Mark Carleton Blane

I really enjoy representing injured San Diegans against the negligence of others. This area of injury law allows me to combine my two passions: law and medical.  I take pride in my legal work and do a very good job for all of my clients.  Here is a brief history of how I got here:

California trial lawyer Mark C. Blane is a solo-practicing attorney and legal author who specializes in personal injury law in downtown San Diego.  He is the author of The 10 Secrets You Need To Know About Your Injury Case BEFORE You Call A Lawyer, and the co-author of A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing:  What Your Insurance Company Doesn't Want You To Know and Won't Tell You Until It's Too Late.  He was born and partly raised in Bremerhaven, Germany, eventually moving to Louisiana.  Mr. Blane graduated from Louisiana State University in Shreveport with two degrees, one in Psychology in May 1994 and the other in Criminal Justice in August 1995.  He went on to earn a Juris Doctor from Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego in December 1998.  Mr. Blane has remained in San Diego and was admitted to the California state bar in June 1999.  He has also been admitted to the Minnesota and Texas state bars, in addition to various federal courts across the United States.  Mr.  Blane represents people in Southern California who have been injured by the negligence of others due to defective products, automobile/motorcycle accidents, slip and falls, and other various accidents that have caused catastrophic loss.  He often finds himself against some of the largest insurance companies in the country, in addition to some of the most respected defense law firms in California.  He speaks English, Spanish and German fluently.  

Mr. Blane recognized early in his career that he wanted to represent ordinary people instead of corporate interests.  He enjoys the courtroom and understands the necessity of having jury trials available when needed to right the wrongs of those injured by the negligence of others.  By practicing personal injury law, he is able to combine his two passions:  law and human anatomy science.  He understands that not every injury case will need a lawyer, but every injury case, no matter how minor, should be discussed with good legal counsel.  The initial consult he provides is always without charge and he works exclusively on a contingency fee basis.  This means if he accepts and works on an injury case, he only charges a fee when he successfully resolves the case.  Otherwise, there is no charge for his legal services.  Thus, there is no financial risk to the client. 

Some of Mr. Blane’s early successes have been featured in national publications and legal journals, including the San Diego Business Journal, National Jurist Magazine, the ABA Journal and theShreveport Times (Louisiana), to name a few.  He has litigated, and continues to litigate, cases against some of America’s biggest corporations, including Amercian Home Products, Inc., makers of the once popular diet drug Fen-Phen; Johnson & Johnson, Inc., and, most recently, against both Merck, Inc., makers of the heart drug Vioxx, andMetabolife, Inc., the San Diego-based makers of the once popular ephedra-based diet-drug.  Mr. Blane  was one of the first plaintiff attorneys in the United States to successfully settle againstFord/Firestone in California and Texas in the widely-reported “tire defect/roll-over cases” in 2001.  

Mr. Blane’s areas of expertise include serious injuries of the brain and spinal cord, and loss motion segment integrity of the spine and vertebrae, as well as effectively documenting these injuries for insurance companies and juries, if necessary.  This includes properly digitizing MRI/X-ray findings in order to appropriately document injury “impairment” by utilizing permanent impairment ratings per the American Medical Association (AMA) Fifth Edition.  Mr. Blane is a master of the AMA Fifth Edition, a medical assessment tool used worldwide to document medical impairment and one of the few personal injury trial attorneys in the United States who have experience using this powerful medical documentation to prove medical damages in injury/accident claims.    He is proud to have set a “new bar” in terms of representing his injured clients with powerful results.  Moreover, Mr. Blane is very effective in communicating this medical documentation to juries, should litigation become necessary.  He works closely with doctors, chiropractors and an entire spectrum of other medical professionals who best meet his clients’ individual needs.  He is always mindful that every case needs careful and detailed documentation, not only for the adjuster handling the claim, but for the jury that may need to see each aspect of an injury in straightforward terms.  As he is fond of saying, “appropriately and properly documenting the medical impairment of any given injury makes all the legal difference in the world.”

Mr. Blane’s law office is primarily comprised of a team of paralegals, and one Of Counsel attorney member, Chad James McGuire, Esq.  He likes keeping his legal team small and approachable, and makes sure his clients get his personal attention.  In fact, when you become a client of his law firm, you meet with Mr. Blane directly.  He never delegates a first meeting to an associate or paralegal.  Since all of his clients have been injured in some way, Mr. Blane is extremely proactive in documenting the medical care each client receives.