Personal Injury Lawyers

Jonathan A. Arjonilla is an associate in the Employment Law Group in the Irvine office of Payne & Fears. He represents employers in all areas of labor and employment law and related litigation. He emphasizes efficient service, strong advocacy, and close teamwork with clients. Before joining Payne & Fears, he defended California public entities in labor and employment, civil rights, and personal injury matters, which gives him experience on both public and private sector employment issues. He contributes to the firm's employment law updates and case summaries. He is admitted in California and in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. He earned his J.D. from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, in 2015 and his B.A. in Criminology, Law & Society from UC Irvine in 2009.

Taylor B. Brown is an associate at Payne & Fears in Irvine who represents employers in all areas of labor and employment law, including wage-and-hour, discrimination, sexual harassment, wrongful termination, retaliation, and PAGA claims. She also has a strong general litigation background that includes medical malpractice and products liability. She began her career at LaFollette Johnson, a medical malpractice defense firm, where she defended healthcare providers and hospitals. She then joined the products liability group at Buchalter, where she defended automobile and equipment manufacturers, insurers, and technology companies in negligence, catastrophic injury, and wrongful death cases. There she third-chaired a three-week products liability jury trial and later served on another trial team, and both trials ended in verdicts for the firm's clients. She earned her J.D. from Chapman University's Dale E. Fowler School of Law in 2018 and her B.A. in Political Science from UCLA.

Brett Bitzer is a senior supervising trial attorney at Callahan & Blaine in Irvine who represents both plaintiffs and defendants in complex, high-value cases throughout California. After passing the California bar in 2009, he worked at a Sacramento boutique civil litigation firm focused on trial work before moving to Southern California. He chose early in his career to focus on trying cases. His preparation centers on identifying the best evidence and the most effective procedure for each client's goals. His practice covers business litigation, catastrophic personal injury and wrongful death, breach of contract, and employment matters. He earned his J.D. from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law, graduating Order of the Coif and with great distinction. He earned his B.A. in Criminal Justice from the University of Nevada, Reno, where he played on the Division I tennis team.

Grigory "Greg" Rchtouni is a senior trial attorney at Callahan & Blaine in Irvine who handles high-stakes litigation. His work focuses on catastrophic injury and wrongful death, mass and toxic torts, product liability, complex business litigation, professional liability, and state licensing proceedings. He began his career at a defense firm representing physicians, hospitals, and other healthcare providers in professional negligence and medical fraud cases, and he now applies that defense perspective to representing seriously injured clients. He handles cases from inception through trial, and sometimes appeal, in state and federal courts. Before law school, he counseled clients with serious psychological conditions and worked with formerly incarcerated people on reentry. He earned his J.D. from the University of Notre Dame, where he received a Dean's Award in the Intensive Trial Advocacy Program. He also holds an M.S. in Clinical Psychology and a B.S. in Psychology.

John D. Van Ackeren is a senior supervising trial attorney at Callahan & Blaine in Irvine. His practice focuses on complex litigation involving business, insurance, and catastrophic personal injury matters. He has litigated cases from inception through trial in state and federal courts around the country and before the major arbitration bodies, representing clients from individuals to Fortune 500 companies. His work includes corporate, LLC, and partnership disputes, fraud, fiduciary duty, unfair competition, trade secrets, contract disputes, insurance bad faith, legal malpractice, product liability, class actions, real estate, and employment litigation. His firm describes representative matters such as an arbitration award on all counts in a trade secret and fraud case and a trial judgment for bank and director clients in a shareholder fraud class action. He is admitted in California, in three federal districts of California, and in the U.S. Tax Court. He earned a joint J.D./M.B.A. from Loyola Law School.

Sharon Yuen is a senior trial attorney at Callahan & Blaine in Irvine who has litigated insurance recovery and complex business cases since 2003. She represents corporate policyholders, including Fortune 500 companies and entertainment industry clients, in complex coverage matters. Her work spans first- and third-party disputes over property damage, business interruption, copyright infringement, bodily injury, production delay, broker liability, and government interference claims under general liability, property, D&O, E&O, entertainment production, and political risk policies. She also has experience with Orange County class actions involving securities fraud, predatory lending, and mass torts, and she has represented a franchisor in an international franchise dispute. She earned her J.D. from the UC Davis School of Law, where she was elected to the Order of the Coif and received the Witkin Award for Academic Excellence, and her B.A. from UC Berkeley.

Jakob S. Weitz is a trial attorney at Callahan & Blaine in Irvine who represents businesses and individuals in complex commercial disputes, catastrophic personal injury and wrongful death cases, construction and contractor licensing matters, insurance disputes, and real estate litigation. He handles cases at every stage, from pre-suit investigation and discovery through trial, arbitration, mediation, appeal, and judgment enforcement. He has argued many contested motions in California state courts and has served as first and second chair trial counsel. He previously led a team handling claims arising from the Paradise wildfires for homeowners and property owners. He has written and spoken on contractor licensing and mechanics lien law, including a Daily Journal article on the Contractors State License Board's suspension policy. He earned his J.D. from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, in 2023 and his B.A., cum laude, from Loyola Marymount University, where he captained the Division I rugby team.

Benjamin G. Reynolds is a senior trial attorney at Callahan & Blaine in Irvine with experience in trials, arbitrations, mediation, and dispositive motions. His practice covers business and commercial litigation, employment law including representative PAGA claims, toxic torts such as mesothelioma, personal injury, interstate shipping claims under the Carmack Amendment, unlawful detainer, and insurance coverage and bad faith disputes. He is known for a strategic, practical approach aimed at efficient results at every stage of a case. His firm biography describes the dismissal of all claims against clients in personal injury and mesothelioma cases, findings of fraud and conversion for clients in an arbitration, and summary judgment in a single-plaintiff employment case. He earned his J.D., cum laude, from California Western School of Law in 2018, where he was an associate editor of the Law Review, and his B.S. in Business Administration from USC.

Bryan C. Oberle is a senior trial attorney at Callahan & Blaine in Irvine who represents both plaintiffs and defendants on complex legal issues. He focuses on business and contract disputes, employment law, professional liability, and intellectual property. He also handles matters involving business formation and dissolution, bankruptcy, and corporate governance. His practice areas also include real estate, architecture and engineering law, torts, and personal injury and wrongful death, and he has handled trials, arbitrations, and mediations. His firm biography describes a significant settlement for homeowners opposing the construction of an oversized neighboring mansion. He is admitted in the U.S. District Courts for the Central and Southern Districts of California. He graduated magna cum laude from USC with dual majors and earned his J.D. from USC Gould School of Law, where he was a research assistant and a law journal editor.

Edward Susolik is the President and CEO of Callahan & Blaine in Irvine, which he joined in 1994. He is a trial attorney with an interdisciplinary litigation practice that covers complex business and real estate litigation, insurance bad faith and coverage, catastrophic personal injury, professional liability claims involving attorneys, accountants, brokers, and agents, and trademark and copyright litigation. He trained as a defense lawyer at an international law firm, and his practice now divides evenly between plaintiff and defense work. Under his leadership, his firm describes itself as the largest catastrophic personal injury firm based in Orange County. He is a member of the Orange County, Los Angeles County, and American bar associations. He earned his J.D. from the USC Gould School of Law in 1990 and his B.A. from USC in 1986, with majors in philosophy, English, and history.

A. Geoffrey Hutchinson is a senior trial attorney at Callahan & Blaine in Irvine who works with the firm's personal injury, business litigation, and insurance coverage teams. He has extensive experience in high-value cases involving traumatic injury, wrongful death, and products liability, particularly automotive and tire defect litigation against Fortune 500 manufacturers. He also litigates business disputes over insurance coverage and risk transfer, including commercial coverage for construction defect and job site injury claims. He represents businesses in bad faith actions against insurers involving property damage, bodily injury, and personal and advertising injury claims such as trademark, unfair competition, and data breach matters, as well as professional liability and E&O coverage. He is admitted in all California state courts and in all four federal districts in California. He earned his J.D. from UC Hastings, where he was Executive Editor of the Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly.

Juan J. Cueto is a senior trial attorney at Callahan & Blaine in Irvine who represents both plaintiffs and defendants in high-stakes litigation. His cases involve complex personal injury, medical malpractice, elder abuse, sexual abuse, wrongful death, premises liability, and products liability, as well as business and real estate disputes. For the first seven years of his career, he worked at a defense firm representing physicians, hospitals, and other healthcare providers in professional negligence, elder abuse, and medical fraud cases. He now uses that experience to represent seriously injured clients. He also handles real estate transaction, contract, fiduciary duty, good faith, and fraud disputes for individuals and businesses. He litigates from inception through trial in state and federal courts and is admitted in three federal districts in California. He earned his undergraduate degree from USC and earned his J.D. from Loyola Law School while also completing an M.B.A. at Loyola Marymount University.