Guldjian|Fasel Serving San Diego

NEW OFFICE. NEW PARTNERS. NEW OPPORTUNITIES.

Best Friends Find Best Opportunity for Personal Injury Service in New San Diego Office of Guldjian|Fasel Accident Attorneys

by Dan Baldwin

Best friends Kaaveh K. Zargar and Chad Irvin planned to open their own law firm since their days at Thomas Jefferson Law School. That opportunity arrived, but in a manner not anticipated, when offered partnerships in the new Guldjian|Fasel office in San Diego. With the expansion, the personal injury firm now has a team of attorneys, supported by a full-sized staff including paralegals, legal assistants, medical billing negotiators, case managers, intake specialists, records, and human resources.

Although they worked separately for a number of years, their plan was always to work together in San Diego. Zargar returned and worked as a personal injury attorney. During that time, he served as co-counsel with Chris Guldjian on a few successful and high-profile cases. “After that, Chris and Frank asked that I come in and join their firm.”

Irvin served as a defense attorney in San Diego for a few years. “The entire time we did that, Kaaveh and I were in constant communication. Our motivation was always to come back home and work together,” he says. “We offer the best of both worlds when comparing large and small firms. Large firms are appealing because they appear to offer manpower and resources. Small firms are appealing because they offer a more personalized touch. Injury victims that sign up with larger firms may never speak to an attorney and their case becomes one of any number of cases. Injury victims who sign up with smaller firms know their case will get attention but run the risk of it being farmed out to a firm they do not get to choose if the case can’t be settled easily,” Zargar says.

Chad E. Irvin, Esq.

Irvin says, “At our firm, either Kaaveh, me, Chris, or Frank will speak to the client at regular intervals throughout our handling of the case. This means that, not only do clients speak to an attorney, but they get to speak to one of the four partners. Then, if a case cannot be settled easily, the team stays together for the duration of the case—we’re handling it in-house.”

The teaming up of two best friends has earned considerable praise from clients.

They took my case after a motorcycle accident happened to me, being always very communicative, professional, and honest throughout the process. Thanks to Kaaveh, Chad, Rosie and all others that bring professionalism, fairness and good every day to people. Thank you!

A SUCCESSFUL DIVISION OF LABOR

The firm specializes in personal injury and lemon law cases. Zargar manages cases in the prelitigation stage, in which they attempt to resolve the case without putting their client through the stress of litigation. The policy is to try to resolve every case before filing a lawsuit, as long as they can get compensation that reflects the fair value of their clients’ claims. When the insurance company takes an unreasonable approach to settlement, rather than outsourcing the client’s cases like many other law firms, they simply move the case over to the litigation department. Litigation is Irvin’s main area of responsibility. Lawsuits are handled inhouse—even if they need to take the case to trial. If there is an overflow in either area the other will jump in and help. Obviously, they collaborate closely when cases move from prelitigation to litigation. The duo currently has a case involving a complex auto v. pedestrian crash. Their client was minding his business, waiting for an order from a food truck. However, the food truck positioned itself so that customers placing orders and waiting for their orders to be filled had to stand in parking spaces within a parking lot. The owner of the parking lot is a large grocery chain. Although the owners knew that its customers were standing in parking spaces, the food truck never did anything to protect its customers from the automobile traffic or stop them from standing in open spaces. Despite the food truck serving customers in this parking lot for nearly a decade, the grocery chain never did anything to prevent the truck’s customers from standing in its parking lot. Unsurprisingly, a car driving in the parking lot struck their client and pinned him into the food truck, which caused the client to suffer serious brain and spinal injuries. To date he has spent more than three months in the hospital and has had seven different surgeries. When Zargar attempted to open settlement discussions, none of the parties were willing to consider their own roles in contributing to this horrific incident. So, Zargar and Irvin made the decision to immediately file a lawsuit. Currently, they are in the middle of litigation against the grocery store, the food truck, the driver of the car, and the city.

Such cases hit home. Zargar says, “The reason I became a personal injury attorney—in my final year of law school, I was seriously injured in a roll-over car accident as a result of someone else’s negligence. I have experienced multiple calls daily from insurance company lawyers wanting a fast settlement. I saw firsthand how a financial settlement obtained by my attorney was able to provide for my future medical care and compensate me for my injuries. From that point on, I knew that I wanted to practice personal injury so that I could help others the way my attorney helped me.”

© Bauman Photographers

Guldjian|Fasel is often called on to manage lemon law cases. Irvin is working a case in which their client purchased a sports car from a German manufacturer. The client has been having transmission problems since purchasing the vehicle. The client brought the vehicle in for inspection of the problem twelve times. The manufacturer told the client ten times out of twelve that there was nothing wrong with the vehicle. On two occasions they said it was just a software issue. Irvin got the case, discussed it with his partner, and they hired an expert who told them exactly what was wrong with the transmission. Once the problem was identified, the manufacturer had no choice but to acknowledge it. Today the firm and their client are looking at a situation where the manufacturer is actually willing to give their client every penny that could be recovered under the applicable act in an effort to settle before the case goes to trial and attorney’s fees continue to accrue.

Irvin says, “What I like most about the work is the opportunity to make the law work for my clients. Most of my clients don’t understand how the legal system works and because of that they’re often the people who get taken advantage of by the system. I’m finding a way to make it so that the law benefits them. One of the reasons I love the law is that you can always find a reason or an angle that works to your benefits. It’s my job to find that angle or reason in the law to benefit them.”

SERVING THE COMMUNITY WITH THE BEST OF ALL WORLDS

Irvin says their clients get the best of the entire southern California personal injury lawyer community when coming to Guldjian|Fasel because San Diego lawyers are a different breed. The legal community is very close knit and if you ask a San Diego attorney, regardless of whether they’re a plaintiff or defense attorney, they’re going to say they hate having cases against people in Orange County or LA. When someone talks to LA lawyers, they’re not going to like attorneys from San Diego. “I cut my teeth in San Diego with my first several years of practice, so I know the community and style. Kaaveh has practiced in Orange County and LA and as a result we’re able to take everything we’ve learned, and we developed a style that works in any arena. We’re bringing that style back to San Diego. We’ve had success in San Diego, Orange County and LA and because of that we understand what works and incorporate that in how we practice.”

That approach is certainly one of the primary reasons that the majority of the firm’s cases come from referrals, many from smaller firms that do not oversee personal injury cases that complex or firms outside of personal injury practice areas.

Key to that success is making connections with referral sources. “We find that the reason we get those referrals over other firms comes down to the relationships we build,” Irvin says.

The firm has grown significantly since Zargar and Irvin joined. During the past five years Guldjian|Fasel has more than doubled in size. They have also substantially expanded the number of providers they work with under a multitude of specialties. This is important, because no matter where they get a case, throughout California, they ensure their clients get whatever care they need. “Now that we’ve expanded our focus by returning to San Diego, we can follow the same format and repeat that success here,” Zargar says.

© Bauman Photographers

Chad E. Irvin, Esq. and Kaaveh Zargar, Esq.

COOKING UP SUCCESS

Irvin has a fascinating take on the practice of law. As an attorney who enjoys cooking, he says, “I find cooking a lot like the practice of law. You have a bunch of ingredients and a recipe. You can follow the recipe directly and recreate what someone else has already done. But, as you familiarize yourself with cooking, you understand how flavors interact and you learn different techniques. You can take those same ingredients and create a completely different dish; you could also change the recipe slightly to add a bit of your own flair to the recipe. A case is the same. You have the facts of what happened, you get diverse types of evidence, and you’re asked to apply those to the law. A car accident is not novel. There’s a set recipe that 99 percent of attorneys are going to follow, and they’ll get a decent result. What I try to do is figure out what flavors work best together so that I can improve the recipe.”

Irvin says trial attorneys are the apex species in the legal world. Any civil case, whether it be a wrongful termination case, a contract dispute, or a personal injury case will ultimately go to trial if it cannot be resolved. Accordingly, everything done before that is merely gathering the pieces that will be put together during the trial. The more cases you try, the better you understand how best to put those pieces together. “After I tried my first case, my entire perspective on handling and arguing cases completely changed. In addition, trying cases requires other skills that many other attorneys need not hone—you must be competitive, quick on your feet, intuitive, creative, and resourceful.”

Personal service remains key to the firm’s success. Zargar says, “I enjoy helping others the way I was helped by attorneys. There’s a certain satisfaction being able to help people who are injured and who are being taken care of by these insurance companies. This is a customer service industry first and foremost. Clients are our number one priority. We make sure we have staff here who follow that philosophy. Whatever the client needs.”

Irvin adds, “One of the best things about working in the new office is that it doesn’t feel like you’re coming to work because you’re collaborating with a friend. It feels like you’re spending time with a buddy.”

And so, the story of two friends comes full circle. The career dreams of two law students find completion in an expanding firm, a new office, and a new opportunity to serve a widening circle of clients. n

Contact Guldjian|Fasel 2667 Camino del Rio, Suite 301-18 San Diego, CA 92108 www.gfaccidentattorneys.com

BET-THE-COMPANY CASES OVER 65 YEARS OF COMBINED EXPERIENCE REFERRALS/SUBSTITUTIONS ACCEPTED AT ALL STAGES OF LITIGATION, INCLUDING TRIAL

• Complete defense jury verdict in real estate dispute and more than $400,000 collected for attorneys’ fees and costs in Batter v. McElhinney, et al. (2019)(Jason Kirby). • $2.1 million jury verdict for firm client in Doe v. San Diego Unified School District, et al. (2018)(Jason Kirby & Michael Kirby). • $1.1 million arbitration award for firm clients on cross-complaint after zeroing plaintiff on $6 million damage claim in Step Strategy Advisors v. Solid Gold Health Products for Pets, Inc., et al. (2018)(Jason Kirby lead counsel). • Michael Kirby received the 2021 Best Lawyers in America® distinction for (1) Bet-the-Company Litigation, (2) Commercial Litigation, (3) Litigation –

Real Estate, and (4) Litigation – Securities.