$4,200,000Unpaid Wages
$3,275,000Meal and Rest Break
$2,250,000Wrongful Death
$1,000,000Employment Case
$750,000Crime Victim Case
$475,000Sexual Assault
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The National Trial Lawyers - Top 100
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Expertise 2023
Expertise 2021

San Diego Lawyer

“Get Results Not Excuses” has been our approach to helping clients since the day we opened 12 years ago. Led by an experienced trial lawyer, Tom Rist has fought for individual clients almost his entire career. From working as a San Diego employment lawyer on massive class actions involving 20,000+ class members to individual cases where a client was seriously injured in a car accident, we work tirelessly to get our clients results in every single case we handle.

Results Speak for Themselves

Our results show that we don’t accept excuses when it comes to representing a client – multiple million-dollar results, hundreds of cases successfully taken to a final verdict, and the positive praise given to us by past clients are the reputation that we put to work for every client in every case.

Our office handles all employment and injury cases on a contingency fee basis, which means you do not pay us anything unless we win at trial or obtain a settlement in your case. We offer free consultations to clients where we will discuss your case in depth, identify any problems in your case, and provide our advice as to the best way to move forward.

Our office handles injury, employment cases and crime victim rights matters. We work on car accidents, motorcycle accidents, truck accidents, wrongful death cases, wage theft, sexual harassment, failure to pay overtime, meal and rest break violations, and other matters in San Diego and throughout California.

Why Hire Rist Law Office for Your Case?

  • We get results – over $50 Million recovered in verdicts and settlements
  • We have helped over 20,000 clients with cases
  • 18 years of experience fighting for our clients
  • Substantial trial experience – over 100 cases taken to a final verdict
  • Consistent Five-star reviews across Google and AVVO
  • Top 100 Trial Lawyer
  • Former prosecuting attorney
  • Former insurance defense lawyer

To get help with your case call us today at (619) 377-4660.

Car Accidents

When a serious car accident happens, the lawyer you hire can make all the difference in the outcome of your case. Our office handles car accident cases in San Diego and throughout California. Many clients that we have helped turn to us after insurance companies refuse to offer reasonable settlements. We have taken accident cases to trial and settled cases where insurance companies only offered a few thousand dollars and the end result was in excess of six figures. Call us to set up a free consultation where we will discuss all aspects of your accident case and will give you advise for how to move forward.

Truck Accidents

Some of the hardest cases that we deal with involve accidents caused by large trucks, semi’s or 18 wheelers. The sheer size of these vehicles compared to anything else on the road can lead to serious vehicle damage and even worse injuries for passengers. Many truck accident cases result in fatalities and a wrongful death case has to be filed on behalf of the family.

Our office has handled serious truck accident cases throughout California and the United States. An experienced truck accident firm, we work to get information about safety inspections, driver records, black box data, and other valuable information that could be critical to resolving a case. The multiple layers of insurance that can be triggered also becomes a focal point in a case like this and we work to identify all of these so that our clients are in the best position to successfully resolve a case.

Employment Cases

California has some of the strongest wage and hour laws in the entire country. Workers here are protected by laws that force employers to honestly and fairly pay employees and provide other benefits. Some of the wage and hour or employment cases that our San Diego employment attorney handles include:

  • Failure to pay minimum wages
  • Failure to provide meal and rest breaks
  • Unpaid overtime claims
  • Cases involving off the clock work
  • Misclassification of employees as exempt
  • Misclassification of employees as independent contractors
  • Failure to reimburse business expenses
  • Sexual harassment
  • Discrimination
  • Wrongful termination
  • Retaliation/Whistleblower claims

In many California employment cases employees can recover damages for unpaid wages as well as attorneys’ fees, costs and interest. Some labor code provisions also provide for penalties and liquidated damages. We handle all employment cases on a contingency fee basis, which means there is no fee unless your case is settled or won in court.

Class Actions

Our office has significant experience working on class actions. Tom Rist has been approved by courts as class counsel in a number of cases that resulted in multi-million dollar settlements for employees throughout California. Many wage and hour cases are filed as class actions when large employers have employment policies in place that result in missed meal breaks, rest breaks, or overtime law violations. In some class actions, the employers have actually put in place policies that result in employees working off the clock for significant periods of time. This is an obvious violation of employment laws, but can result in millions of dollars of savings to a company when thousands of employees are involved. In many wage and hour cases in California, a class action can be used to recover the wages of several dozen employees to thousands of employees who were improperly paid.

When we discuss any employment matter with a client, our San Diego employment lawyer will run through whether it makes more sense to file an individual case or a class action. Either way, there is no fee unless we win compensation for our client.

Meet the Attorney

Thomas Anthony Rist

Since 2008, Tom Rist has helped thousands of clients to obtain millions of dollars in verdicts and settlements. After several years working as a prosecuting attorney and then as an insurance defense lawyer, Tom opened Rist Law Offices with the idea that...

Thomas Anthony Rist
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Client Reviews

“Tom Rist embodies all of the attributes a person would look for in an attorney. He is honest, trustworthy, competent, genuine, and personable. He is a natural at putting his clients at ease.”

Google Review by a Client

“I just wanted to say thank you for everything. I really appreciate all you did for my case. Awesome job.”

Employment Case Client

“Thank you so much for what you did in this case. My husband and I had nowhere to turn until we found you. Your work on this case made all of the difference for us and our family. We are so very grateful for your help and will send all of our family and friends to you if they need a lawyer for...

Fraud Litigation Client

“Thank you so much for what you did in this case. We will refer everyone that we know to your office for help with any legal matter. Thank you for your hard work.”

Wrongful Death Client Representative

“You did excellent work in this case to get not only the attorneys for the defendants to understand your client’s strong position, but also to get their insurance claim representatives to put real value on what was a hard case.”

Mediator in a crime victim case

Contact Us

  1. 1 Free Consultation
  2. 2 No Fees Unless You Win
  3. 3 Get Results, Not Excuses
Fill out the contact form or call us at (619) 377-4660 to schedule your free consultation.

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