Thomas J. Ashenden
Top rated Personal Injury attorney in Atlanta, Georgia
Ashenden & Associates, P.C.
Practice areas: Personal Injury; view more
Licensed in Georgia since: 1981
Education: Woodrow Wilson College of Law
Selected to Super Lawyers: 2014 - 2026 Call today:
770-676-1184
Free Consultation Ashenden & Associates, P.C.
6111 Peachtree Dunwoody RoadBuilding D Suite 201
Atlanta, GA 30328 Visit website
As an attorney at Ashenden & Associates, P.C., Thomas J. Ashenden is dedicated to serving clients in the Atlanta, Georgia, area and throughout the state. Tom focuses his practice on personal injury, generally handling cases that involve serious and catastrophically injured victims of car and truck accidents, premises liability, traumatic brain injury, workers' compensation and wrongful death.
Mr. Ashenden earned a Bachelor of Arts from Alliant International University, (formerly known as U.S.I.U and Cal-Western University) before attending the Woodrow Wilson College of Law, where he received his Juris Doctor.
For more than 40 years, Mr. Ashenden has committed himself to fighting on behalf of those who have been injured by the negligence or intentional actions of others. He understands the devastating impact that such injuries can have on victims and their families, and he passionately strives to help them obtain full compensation. Mr. Ashenden is admitted to practice law in Georgia, as well as before the U.S. District Court for the Northern and Southern Districts of Georgia, the Court of Appeals of Georgia and the Supreme Court of Georgia.
Tom's dedication to the highest legal standards of ethics and professional excellence has gained him the respect of his clients and peers alike; as demonstrated by his highest possible rating of AV Preeminent* from Martindale-Hubbell. Tom is also a member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum.
Beyond his work in the courtroom, Mr. Ashenden is active in the legal community. He is a member of several organizations and associations, including the American Association for Justice, the Atlanta Bar Association, the Litigation Section of the Atlanta Bar Association and the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association. Mr. Ashenden has also served as an instructor and judge for mock trial competitions held by the American Association for Justice.
*AV Preeminent and BV Distinguished are certification marks of Reed Elsevier Properties Inc., used 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 confidential opinions of members of the bar and the judiciary. Martindale-Hubbell ratings fall into two categories: legal ability and general ethical standards.
Practice areas
Personal Injury - General: PlaintiffFocus areas
Animal Bites, Brain Injury, 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: 1981, Georgia
Professional Webpage: https://www.ashendenlaw.com/attorney/ashenden-thomas-j/
Bar / Professional Activity
- Member, Georgia State Bar and all Courts in Georgia since 1981
- Georgia Trial Lawyers Association, Special Member, 1985
- Georgia Supreme Court
- Georgia Trial Lawyers Association, Supporting Member: Trucking Case & Litigation Section
- Atlanta Bar Association, "Litigation Section" Member
- United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia
- American Trial Lawyers Association, Sustaining Member
- Atlanta Bar Association, Member
- Georgia Court of Appeals
Verdicts / Settlements (Case Results)
- We were referred a challenging tractor trailer case by an out of state law firm. The truck company was no longer in business when out of state law firm referred case to our firm. Other firm could not find and thus serve registered agent of truck company and referred case to us just before the statute of limitations was to expire. We successfully hired investigators in Illinois, Arizona and Texas to determine the location of the officers of the truck company and successfully perfected service. Following our time limited demand the $1 million policy limits was tendered. , 2025
- We filed suit against an attorney and former municipal judge and his son for leaving the scene of an accident after causing the pickup truck in which our client was a passenger to roll over resulting in injuries, including her back which one doctor said, needed surgery. She did not have the surgery. The insurance company and its attorneys tried to have us accept their tender of the $100,000 policy limits to no avail. After written discovery and depositions, the parties settled for a confidential amount, including a significant financial amount above the $100,000 policy limits. , 2024
- Our client, Plaintiff, while driving a tractor trailer truck was rear ended by another tractor trailer truck. Defense counsel argued Plaintiff’s injuries, including his head injury, couldn’t be related to the collision due to the minimal impact. The offers were all less than $100,000 until plaintiff took defendant driver’s and the 30b6 depositions. The case settled at mediation for $300,000. , 2024
- We filed suit against a large national grocery store chain for placing a rug where it shouldn’t have been resulting in a traumatic brain injury to our client, a 78-year-old single woman. The case settled in the Northern District Court of Georgia shortly before trial for a confidential amount. , 2024
- Our client while attending a large outdoor music festival was run over by vendors truck. Her face, shoulder, breasts, hands, arms, and legs were all badly scarred. She had multiple plastic surgeries which greatly improved her appearance. We filed suit against the venue, the security company, and the music festival itself, and were able to defeat all of their motions for summary judgment. Some of the defenses we faced included assumption of the risk by lying where our client shouldn’t have been, and her partaking in drugs. The case settled after more than three years of litigation for a confidential amount., 2023
- Our client, a truck driver who was in his personal vehicle on the date of loss, was struck from behind by a commercial vehicle. The commercial vehicle was a heavy-duty pickup truck towing an enclosed utility trailer. Damage to both vehicles was minor. The collision occurred in April of 2019. Liability was contested until after the defendant driver's deposition. The defendant driver claimed that our client pulled suddenly in front of him and slammed on brakes. Defendants admitted liability shortly after defendant's deposition. Causation and damages were also hotly contested. Our client's primary injury was to his right knee, which struck the dashboard during the collision. Conservative treatment after the collision was not effective, and the client underwent a total knee replacement surgery in August of 2022. The client had a significant history of chronic and degenerative right knee problems beginning 11 years before the collision. Only six weeks prior to the collision, the client received injections to the right knee to relieve the arthritic pain and inflammation in that knee. Defense counsel proffered a biomechanical expert to opine that the type of impact and injury which our client suffered could not have been caused in the subject rear-end collision. Defense counsel also hired an orthopedic surgeon to testify that due to our client's pre-existing condition he would have had to undergo knee replacement surgery irrespective of the collision. At mediation, a year and a half ago the highest offer was $80,000.00. The case settled for $400,000.00 on the eve of trial. , 2023
- Plaintiff was a passenger in a vehicle that was being driven by her elderly father on Norman Drive in Valdosta, Georgia on August 21, 2017. As her father was traveling northbound on Norman Drive, He slowed his vehicle to make a right turn into a McDonald's restaurant when defendant driver struck the rear of his vehicle with the Ford Econoline van that he was driving while in the course of his employment with defendant, a multi-state communications corporation. The corporation and driver's attorneys contended that Mr. Reddick abruptly turned from the left lane in front of the company van causing the collision. As a result of the impact from the collision, plaintiff suffered injuries which required her to undergo two surgeries to date on her back and caused her to incur medical expensed in excess of $272,000. Plaintiff had a prior back condition for which she had on-going treatment before the collision. The defense attorneys hired an orthopedic expert to testify against causation and another expert to testify the medical bills were excessive, and a third expert accident reconstructionist to testify the collision occurred because of Mr. Reddick's abrupt lane change. We were all ready for trial when the defense requested mediation. The case settled after 2 mediations for $825,000. , 2021
- Our client, the Plaintiff was a hazmat tanker driver traveling south on Old Dixie Hwy approaching Central Av. in Clayton County, GA. He was driving with a blue tooth in one ear. All the vehicles around him were yielding to emergency vehicles. He didn't hear the emergency responders including a fire truck; nor did he see it's lights. The fire truck driver decided to change lanes into the oncoming traffic lane at the Central Av intersection when our client was in the midst of his left turn. Our concern was how much fault the jury would apportion to the Plaintiff. We were most fortunate that the jury returned a verdict of 100% fault to Clayton County Case which was vicariously liable for its driver's failure to exercise due care while entering an intersection while responding to an emergency with it's lights and siren on. The case was tried to a jury. Judge John Carbo 10 days before trial ordered the case to be bifurcated and that damages were to be heard in front of a new jury - we would have appealed, but the County settled at mediation with us for a very substantial amount. (I thought I'd previously submitted this one to Super Lawyers but did not see it.), 2017
Videos
- Attorney Tom Ashenden of Ashenden & Associates, P.C. in Atlanta, Ga. discusses being named a Super Lawyer, Tom Ashenden Named Super Lawyer | Ashenden & Associates, P.C., Personal Injury, 2019
Representative Clients
- Our firm represents only individuals who have been the victims of negligence and have been seriously injured or died wrongfully due to the negligence of corporations or individuals. Our clients include a full range of individuals from lower socioeconomic individuals to people who were top tier executives at Fortune 500 companies who have been the victims of negligence, been seriously injured or died as a result that negligence.
Pro bono / Community Service
- Tom is once again active as a volunteer minister at the Fulton County, GA jail with others from his parish. 2017- 2021, 2024 and 2025. Due to Covid, volunteers were not allowed admission to the jail until 2025.
Scholarly Lectures / Writings
- Lecturer, How to Protect Yourself with the Insurance Coverage You Need
- "Our job as the attorney for that new client is to do all of that informal discovery or investigating. And then if it looks like there’s a viable dog bite claim, we file suit and through [the discovery process], learn much more than we probably would just by doing the history on the owner of the dog. We can go a lot deeper, of course, with the court.", Contributing Attorney, When Is a Georgia Pet Owner Liable for Injuries?, Super Lawyers
- Co-author of the PI chapter of "Georgia Methods of Practice", West Publishing
Other Outstanding Achievements
- Trial Lawyers College participant, 2021
- In July of 2018 we settled the case of a client who was a passenger in her daughter Courtney's SUV. Courtney was driving when they approached a large cotton gin truck in Abbeville, GA. Courtney plead guilty to improper lane change and the truck driver according to the investigating officer did not contribute to the wreck. Our case was that the trucker pulled in front of the SUV resulting in Courtney driving onto the shoulder to their right and then spinning out of control in front of the truck. We had to hire an accident reconstructionist to prove it. The wreck was life threatening with Brenda being life-flighted from the scene. She had to endure multiple surgeries. The defense claimed the damages should be attributable soley to Courtney. However, the accident reconstuctionist made an excellent witness in his video deposition. The case was on a trial calendar in Wilcox County when the defense requested mediation. It settled for a confidential amount. , 2018
Honors
- Mr. Ashenden was again honored to be named to the Georgia Top 100 Trial Lawyers by the National Trial Lawyers Association., National Trial Lawyers Association (NTL) – Top 100, NTL, 2024
- The National Trial Lawyers - Top 100 in Georgia, The National Trial Lawyers, 2021
- Super Lawyer, Super Lawyers, 2021
- Leading Plaintiff’s Lawyers in America, The Law Dragon 3000, 2007
- Each year since 2009 Tom Ashenden has been recognized as a Georgia "Top 100 Lawyer" by the National Trial Lawyers. , Top 100 Trial Lawyers, The National Trial Lawyers, 2009
- Martindale-Hubbell's Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers in America, 2008
- The Million Dollar Advocates Forum, certified member, 1999
- Recognized as a Super Lawyer by Atlanta Magazine
Industry Groups
- American Association For Justice
- Georgia Trial Lawyers Association
- Lawyers Club Of Atlanta
- National Trial Lawyers Association
Office location for Thomas J. Ashenden
6111 Peachtree Dunwoody Road
Building D Suite 201
Atlanta, GA 30328
Phone: 770-676-1184
Selections
- Super Lawyers: 2014 - 2026
