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Riverside, CA— In 2014, Riverside car accident attorney Greg Rizio made headlines when he secured a record-setting $57.9 million jury verdict for a 25-year-old man who was injured in a car accident on Interstate 15 Freeway. What made the verdict so newsworthy in 2014 was that it was the largest personal injury verdict in Riverside County history at that time. Moreover, what makes it remarkable – five years later – is that Greg Rizio’s historic verdict still holds the record today.
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The case – known as Herman v. Cardiel – was not only the largest verdict in the history of Riverside County. It was also the highest personal injury award in the State of California in 2014. On the national level in 2014, it was the top plaintiff’s personal injury verdict in the auto accident category and was among the 10th largest overall U.S. verdicts that year.
Mr. Rizio’s peers in the legal industry also noticed the significance of his result. He was awarded “California’s Consumer Attorney of the Year” by the Consumer Attorneys of California organization, “Trial Lawyer of the Year” by the Consumer Attorneys of the Inland Empire, and the Leo Deegan Inns of Court voted him the “Most Outstanding Lawyer in Riverside County.”
However, perhaps the greatest irony was that Greg Rizio didn’t take the case because he knew it would be a guaranteed big dollar case. In fact, the case had been turned down by numerous attorneys before him. He took the case because he knew it was the right thing to do when the victim’s mother contacted him.
“I still remember meeting with the victim’s mother. It was just weeks before the statute of limitations was set to expire, and her son’s case had been turned down by many firms. She explained that despite her many personal pleas the defendant’s insurance company would not pay her son the full policy limits of $15,000, even though her son was going to require a lifetime of care,” Rizio recalled. “As a trial attorney, you never know what the final outcome is going to be, but I became a lawyer because I wanted to help the little guy beat the big guys, like this mom who was just fighting for her son.”
“Trials are expensive for both parties, and there is always a real possibility of losing in the trial,” Rizio said. “But there is also the opportunity to secure a far better result for your client. In this case, my client’s injuries were absolutely devastating, and I knew that the care he needed would far exceed any pre-trial offer we would receive. Going to trial was the right decision because the jury understood that no amount of money could ever make up for the losses my client had suffered. But unfortunately, in a catastrophic injury case such as this, monetary compensation is the only justice available to victims,” he added. “I was very pleased that the jury gave us an amount that would help my client live comfortably for the rest of his life.”
In the five years since the record-setting verdict, Rizio partnered with colleagues Micha Star Liberty and Daren Lipinsky to form Rizio Liberty Lipinsky (RLL) Law Firm – one of the few statewide consumer law firms with offices throughout Northern and Southern California. RLL represents victims in personal injury, discrimination and employment law.
Release ID: 503603