personal injury and wrongful death. In 1990 he left the insurance defense practice and has since been practicing almost exclusively in the areas of medical and professional malpractice, wrongful death, serious personal injury, insurance litigation, with periodic referrals for business and contract litigation. Sam has practiced before all levels of Ohio courts, including successful arguments before the Ohio Supreme Court. He also has extensive experience in federal practice, particularly including practice before the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, United States Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, along with pro hac vice admissions in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama and U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.

In 2002, attorneys Andrew Hollis and Josh Wright joined together to form the Hollis Wright Law Firm. The two attorneys had one simple philosophy in starting the firm: to put clients first at the law firm and to work hard each and every day to protect the client’s interests by seeking compensation for the injuries they sustained. This goal has served them and the other attorneys at the firm incredibly well throughout the years and has helped them achieve some outstanding and fulfilling results. Hollis Wright has become one of the leading personal injury firms in the State of Alabama and has already established itself as a key law firm nationally in the area of mass torts. Our attorneys are aggressive, zealous advocates for the clients we represent. We are highly skilled in litigating and trying complex and contentious cases while always maintaining a sense of professionalism, integrity and respect for others. Our attorneys have literally tried or settled hundreds of million-dollar cases. However, our efforts are not only directed at achieving great monetary results for our clients. We understand that when you contact our firm, either you or a loved one has sustained an injury, oftentimes life altering. It is a time such as this that you need an attorney who will demonstrate compassion and take the time to truly understand your situation and the difficult challenges that you face. Our attorneys and staff members are dedicated to helping you through the litigation process and communicating with you about the developments in your case every step of the way.