Top Insurance Lawyers in ZIP 98402 | 13 available

Tacoma attorney, Tom Vertetis, is a trial lawyer with a passionate commitment to assisting those in need of help.  Prior to law school, Tom was committed to his community by serving as the Student Body President at the University of San Diego, where he graduated with honors.  He earned his law degree from Villanova University School of Law.  After completing a clerkship with the Honorable Jane B. Cantor of the New Jersey Superior Court, he served as an assistant prosecutor in New Jersey prosecuting hundreds of criminal matters on behalf of injured victims.. Tom represents injured victims in complex personal injury, wrongful death, school liability, medical malpractice and civil rights claims.. As a trial attorney Tom has tried in excess of 40 cases to juries and obtained multiple plaintiff’s verdicts including a $3.075 million jury verdict for the wrongful termination and defamation of a 20-year decorated senior prosecutor, a $1 million medical malpractice verdict against a surgeon for an improper bladder laceration post-hysterectomy, a $1.4 million verdict against the State of Washington for unlawful conduct against a local business and a $776,400 medical malpractice verdict for a nineteen year-old woman who suffered permanent injuries from a mistreated fracture to her right arm. He has also successfully resolved many important lawsuits short of trial including one of the largest dental malpractice settlements in the State of Washington for a client left with partial permanent facial paralysis after an over injection of dental anesthetic and a $3.4 million medical malpractice settlement for a client that suffered a permanent brain injury as a result of a complication during a cardiac catheterization.. Tom has been recognized as a “Super Lawyer” by Washington Law & Politics, a recognition bestowed upon only 5% of eligible attorneys each year in the state, and has achieved an “AV” peer rating, the highest rating available for legal ability and ethical standards, by Martindale Hubbell. He has been rated as “superb” by .  Recently, Tom was nominated to the “Top 40 under 40 in Washington” by the National Trial Lawyers Association.  He sits as a board member on Washington’s Law Fund and is the immediate past president of the Pierce County Bar Foundation.  He has previously been awarded the “Local Hero Award” by the Washington State Bar Association, the coveted “Boss of the Year” award by the Pierce County National Association of Legal Professionals and the “Pro Bono Award” by the Pierce County Bar Association.. Tom is also a strong advocate and champion for disabled children.  He currently serves on the Board of Ashley House, a South Sound care provider for medically fragile children, and the Academy of Precision Learning, an inclusive Seattle K-10 school which provides educational services to both typical developing and students on the autism spectrum. He also supports Autism awareness and is a regular emcee for the University of Washington Experimental Education Unit’s annual auction. Tom married his college sweetheart, Jennifer, and has three children: Peter, Mary and Glorian.. Representative Cases/Transactions

I was born and raised in Tacoma, Washington. After graduation from Wilson High School in 1977, I obtained my B.A. in Psychology and Film Communications from Pitzer College in Claremont, California in 1981. Three years later, I graduated from law school with a J.D. from Case Western Reserve in Cleveland, Ohio.. I spent six years living and working as an attorney in Sacramento and Los Angeles, California before returning to Tacoma in 1991. After working as an associate and partner at a large firm in Tacoma, I opened my own office in 2010.. I have other thirty years of experience handling a wide variety of civil and criminal cases from trial through appeal in state and federal courts. My main practice areas include employment, business and personal injury litigation.

I am a trial lawyer committed to helping individuals and their families reclaim their lives after losing a loved one or suffering injury because of the negligence of others. I began my legal career working as a defense attorney for an insurance company. Through taking cases to trial and countless arbitrations, I saw first-hand how insurance companies can quickly lose sight of the human aspect of injury and insurance claims, viewing cases merely as business concerns to be settled cheaply or hard-fought, regardless of cost. Later in my career, I defended insurance companies in bad faith litigation. Currently, I represent injury victims in personal injury, traumatic brain injury, insurance bad faith, medical malpractice, medical device defect, and product liability cases.. Prior to entering law school, I worked as a property and casualty claims adjuster for two national insurers, handling wildfire and mudslide catastrophe claims in California, as well as mid to large loss claims arising from hurricanes in the Southern U.S.. My experience both as a claims adjuster and lawyer taught me that in order to obtain the best settlement, you have to show the insurance company and/or the defense you are willing and prepared to take the case to trial. For this reason, I prepare every case as if it is going to trial from day one.