Mardirossian Akaragian LLP

Mardirossian Akaragian LLP We specialize in many facets of personal injury, including motor vehicle crashes, product failures, Attorneys Office Legal Services.

What if it wasn't you?You've probably replayed the moment. What you should've seen, how fast you reacted, what you could...
08/31/2026

What if it wasn't you?

You've probably replayed the moment. What you should've seen, how fast you reacted, what you could've done differently. But sometimes the real cause was never in your hands — it was a road that failed to keep you safe long before you got there.

⚠️ A blocked sightline that took away the one second you needed. No guardrail where one should've been. A crosswalk too faded to see. An intersection with a history everyone already knew about.

These aren't driver mistakes. They're poor roadway designs, and they show up in serious crashes more often than people realize.

➡️ Swipe to see 4 roadway design conditions we look at in cases like this.

Before you accept the obvious explanation, it's worth investigating the one nobody looks at first.

Schedule your free case evaluation at garolaw.com

08/29/2026

"It's horrible. I actually think the city failed us."

Ciara Smith was riding her bike home from the beach with a friend when she reached the intersection of PCH and K**b Hill Avenue in Redondo Beach. When she entered the crosswalk, the Metro bus was 300 feet away — 10 seconds of travel time. The driver had time to see her.

But the crosswalk was faded, improperly marked, and didn't line up with the sidewalk — forcing cyclists directly into the path of oncoming traffic. The bus had six inches of clearance. At most.

When asked if MV Transportation had ever trained its drivers on California's Three Feet for Safety Act — the law requiring drivers to give cyclists three feet of space when passing — the bus driver answered: "No, they didn't tell me anything like that."

Caltrans and the City of Redondo Beach both knew or should have known that the intersection was dangerous. They settled for $4.9 million each before the case even went to trial.

The jury found MV Transportation 75% responsible.
Total recovery: $26,000,000.

"Be a pineapple: stand tall, wear a crown, and be sweet on the inside." — Ciara Smith, the Pineapple Princess.

Read the full case here: garolaw.com/case-directory/smith-v-mv-transportation

There's a road near you that you've learned to work around. You just don't call it dangerous anymore. ⚠️ A crosswalk tha...
08/26/2026

There's a road near you that you've learned to work around. You just don't call it dangerous anymore.

⚠️ A crosswalk that's barely there. A stretch with no streetlights at all. An intersection with no warning lights, so you just check twice out of habit.

You've adjusted to it. That doesn't mean it's safe. It just means you stopped noticing.

➡️ Swipe through for 6 roadway conditions that quietly show up again and again in serious crashes.

If you've been in an accident, it's worth asking whether the road played a part.

08/01/2026

"It was severed at the seams. I don't have much recollection of it, but I remember waking up in a hospital bed and being told that my leg had been amputated."
— Amir Ekbatani

Amir Ekbatani was an offensive lineman for the UCLA Bruins. On July 14, 2012, a taxi driver failed to yield at the PCH and Diamond St intersection in Redondo Beach and collided with his motorcycle. Amir was thrown from his motorcycle. Despite numerous surgeries, his leg had to be amputated.

His first attorney wanted to settle for $1 million — the driver's policy limit.

Garo Mardirossian looked deeper. The intersection was notoriously dangerous and the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) knew. Their engineers had driven through it hundreds of times, noticed the problem, and never fixed it.

The jury awarded $35 million. Caltrans was found 70% liable.

Within six months, Caltrans installed the safety measures that should have been there for years.

Today, Amir is an Apple Fitness+ trainer, adaptive athlete, and motivational speaker.

"Nick plans to do more with one leg than he ever could have done with two."
— Swim With Mike

07/18/2026

The city didn't pay $4.9 million because the officers did nothing wrong

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In January 2014, a jury acquitted the two officers who stood trial for the killing of Kelly Thomas. His father, Ron, had one avenue left: the civil courts.

On July 5, 2011, six Fullerton police officers restrained and repeatedly struck Kelly — 37 years old, unarmed — for nearly ten minutes.

Witnesses heard him screaming and crying out for his father. He died five days later. The officers' reports described a combative suspect with extraordinary strength. The medical evidence described a crushed thorax, a shattered face, and blood in his lungs.

Over four years of civil litigation, our firm uncovered what the criminal jury was never allowed to hear: officers had viewed department surveillance footage before writing their reports, electronic audit logs showed those reports were revised multiple times, and a confidential witness described how people inside the department watched Kelly's brutal beating live, and did absolutely nothing.

Hours before opening statements in the civil trial could begin, the City of Fullerton settled for $4.9 million.

This 6-minute hand-drawn film tells the story of the beating, the cover-up, and the litigation that put the truth on the public record.

For deeper case details, visit https://www.garolaw.com/the-kelly-thomas-conspiracy/.

07/08/2026

The settlement locked in one condition: the officers fired for violating policy could never be rehired by the Fullerton Police Department.

Kelly Thomas was thirty-seven years old. Unarmed. He didn't get the criminal justice he deserved. But through civil discovery, his story became part of the public record.

For Kelly Thomas — and for the record.

Episode 9 out now.

Full series at garolaw.com/the-kelly-thomas-conspiracy

Send this to someone who needs to know this story.

07/07/2026

Four years after Kelly Thomas's death, the officers were finally going to have to answer for it under oath.

For the first time, they couldn't hide behind their Fifth Amendment right to remain silent. The medical evidence, the pattern of misconduct, the cover-up — all of it was going to be heard by a jury.

Then, at eleven a.m. on the very morning opening statements were set to begin, a settlement was reached.

$4.9 million paid. But without admitting fault.

The Kelly Thomas Conspiracy — Episode 8 out now.

Full series at garolaw.com/the-kelly-thomas-conspiracy

Send this to someone who needs to know this story.

07/04/2026

An informant came forward. But a tip isn't proof.

The attorneys went looking for evidence — and found it in the Fullerton Police Department's own files.

Digital logs documented every time the officers' reports were rewritten. Multiple revisions. All recorded.

The conspiracy was uncovered.

The Kelly Thomas Conspiracy — Episode 7 out now.

Full series at garolaw.com/the-kelly-thomas-conspiracy

Send this to someone who needs to know this story.

07/02/2026

On July 5th, 2011, Kelly Thomas was savagely beaten by 6 Fullerton police officers. He was homeless at the time, had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, and was unarmed.

He was beaten for 9 minutes and 40 seconds, including being tasered 6 times, all the while repeatedly crying out for his father and apologizing profusely.

Not only were the officers involved in the beating permitted to view the footage before writing their reports, but it was revealed by an informant that those reports were subsequently rewritten multiple times before being submitted. In fact, one of those six officers had a track record of falsifying reports, having done so a year prior with another one of Garo’s clients, Veth Mam.

Ultimately, the case was settled outside of court. Speaking at a press conference at the Mardirossian Akaragian law office, Ron Thomas, Kelly’s Father, said:

“Considering this would have gone to appeals afterward if a verdict was reached by a jury, the years it would have prolonged, what would we have gained? We still know they did it.”

06/25/2026

The six officers who beat Kelly Thomas were allowed to watch the CCTV footage of the beating before writing their reports.

All six. In the same room. Together.

Fullerton's own interim police chief confirmed it was standard procedure.

The attorneys saw it differently.

And then an informant called the firm.

Episode 6 out now.

Full series at garolaw.com/the-kelly-thomas-conspiracy

Send this to someone who needs to know this story.

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