John Gomez

Proven Verdicts
Founder & CEO at Gomez Trial Attorneys
San Diego, CA32 years experience

About John Gomez

John H. Gomez is the Founder and CEO of Gomez Trial Attorneys, a San Diego-based personal injury, mass tort, class action, and employment law firm he founded alone in 2005 with a card table, six cases, and one employee. The firm now has offices in San Diego, Solana Beach, Bakersfield, Riverside, Palm Springs, and St. Petersburg, FL. John earned his B.A. magna cum laude from the University of San Diego in 1989, where he was an Academic All-American football player, and his J.D. from Yale Law School in 1993. After law school he served as a federal prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California, trying border, narcotics, and corruption cases and winning 20 jury trials in a row before turning to plaintiffs' work. He has taken more than 50 cases to jury verdict, with results in excess of $1 million, $10 million, and $100 million.

Proven verdicts and settlements

$106 millionVerdict

A San Diego jury held former county toxicologist Kristin Rossum and San Diego County responsible for the 2000 fentanyl killing of Greg de Villers, awarding his family $106 million in a wrongful death case tried by John Gomez.

San Diego County Superior Court, San Diego, CA · 2006Wrongful DeathRead the full story →
$16.2 millionVerdict

A Kern County jury awarded William Kidd and his wife Elaine $16.2 million after he slipped at a Bakersfield El Pollo Loco and suffered a brain injury that later required surgery.

Kern County Superior Court, Bakersfield, CA · 2018Slip & FallRead the full story →
$10.8 millionVerdict

A San Diego jury returned a $10.8 million verdict against Pizza Hut after one of its delivery drivers drifted across a center divide and hit a mother and daughter head-on, leaving the daughter with a permanent brain injury.

San Diego County Superior Court, San Diego, CA · 2010Car AccidentsRead the full story →
$7.5 millionVerdict

A San Diego County jury ordered Starbucks to pay roughly $7.5 million after chiropractor Anthony Zaccaglin slipped on a freshly mopped store floor, struck his head, and suffered a brain injury that ended his career.

San Diego County Superior Court, Vista, CA · 2011Slip & FallRead the full story →
$6.5 millionVerdict

A San Diego federal jury awarded the Deruyver family nearly $6.5 million after their 9-month-old daughter suffered third-degree burns from hot coffee at the Omni La Costa Resort and Spa.

U.S. District Court, Southern District of California (San Diego) · 2019Premises LiabilityRead the full story →
Settlement

John Gomez represented the families of CHP officer Mark Saylor and three relatives killed in a runaway Lexus near Santee, reaching a 2010 settlement with Toyota in the crash that triggered the company's sudden-acceleration recalls.

San Diego County, CA · 2010Product LiabilityRead the full story →
View all 8 proven verdicts →

Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case is unique and depends on its own facts.

Practice areas

Education

Yale Law School
J.D. (Yale); B.A., magna cum laude (USD), 1993
University of San Diego
Undergraduate, 1989

Bar admissions & credentials

State Bar of State Bar of California (Bar No. 171485)
State Bar of California
Consumer Attorneys of San Diego

Awards & recognition

Two-time Consumer Attorneys of San Diego Trial Lawyer of the Year
11x Outstanding Trial Lawyer, Consumer Attorneys of San Diego
Best Lawyers in America - San Diego Plaintiffs Products Liability Lawyer of the Year (2011, 2012)
Best Lawyers in America - Class Action and Mass Tort Lawyer of the Year (2015)
Top 100 California Attorney, Los Angeles Daily Journal
San Diego Super Lawyers Top 10 (every year since 2012; No. 2 in 2026)
Best Lawyers in America 2026
Academic All-American (USD football)

Other attorneys at Gomez Trial Attorneys

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$14.7 billion · Volkswagen Pays $14.7 Billion to Settle Clean Diesel Emissions Fraud Affecting 500,000 U.S. Owners
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$13.5 billion · PG&E Wildfire Bankruptcy: $13.5 Billion Settlement for Northern California Fire Victims
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