Practice Areas: Personal Injury; view more
Licensed in California since: 1991
Education: University of San Diego School of Law
Selected to Super Lawyers: 2005 - 2025 Call today:
925-464-1593
Free Consultation SumnerLaw
1299 Newell Hill PlaceSuite 301
Walnut Creek, CA 94596 Visit website
Details
Scott Sumner, owner of Sumner Law in Walnut Creek, California, is a distinguished attorney with over 30 years of experience. He holds an AV Preeminent* peer-review rating through Martindale-Hubbell and is known for representing clients in personal injury cases throughout Alameda and Contra Costa counties. His areas of proficiency include wrongful death, car and bicycle accidents, and premises liability.
Renowned in victim advocacy and defense circles, Mr. Sumner is a skilled litigator, trial attorney and appellate lawyer. He is a prominent figure in the California Plaintiffs' Bar, where he also serves as an educator in counties like Contra Costa, Alameda, San Francisco and Santa Clara. Throughout his career, he has successfully secured multimillion-dollar settlements and verdicts for injury victims and their families, challenging major insurance companies, corporations and government entities.
After earning his J.D. cum laude from the University of San Diego School of Law and finishing his studies at University of California College of the Law, San Francisco (formerly called as Hastings College of the Law) in San Francisco, Mr. Sumner joined a leading personal injury law firm in Northern California. There, he quickly made a name for himself in the legal field. He gained his license to practice law in California in 1991. Before his law studies, he graduated magna cum laude from UC San Diego in 1987 with a double major in political science and history.
In addition to his legal acumen, Mr. Sumner has previously served on the boards of the Consumer Attorneys of California and plays an active role in the American Association for Justice. His contributions extend to the Alameda-Contra Costa Trial Lawyers’ Association, where he acts as a board member and volunteers with the Public Justice Foundation. He is also a respected speaker and author in his professional community.
Rated “Superb” on Avvo, Mr. Sumner was named the Appellate Lawyer of the Year in 2010 by the Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles (CAALA), received the Champion of Justice Award from the San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association (SFTLA) in the same year and was honored with the Robert E. Cartwright, Sr. Award by the Consumer Attorneys of California (CAOC) in 2009.
*AV®, AV Preeminent®, Martindale-Hubbell Distinguished and Martindale-Hubbell Notable are certification marks used under license in accordance with the Martindale-Hubbell certification procedures, standards and policies. Martindale-Hubbell® is the facilitator of a peer-review rating process. Ratings reflect the anonymous opinions of members of the bar and the judiciary. Martindale-Hubbell® Peer Review Ratings™ fall into two categories – legal ability and general ethical standards.
Practice areas
Personal Injury - General: PlaintiffFocus areas
Animal Bites, Brain Injury, Construction Accident, Dram Shop Laws, Motor Vehicle Accidents, Personal Injury - Plaintiff, Premises Liability - Plaintiff, Slip and Fall, Trucking Accidents, Wrongful Death
- 100% Personal Injury - General: Plaintiff
First Admitted: 1991, California
Professional Webpage: https://www.sumnerlawyers.com/attorney/sumner-scott/
- California, 1991
- American Association for Justice
- Consumer Attorneys of California
- Alameda-Contra Costa Trial Lawyers’ Association
- Public Justice Foundation, Board Member
- Amicus Committee, 1998 - Present
- Peer-rated A/V by Martindale
- Rated “Superb” on Avvo
- CAOC Robert E. Cartwright, Sr. Award in Recognition of Excellence in Trail Advocacy and Dedication to Teaching Trial Advocacy to Colleagues and to The Public 2009
- SFTLA Champion of Justice Award, 2010
- CAALA Ian Herzog Award Appellate Lawyer of the Year 2010
- Top 100 Personal Injury Lawyers in Northern California
- Northern California Super Lawyer
- Magna Cum Laude From UC San Diego, Double Major in Political Science and History, 1987
- “Medical Special Damages ‘Incurred” Under California Law: The Collateral Source Rule, Law of Contracts, and the Discount Myth,” California Litigation, Journal of the Litigation Section, State Bar of California, Vol. 21, Number 3, 2008. Examines private health insurance and medical care under California's statutory framework and the law of contracts, and how those laws are being ignored and misapplied in an attempt by liability insurers and defendants to avoid the proper application of the collateral source rule in personal injury tort cases., Author, “Medical Special Damages ‘Incurred” Under California Law: The Collateral Source Rule, Law of Contracts, and the Discount Myth”, 2008
- In the past two decades, mediation became not just the norm for cases, but in many (mostly larger) cases, multiple mediation sessions became common. During those years, as well, reimbursement claims from health plans became the norm, rather than the exception; “lien” claimants became increasingly unreasonable and overreaching — usually in conjunction with third party vendors assuming collection responsibilities for health plans and payers; carriers began evaluating cases based on paid medical special damages rather than medical charges; and the cost of both mediators and litigation experts rose at a rate that felt exponential. , Author, Mediation — Managing expectations; coping with liens; handling the math, Consumer Attorneys Of California Forum Magazine, 2018
- Injured bicyclist's cases present in markedly different ways than strictly motor vehicle cases. Cyclists are usually whisked away by ambulance, and not interviewed by police on-scene, but later, and after a responding officer has already formed their personal impressions and conclusions without input from the injured cyclist. A “good” police report has nothing to do with the reporting officer’s opinions and conclusions (which are generally inadmissible), and everything to do with the thoroughness of the evidence gathered, documented and preserved, Author, Pedaling through it all, Consumer Attorneys Of California Forum Magazine, 2020
- Public entities were never supposed to enjoy absolute immunity for dangerous conditions of planned and constructed paved multi-use trails. The form of “trail immunity” that has grown up as a result of court decisions (mis)interpreting Ca. Gov. Code Section 831.4 is not what the legislature intended. , Author, Derailing trail immunity on the paved, multi-use trail, Plaintiff Magazine (www.plaintiffmagazine.com), 2021
- "Medi-Cal liens update,",, Plaintiff Magazine, September, 2009
- "Health Insurance and the Collateral Source Rule in California a Tortured by Myth, Misrepresentation, and Misconception,",, Forum Magazine, May/June, 2009
- "Reasonable Value of Medical Services a the Hanif Issue at Issue,", Article and Seminar Tour for CAOC, 2006
- "How Can Bill Clinton's Home State Help You With Medi-Cal Liens? (Arkansas Department of Health and Human Services (ADHS), et. al. v. Ahlborn),", Forum Magazine, May, 2006
- "Tort Reform = Corporate Welfare and Class Warfare,", Forum Magazine, December, 2004
- "Handling County Hospital Liens",, The Verdict, Summer, 2003
- "New Ways to Cut Health Insurer Liens",, Forum Magazine, Spring, 2001
- "Overcoming Inadequate Insurance Coverage Through a Separate Loss of Consortium Claim", The Verdict, Fall, 1997
- ACCTLA
- CAOC
- SFTLA
Office location for Scott Sumner
1299 Newell Hill Place
Suite 301
Walnut Creek, CA 94596
Phone: 925-464-1593
Selections
- Super Lawyers: 2005 - 2025
