Practice Areas
What we actually do
Three pillars of practice. One standard: we take cases where the medical proof can carry the damages, and we prepare every file as if it is going to trial.
Here is the short version of what kinds of cases this firm actually handles — and the kinds we do not.
The Short Answer
We represent catastrophically injured people, survivors of institutional abuse, and communities harmed by environmental contamination — against the companies, government agencies, and individuals responsible.
These are serious cases. They require Board Certified trial preparation. They often require years of work. They are the kind of cases that justify the credential stack this firm carries — and they are the only kind of cases we take.
Pillar I
Catastrophic personal injury
Life-altering injuries — the cases where the medical record alone tells a story, and where a lifetime of care is on the line.
Catastrophic injury cases are not ordinary car-accident cases. The medical proof has to be built rigorously. The life-care plan has to be prepared by credentialed experts. The damages model has to hold up under defense expert review, deposition, and trial. These are the cases where Board Certified trial preparation actually matters — and they are the substrate of the firm’s practice.
Attorney Milligan’s math and physics undergraduate background, his instrument-rated pilot credential, and his ABOTA Trial College at Harvard training all apply here. So does a quarter-century of actually trying these cases in California courtrooms.
Representative case types
- Traumatic brain injury (TBI)
- Spinal cord injury requiring surgery
- Amputation and loss of limb
- Burn injuries
- Disfigurement and scarring
- Loss of vision or hearing
- Severe nerve damage; CRPS / RSD
- Aviation accidents (DLM is an instrument-rated pilot)
- Wrongful death & survivor actions
- Trucking and commercial vehicle
Pillar II
Institutional accountability
Cases against the public and private institutions whose failures or misconduct created the conditions for individual harm.
When a juvenile facility, a state prison, a government agency, or a large organization’s policies and staffing decisions create the conditions for someone to be abused, assaulted, or seriously injured, the individual defendant alone is rarely the entity with the resources or the accountability to prevent the same harm from happening again. Suing the institution is what creates pressure for actual change — new hiring standards, new supervision, real deterrence.
These cases are hard. They take years. The defense budget is almost always larger than the plaintiff’s. That is the kind of resistance a Board Certified trial practice is built to meet.
Representative case types
- Sexual abuse in juvenile facilities and probation camps
- Sexual abuse in women’s prisons (CDCR, CCWF, CIW)
- Cases revived under California AB 218 (CCP § 340.1)
- Civil rights violations by public agencies (42 U.S.C. § 1983)
- Government-entity liability (Gov. Code § 835 claims)
- Failure to protect / failure to supervise
- Negligent hiring, retention, and training
- Institutional cover-ups and silence
Pillar III
Environmental & toxic exposure
Cases where industrial and agricultural operations have damaged the environment people live in, drink from, and depend on.
Groundwater contamination, wildfire harm caused by utility-company negligence, and property damage from toxic exposure are cases that combine scientific complexity with heavy-resistance defense counsel. Proving them requires hydrogeology experts, isotopic source attribution, long document discovery, and a working familiarity with Porter-Cologne, the CEQA record, and the mechanics of coordinated proceedings (JCCPs). Attorney Milligan’s mathematics and physics background is genuinely useful here.
The firm actively handles Central Valley nitrate contamination cases and utility-caused wildfire claims.
Representative case types
What we do not handle
Being honest about what this firm does not do is part of being honest about what it does well. We do not handle:
- Medical malpractice or dental malpractice — a specialized practice area with its own statute framework (MICRA) and expert-witness requirements. We refer these cases to attorneys who specialize.
- Workers’ compensation claims — a separate system with a specialized workers’ compensation bar. We do handle work-related third-party civil claims — civil lawsuits against a company or person other than the injured worker’s employer.
- Criminal defense.
- Family law, probate, estate planning, business transactions, real estate transactions, and immigration matters.
Declining a case is not a failure of the firm. It is usually the right answer.
For Referring Attorneys
Co-counsel & referrals welcome
The firm actively welcomes co-counsel and referral relationships with California attorneys whose clients have a catastrophic injury, institutional accountability, or environmental / toxic exposure matter outside the referring attorney’s regular practice.
Referral fee arrangements are handled in full compliance with California Rule of Professional Conduct 1.5.1 — written client disclosure, informed written consent, joint responsibility where required, and total fee reasonableness. The firm has a long-standing record of working cooperatively with referring attorneys on trial preparation, expert selection, deposition strategy, and settlement negotiation.
The easiest way to begin is a short call or email with the basic case facts, the statute-of-limitations posture, and the venue. No obligation to refer; no intake paperwork on the front end.
“The cases we take are cases where the medical proof can carry the damages. That is not rhetoric — it is the test every file gets at intake.”
Law Offices of David L. Milligan, APC · Fresno, California
Common Questions About Our Practice
Does the firm handle medical malpractice?
No. Medical and dental malpractice cases require specialized expertise the firm does not provide. We are happy to refer.
What about workers’ compensation claims?
We do not handle workers’ compensation claims directly. We do handle work-related third-party civil claims — for example, a worker injured by negligence of a non-employer party at a job site.
How does the firm decide whether to accept a case?
We review each potential matter for facts, conflicts of interest, statute of limitations, jurisdictional fit, and whether the case aligns with our trial-ready practice. We accept fewer cases than we are offered. Cases we cannot help with are declined plainly, with referrals to other counsel where appropriate.
Do you accept referrals from other attorneys?
Yes. We accept co-counsel arrangements with other attorneys whose cases are well-suited to our trial practice. Fee-sharing complies with California Rule of Professional Conduct 1.5.1.
How do you handle cases involving institutional defendants like the State, CDCR, or LA County?
Institutional accountability cases are a core practice area. Our experience suing both private companies and government entities shapes our work in juvenile facility abuse, women’s prison sexual abuse, and government-entity liability matters.
Are environmental contamination cases handled differently from personal injury cases?
Yes. Environmental contamination cases require specialized scientific expertise — hydrogeology, water testing, source identification. The firm works with credentialed expert witnesses to develop the technical foundation these cases require.