(800) 830-7746 (760) 837-1884
Our Firm limits it's practice to Personal Injury
and Wrongful Death Claims.
Automobile Accidents
Construction Accidents
Slip and Fall
Aviation
Dog Bites
Pedestrian
Product Liability
Birth & Brain Injury
Professional Negligence
Medical & Hospital Malpractice
Motorcycle & Bicycle Accidents
Asbestos related Lung Cancers
Firm Profile:
Year Established: 1984
Law Offices of Nordstrom, Steele, Nicolette and Blythe originally founded in 1984 by Russell E. Nordstrom (formerly a partner in Sherman & Nordstrom). The firm's name has changed over the years from Nordstrom, Steele & Jefferson to it's present name of Nordstrom, Steele, Nicolette and Blythe.
The firm confines its practice to plaintiff's civil litigation with an emphasis on major injury and wrongful death cases arising from aviation, construction and product defect accidents. Asbestos-related cancers have been the subject of the office's attention since the mid-seventies when Mr. Nordstrom was a partner in his previous firm.
The Firm enjoys the recognition of holding the highest rating given nationally by the Martindale Hubbell Law Directory for legal ability and general recomendation.
Martindale Hubbell Law Directory
Formal continuing legal education is a tradition in the firm.
Mr. Nordstrom is a noted lecturer on various trial-related topics for the California Continuing Education of the Bar, Association of Trial Lawyers of America, Consumer Attorneys of California, Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles and the Medical-Legal Institute.
Experience dictates successful results...
Our firm represents over 100 years of
combined practical experience!
Over the years our law firm has had
the distinction of obtaining the largest
Personal Injury verdicts, in particular cases.
What makes the Nordstrom Law Firm unique? Combined practical experience of our partners...
EXPERTISE - WHERE KNOWLEDGE TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE INTERTWINE
KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE GAINED FROM HUNDREDS OF INJURY TRIALS
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Injury and Death Cases Tried to Juries
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Injury and Death Cases Tried to Judges
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Injury and Death Cases Tried to Arbitration Panels
KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE GAINED FROM INJURY CASE SETTLEMENTS
KNOWLEDGE AND TRAINING GAINED FROM CONTINUING LEGAL EDUCATION
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Chairpersons of Continuing Legal Education Seminars
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Frequent Speakers at Continuing Legal Education Seminars
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Regular Attendees at Continuing Legal Education Seminars
Experience:
At Nordstrom, Steele, Nicolette and Blythe we have settled or tried literally thousands of cases over the past 30 years.
Most of the cases settle by agreement with the opposing insurance companies at some point, often times at the Courthouse steps. All cases that settle are settled due to thorough assessments of the risks of trial.
Some cases end up going to trial because no agreement can be reached.
We have tried to judgements cases of each of the following types: air crash cases, asbestos cancers, automobile versus automobile collisions, automobile versus pedestrian collisions, commercial trucking crashes, animal bite cases, slip and falls, defective product caused amputations, construction site accidents, construction defect related property damage, motorcycle accidents and medical malpractice cases.
The types of injuries involved in cases that we have taken to trial include amputations, spinal injuries, brain damage, fractures, burns, mesothelioma, facial scars, paraplegia, quadriplegia and fatalities.
We have been fortunate enough to have won for our clients the substantial majority of the cases that we have tried, many of which resulted in six and seven figure judgements for in their favors.
The actual in court experience provides us with insight into strategies that would be effective and how to put into action those strategies to give our clients the best chances to prevail. Since settlement decisions made by both sides involve trying to envision what would probably occur if we were to go to trial, we are able to provide emphasis on the factors that a judge and jury will be more likely to appreciate in your case based in part on how well such factors had fared in past trials. It is our belief that the one thing we know for sure is that we learn something from every case we try. The things we have learned and continue to learn make us better lawyers and enure to the benefit of our clients.
Our office has long been a major proponent of continuing legal education.
There are a number of providers who organize and put forward seminars which educate attorneys about the many things that change over time in the laws and legal procedures. For example, each year the California Supreme Court and the California Courts of Appeal rule on hundreds of matters which often result in changes in the law. Also, the legislature passes new laws each year which the Courts are called upon to interpret. The educational seminars present speakers who lecture and provide written articles which deal with what is developing in an ever developing legal landscape.
Our firm is proud to participate in the seminars as speakers and as listeners to what other speakers have to offer in their presentations. Our firm has been involved as co-chair of the largest annual seminar on personal injury law for more than a decade. Russell Nordstrom has given over 80 presentations at legal seminars over the past 25 years. Lucia Nordstrom has been a seminar co-chair for the largest annual legal seminar in the country for the past 10 years.
- Practical experience of working in Emergency Rooms
- Practical experience of working on construction sites
- Practical experience with Insurance companies, defending the Insurance Co. and their insured
- Representing plaintiffs exclusively for over 20 yrs.,
with experience and success.
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Many law firms suggest that they handle cases in all categories of personal injury law. As well, most attorneys are quick to point to their years of experience. The question, however, that must be addressed is the actual experience that your attorney has in handling a case similar to yours.
Every person's case is unique because every person is unique. Certainly their are common threads that bind case patterns together, however, the uniqueness of each case must be appreciated. There are legal issues unique to each case and there is the human element - human reality.
A competent law firm must be able to take the time to completely understand the uniqueness of both the case and the client. Your attorney should have a complete and knowledgeable understanding, not only of the law, but of your case.
Experience and expertise therefore, should translate into not only how many cases similar to yours, your law firm has handled but, of great importance, the trial experience of the law firm in handling cases similar to yours.
In representing injured people exclusively for over 20 years, our Law Firm has handled thousands of personal injury matters to successful conclusion.
We believe that a law firm and its members should have the experience and expertise, not only in handling a great number of cases similar to yours, but also practical experience in doing so.
RESOURCES:
A law firm's resources are those which can be brought to bear in order to resolve disputes in a favorable way.
The most important resources of a law firm are the knowledge, experience and skill of its attorneys; the availability of the attorneys to devote the time necessary to comprehensively investigate and evaluate the case; the financial strength to be able to wait as long as necessary to obtain a proper result, and, in an appropriate case, underwrite the cost of investigation and expert witnesses.
At Nordstrom, Steele, Nicolette & Blythe, we bring those resources to bear on behalf of our clients.
COMMITMENT:
There is an old saying that the difference between steak and eggs is that the hen is involved, but the steer is committed. At our law firm, we have become committed by two strong forces: the rewards which go with being able to help our clients and the press of the sheer mass of ever expanding laws being passed and technical data evolving.
I had the choice to go into several areas of the law. Prosecuting criminals, being a corporate lawyer, or a real estate practice were all the options that I considered when I started law school. I went to law school at night because I needed to work.
I took a job with an insurance company in its injury claims department. The particular assignment was a great one for me because of the exposure to many different kinds of liabilities and different types of injuries. I dealt with expert witnesses in the multiple areas of medical specialties, as well as economics and engineering. I quickly learned that seemingly well qualified experts would look at the same case and come up with diametrically different conclusions. It was also true that the experts were almost always paid far more money for being expert witnesses than they would performing the job descriptions of their professions. Curiously, it seemed that many experts would adopt the position of the party that hired him.
As law school graduation drew near, I considered accepting job offers from the insurance company and the different law firms which specialized in representing insurance companies. Defending product liability claims were of particular interest. Those were days of high inflation. I had accepted the notion that product liability cases were bad, because they would drive up the costs of products which would be inflationary.
Then a pivotal experience came my way.
I attended an educational seminar on product liability. The speaker addressed the question about the inflationary pressures of product liability. He pointed out that the costs of injury were the costs that were inflationary. The cost involved in designing machines so that the dangers were either designed out or safety guarded out were but a drop in the bucket compared to the loss of productive work time and medical expenses which attend a serious injury.
At the meeting, I realized that obtaining fair compensation for injured people was something I could be good at and feel good about doing. I knew that the injured people needed good representation. The insurance companies make money paying as little as they can. They hire lawyers who specialize in helping the companies to continue paying as little as they can. Most of the attorneys representing the injured had much less experience with the different kinds of cases and injuries than the insurance companies' lawyers. Even the attorneys who were specialists for claimants would usually fall short of the experience of the insurance lawyers. I had an advantage that came from my employment with the insurance company I worked for. I had first hand experience across a wide area and more importantly, an understanding of how the companies worked and how to deal with the experts.
So I set out to become a lawyer for the injured. My clients were literally the injured, maimed, widowed, and orphaned. Over the years, there has been a huge growth in the law. It would be virtually impossible to keep up with every case in every area. In the personal injury field alone, there are hundreds of cases and laws which come down each year and can and do make big differences in the outcome of our client's cases. Added to that are the different medical advances and engineering know how that keep evolving. It takes commitment to keep up.
The decision to be the lawyer for the injured has taken me down a road. The other areas where I could have traveled are long since behind me. The time and energy that would have been required to keep on top of the development of the law and technology in the other areas have been invested instead into the issues that apply to the injured.
Do I have any regrets? No, none, I get to face fascinating challenges and help people in need. Our law firm is a busy one where we can make the differences that make the difference for people from all walks of life. We are able to contribute to advancing safety at home, on public property, and in the workplace.
Insurance Companies hire lawyers who specialize in helping the companies to continue paying as little as possible. We are lawyers who specialize in making the insurance companies pay what they should.
Russell E. Nordstrom
The Law offices of Nordstrom, Steele, Nicolette & Blythe has proven experience & success in representing plaintiffs in all areas of Personal Injury Law.
http://www.nordstrom-law.com/
Riverside County Personal Injury Attorneys