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Gomez Trial Attorneys

755 Front Street

San Diego, CA 92101

TheGomezFirm.com

At Gomez Trial Lawyers, Brian R. Mason’s team starts every case with trial-readiness in mind, not settlement.

“My practice is focused on complex, high-stakes cases that require substantial investigation, expert involvement, and a willingness to go to trial. I am particularly drawn to cases where the harm is significant, responsibility is disputed, and the client needs an attorney who will take the time to understand their story and pursue every available avenue of recovery,” says Brian R. Mason, Partner and Trial Attorney at Gomez Trial Attorneys.

Mason’s clients are typically individual persons and families whose lives have been permanently changed by catastrophic injury, medical negligence, wrongful death, civil rights violations, or other serious misconduct. Events, often tragic and involving multiple victims, are overwhelming and create grief and an uncertain future. In the middle of personal crisis, people seeking their due justice find themselves confronting a hospital, a large corporation, a powerful insurance company, or a government entity with far greater capital and resources.

A plaintiff attorney faces enormous challenges because a sound defense requires detailed medical analysis, extensive expert involvement, and the willingness to pursue accountability against hospitals, healthcare systems, government entities and other well-resourced defendants. “My clients are often seeking not only compensation for financial loss, but an explanation of what happened and assurance that the same failure will not happen to someone else. I get to help people who need help, who are going up against really big companies or government entities. Our clients have rights we can protect,” Mason says.

Mason takes his work seriously and he does not like to lose. He is quick to point out that his drive to succeed never confuses intensity with unnecessary aggression in the courtroom. Whether he speaks with a client, opposing counsel, or a jury, he believes people respond best to someone who is direct, authentic, and prepared. He works hard do everything to can to be the most reasonable person in the room, he says. 

Victories for the Community

Big wins for a single client or for a family are often major victories for the entire community. The case of Anthony McGaff eloquently and forcefully makes that point.

While riding a public transit bus, McGaff, a 30-year-old black man, died after being placed in a prolonged chokehold by another passenger. The driver was aware of the emergency, but continued traveling while McGaff remained restrained and unconscious. The case was heavily contested and required years of preparation, persistence, and ultimately a jury trial against a powerful public entity. “I knew going in it was going to be a tough case because there were a lot of difficult facts, but the more I dug into it, the more I learned about the safety procedures of the Metropolitan Transit System and how they failed. By the time we were in trial, I knew this was an important case not just for my client, but for the entire community,” Mason says.

The jury returned an $8.5 million verdict and assigned zero percent responsibility to McGaff. That finding was extraordinarily meaningful because the defense had attempted to place blame on the victim. For his family, the verdict was not simply about financial compensation; it was a public acknowledgment that McGaff was not responsible for what happened to him and that his life mattered.

“The experience reinforced that every case is ultimately about a person and a family. Anthony’s family placed an enormous amount of trust in me and my team and I felt a deep responsibility to make sure the jury understood who he was, what happened to him, and the magnitude of the family’s loss,” Mason says.

Pivoting at an “Aha!” Moment

Early in life, Mason never thought about becoming an attorney. A totally committed basketball player in high school and college, he planned a career in coaching. Unfortunately, his dedication to the sport wasn’t matched by a similar dedication to academics. He left the four-year university he was attending and enrolled in community college with no academic plan. That’s when he had his “Aha!” moment. To borrow a sports term, his career choice took a pivot. His brother, Josh Mason, who was attending law school, invited him to sit in on a criminal procedure class. “And then I just kind of got the—I just loved it. It was all about the Fourth Amendment, search and seizure of a vehicle. That’s the first time I really thought I should consider law school,” Mason says.

In a dramatic change of academic direction from his earlier years, Mason graduated in the top ten percent of his class at Thomas Jefferson Law School. After graduating, he worked for six years as a criminal defense attorney before switching to civil defense for Mercury Insurance Company for the next seven years. He found the work satisfying, yet discovered something important was missing in his life. He made another career pivot after meeting John Gomez in late 2021.

Gomez was looking for someone to run a trial team on the plaintiff’s side. “I had admired John for years, not only because of the exceptional results he has achieved, but because of the way he built a firm around trial excellence, preparation, and a willingness to take on powerful defendants. That’s something I had always wanted to do, especially for a firm like Gomez Trial Attorneys that gives so much back to the community, and so that’s how I ended up making the change. I’ve never looked back.” 

A Winning Combination

Mason’s upgraded education, his trial experience and his total commitment to the success and well-being of his clients are distinguishing factors in his career path. He combines those essential skills with real-world trial experience and the resources necessary to fully develop complex cases and take them all the way to a successful conclusion.

“We do not treat clients as case numbers or simply move files toward the quickest available settlement. I stay personally involved in the cases I handle,” Mason says. He meets with clients, learns their histories and families, prepares them for depositions and trial, and makes sure they understand the important decisions in their cases through each step of the process. In a serious injury or wrongful death matter, he shows a genuine skill for presenting the client’s full story in court or across the negotiating table.

His philosophy is to prepare each case from the beginning as if it will go for trial. That means preserving evidence immediately, locating witnesses, obtaining surveillance and electronic evidence, retaining qualified experts, taking key depositions, and developing demonstrative evidence that will allow a jury to understand complicated medical, scientific, or technical issues. He does not believe in waiting until the eve of trial to determine how the case will be proven. Preparing for trial from day one means they are prepared for any eventuality or opportunity along the way.

Mason stresses the value of his and his firm’s substantial courtroom experience. “Many attorneys advertise themselves as trial lawyers but rarely try cases. Our willingness and ability to present a case to a jury changes the way defendants, insurance companies, hospitals, corporations, and public entities evaluate our clients’ claims. That’s one of the reasons our success rate and our client satisfaction ratings are so high,” Mason says.

Teamworking the Toughest Cases

Mason learned the invaluable lesson of teamwork during his days playing basketball. It is a knowledge he applies to handling cases. Mason gives a lot of credit to his team, which is sizeable—necessary considering the size and resources available to the opposing sides. The team includes attorneys Lara Deitz and Jansen Hyatt, two paralegals, two legal assistants, and a part-time nurse. He doesn’t shy away from tough cases and embraces challenges other attorneys or firms prefer to avoid or refer to someone else. “What I really enjoy are the cases where other lawyers don’t want it because appears to be too tough, but the damages are really significant. Those are the kind of cases I really enjoy,” he says.

Sound and in-depth preparation is a hallmark of Mason’s approach to every case; a commitment developed during the course of his 18-year career in the courtroom. “When I was a defense attorney there were times when the plaintiff attorney got client’s name wrong or said something that I knew wasn’t true because I had studied all the medical records. I was just staggard by such a lack of preparation and vowed to never fall into that trap. Here at Gomez Trial Attorneys, we take the preparation part so seriously that it gives us a powerful edge over competitors.”

Mason and his team have recovered more than $75 million since he joined Gomez Trial Attorneys in 2022. One case resulted in a $15 million recovery for a child who suffered serious injuries in a trucking collision that involved complex agency and cross-border issues. Another case resulted in a $6.1 million recovery in a civil rights case involving inadequate medical care in jail. That case was particularly meaningful because it involved holding a government institution accountable for failing to provide necessary care to a person in its custody. In another case, he represented a 15-year-old girl who was seriously injured in a motor vehicle collision. The available insurance limits totaled only $2.3 million, but he secured an additional $3.5 million beyond those limits, resulting in a total recovery of $5.8 million. Mason says, “That case reflects the importance of looking beyond the obvious sources of recovery and continuing to pursue every available avenue for an injured client.”

Beyond the Office

Mason and his wife of 18 years, Creslyn, live in San Diego County with their three children ages 11, 15 and 17. As a family, they enjoy travel and have been to 28 states along with multiple other countries so far. The kids are all homeschooled by Creslyn Mason, who founded an expanding homeschooling group in the community. “We feel fortunate to have built our family’s life in the San Diego community. It’s a place we would never leave,” he says. Mason credits his wife, Creslyn, as an essential part of his success, both in the courtroom and beyond. “Building a demanding trial practice requires long hours and significant sacrifice—not only from the lawyer, but from the entire family. Creslyn has been the foundation of our family and a constant source of strength throughout my career.”

Mason hasn’t forgotten his basketball roots and stays in shape by playing the game three days a week. 

“Being with my family and playing basketball gives me a chance to step away from the intensity of litigation and recharge. But outside the courtroom, family remains the center of my life,” he says.

For Mason, that perspective carries directly into his work and the relationships he builds with his clients. “Representing individuals and families facing the consequences of a serious injury, medical negligence, or the loss of someone they love is very fulfilling. They are often going through one of the most difficult experiences of their lives, and it is a privilege to stand beside them and tell their story in the courtroom.”

» Education

• Thomas Jefferson School of Law, J.D., cum laude: 2007
• University of Oregon, BS in Sociology with a Specialization in Politics and Social Movements: 2003

» Honors & Awards

• Super Lawyer: 2018-2026
• Super Lawyer Rising Star: 2018 - 2023
• TOP 100 Personal Injury Lawyers in America Club: 2023
• National Top 100 Trial Lawyers: 2022
• Pro Bono Honors Award, Thomas Jefferson School of Law: 2007
• Pro Bono Award from San Diego County Public Defender’s Multiple Conflicts Office:

» Bar Admissions

• California; US District Court Southern District of CA
• US District Court Central District of CA

» Memberships

• Associate Member of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) since 2020. 
• Consumer Attorneys of San Diego: 2022 - Present
• San Diego County Bar Association: 2009 - Present
• California Young Lawyers Association: 2009 - Present
• North County Bar Association: 2009 - Present
• State Bar of California: 2009 - Present
• Adjunct Professor of Law at Thomas Jefferson School of Law: 2017