When a Waymo or self-driving vehicle injures you in Glendale, you are not dealing with a distracted driver — you are dealing with a corporation whose legal team was building its defense before you left the scene. From our office on Glenoaks Boulevard, our job is to make sure that advantage doesn't hold.
The crash happened in seconds. What comes after is unlike any conventional car accident claim — the ER visit, the follow-up appointments, the missed work, and then the discovery that there is no individual driver to pursue. Instead, there is a corporation — Waymo, a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc., or a vehicle manufacturer whose legal position is that the technology performed exactly as designed. These defendants do not settle out of inconvenience. They have permanent engineering teams, national defense counsel, and insurance infrastructure built specifically to limit what injured people recover.
Autonomous vehicles are an active and growing presence on Glendale’s roads. The 134 Freeway — which runs directly through Glendale toward Pasadena — is one of the primary corridors Waymo uses as its service area expands east across the San Gabriel Valley. Brand Boulevard, which carries heavy pedestrian and vehicle traffic through the Americana at Brand and the Glendale Galleria, is exactly the type of dense urban surface street where autonomous vehicles operate and where their sensors must navigate pedestrians, cyclists, left-turn conflicts, and stop-and-go traffic simultaneously. Glenoaks Boulevard, Colorado Street, and the 2, 5, and 134 interchange — where freeway traffic and surface streets converge at some of the most congested points in Los Angeles County — are all corridors where autonomous vehicle encounters with Glendale residents are increasing.
When a self-driving vehicle causes an accident, liability runs directly to the company operating the vehicle and potentially to the vehicle’s manufacturer. The evidence that determines who is responsible — sensor logs, camera footage, software event records, OTA update history — is stored on the vehicle’s internal systems and in the company’s cloud infrastructure. It is proprietary. Getting access to it requires prompt legal action and formal preservation demands. Every day without an attorney is a day the evidence gets harder to obtain and easier for the company to characterize as protected.
You generally have two years from the date of the accident to file a claim (CCP §335.1). The clock starts the moment the crash happens.
01
In a conventional car accident, liability typically falls on the at-fault driver. When a Waymo robotaxi is operating without a human driver, liability runs directly to the company operating the vehicle and potentially to the vehicle or software manufacturer. California law allows you to pursue every responsible party simultaneously. Identifying all of them — and the insurance coverage behind each — requires immediate investigation before evidence is overwritten or reclassified as proprietary.
02
If the autonomous system caused the crash through a sensor failure, software defect, mapping error, or a decision that fell below the standard of reasonable and lawful conduct under California traffic law, the manufacturer can be held liable under California product liability law. You do not need to prove the company was negligent in the conventional sense — only that the product was defective and that defect caused your injury. This is often a stronger legal theory than negligence alone.
03
Waymo maintains $5,000,000 in third-party liability coverage per incident — covering passengers, pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers of other vehicles. That coverage exists. What is contested is whether the company acknowledges its vehicle was at fault and what the full value of your injuries represents. Waymo does not settle casually. The case needs to be built for trial to change that calculus.
04
Under California Vehicle Code §38750 and the DMV’s autonomous vehicle testing regulations, manufacturers operating AVs in California must report every collision to the DMV within 10 days. These reports — along with the vehicle’s sensor data, camera footage, software event logs, and OTA update history — are discoverable in litigation. We request them the same day you retain us. Waiting makes them harder to access and easier for the company to contest.
California applies pure comparative fault in autonomous vehicle cases. Even if you were partially at fault — as a pedestrian, a cyclist, or a driver — you can still recover. Your compensation is reduced by your percentage of fault, not eliminated. AV companies aggressively argue contributory conduct to reduce payouts. An attorney challenges that position from the start.
2
years
from date of the accident
CCP §335.1
6
months
to file a government tort claim
* These are general deadlines. Always confirm your specific circumstances with an experienced attorney.
Every autonomous vehicle accident in Glendale has a different liability structure, evidence profile, and corporate defendant. We handle all of them.
As a passenger in an active Waymo trip anywhere in or around Glendale, the company's $5,000,000 liability policy is available to you automatically. You do not need to prove fault — you were in the vehicle. What matters is the complete documentation of your injuries and whether Waymo's offer reflects what the case is worth. Waymo does not make generous initial offers. We build the medical record, issue preservation demands for the vehicle's sensor data, and push back with a clear willingness to file in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
Glendale's surface streets — Brand Boulevard through the Americana, Colorado Street approaching the Galleria, Glenoaks Boulevard toward Burbank, and the interchanges of the 2, 5, and 134 — are the types of high-traffic, high-complexity corridors where autonomous vehicle systems must perform at their most demanding. When a Waymo vehicle causes a collision with your car anywhere in this area, liability runs directly to the company. We subpoena the vehicle's sensor logs and camera footage immediately — they record what the system detected and what decision it made in the seconds before impact.
Glendale's pedestrian density is highest along Brand Boulevard through the Americana at Brand, the Colorado Street and Central Avenue corridors near the Galleria, and the Glenoaks and San Fernando Road corridors that carry foot traffic between residential and commercial areas. When an autonomous vehicle fails to yield, misjudges a pedestrian's path in a crosswalk, or makes a left turn across an active pedestrian signal, the legal standard is the same as any other vehicle: it must operate reasonably and lawfully. When it does not, liability is clear — but proving it requires the vehicle's own data, which requires an attorney acting immediately.
Tesla's Autopilot and Full Self-Driving features have been involved in hundreds of documented accidents in California. On Glendale's highways and surface streets alike, these cases involve product liability against Tesla and potential negligence by the human driver who activated or failed to monitor the system. California requires Tesla to report AV-related crashes to the DMV — those reports, combined with the vehicle's event data recorder and Autopilot logs, form the evidentiary core of the claim. We build on both liability tracks simultaneously.
Sidewalk delivery robots and low-speed autonomous delivery vehicles operate under California DMV permits in Los Angeles County communities including Glendale. When one strikes a pedestrian, causes a cyclist to swerve, or blocks an accessible pathway on a Glendale sidewalk, both the operating company and the device manufacturer are potentially liable. These cases settle aggressively when an attorney is involved — companies are acutely aware of how these incidents look.
Freeway incidents involving autonomous vehicles are among the most serious in terms of injury severity and the most complex in terms of jurisdiction. On the 134, 2, and 5 freeways through Glendale, CHP has jurisdiction — not the Glendale Police Department. If a government entity's roadway condition contributed to the crash, the six-month government claim deadline applies in addition to the AV company's liability exposure. We identify every layer from day one.
The attorney on the other side of a Waymo or Tesla claim is not a local insurance adjuster. It is a corporate legal team that handles these cases systematically and is not moved by demand letters alone. What changes the outcome is trial preparation — a case built from the first meeting as though it will be presented to a jury in Los Angeles County Superior Court. We are based in Glendale. We know these roads. And we build every case that way.
You focus on your recovery. We handle everything else.
You speak with George at every stage — not a case manager, not a paralegal. He works directly with every client from the first call through resolution. When a corporation's legal team is moving on your case, you need your attorney on the phone, not a voicemail.
Waymo's sensor logs, camera footage, and software event records are stored in systems the company controls. We send preservation demands the day you retain us. Every day without a preservation demand is a day that evidence becomes harder to access.
If we don't recover for you, you owe nothing. Zero out-of-pocket cost to start. Our interests are aligned with yours at every point in the case.
Our office is at 613 E Glenoaks Boulevard. We know Brand Boulevard, the 134, the Americana, Colorado Street, and the intersections where these incidents happen.
California law allows injured victims to recover every category of loss caused by the autonomous vehicle and the company behind it. We build claims that account for all of them — including future costs that AV companies never voluntarily include in initial offers.
After a self-driving car accident in Glendale, multiple insurance policies may apply to your claim. Most people focus on the AV company’s policy — but that is rarely the complete picture.
We identify every potentially applicable coverage layer in every case. Missing one in an autonomous vehicle claim is leaving significant money behind.
| Court House Lawyers | Typical PI Firm | |
|---|---|---|
|
Case Review |
Same day, often within hours |
2–3 business days |
|
Attorney Access |
You speak directly with the attorney on your case |
Routed through a case manager or paralegal |
|
Local Presence |
Based at 613 E Glenoaks Blvd, Glendale — we know these roads |
Firms serving Glendale from SF, LA, or out-of-state offices with no genuine local knowledge |
|
Evidence Preservation |
Same-day preservation demands for sensor data, camera footage, software logs, and DMV incident reports |
Often delayed — AV proprietary data becomes harder to access with every passing day |
|
Liability Investigation |
We identify every responsible party: AV operator, manufacturer, third-party driver, government entity |
Many firms pursue only the most obvious defendant |
|
Data Strategy |
We treat the company’s own sensor and event log data as the primary evidence source — and the starting point for challenging their liability position |
Most PI firms are not built to subpoena or analyze proprietary AV vehicle data |
|
Trial Readiness |
Every case prepared for trial; AV companies know it |
Settlement-only firms consistently get lower offers from corporate tech defendants |
|
Fees |
No win, no fees. Period. |
Can say the same, but watch for hidden costs at settlement |
George Mkrtchyan
Managing Attorney
George Mkrtchyan is the Managing Attorney of Court House Lawyers, a Glendale personal injury firm located on Glenoaks Boulevard. Over the past decade, George has recovered millions for clients in car accident, rideshare, pedestrian, and product liability cases across Glendale and Los Angeles County — including cases involving corporations, government entities, and insurers who denied all liability until litigation made the alternative more expensive.
Before opening Court House Lawyers, George worked at a large Century City firm where he saw firsthand what happens when cases are treated as volume — files sit untouched for months, clients go without updates, and cases settle far below value because nobody built them. He opened Court House Lawyers in Glendale so that every client speaks directly with the attorney on their case and every case is prepared as though it is going to trial.
Autonomous vehicle cases are personal injury cases with a more sophisticated defendant. The same core approach applies: preserve the evidence immediately, document the injuries completely, identify every liable party and every coverage layer, and be prepared to walk into a courtroom if the offer doesn’t match the case’s value. George applies that approach to every matter he handles — whether the defendant is a private insurer or a company deploying AI-driven vehicles on Glendale streets.
“Corporations operating self-driving cars in Glendale are betting that most injured people don’t understand what evidence exists or how to get it. Our office is on Glenoaks Boulevard. Our job is to make sure that bet costs them.”
Every case is different. These results illustrate what focused, thorough representation delivers.
Personal Injury · Car Accident
Client was initially assigned 85% fault in a left-turn collision. After George and case manager Grant Abadzhyan took over, the fault assignment was reversed to zero and the client recovered full compensation.
Personal Injury · Car Accident
Three people were injured in the same accident, each with separate representation. George Mkrtchyan and Grant Abadzhyan secured the largest individual recovery of the three — the result of thorough early documentation and a faster demand strategy.
Personal Injury · Rideshare
Client injured in an Uber accident initially received nothing from the insurer. Court House Lawyers secured a $35,000 settlement within 30 days of filing a lawsuit.
Personal Injury · UIM Arbitration
Out-of-state underinsured motorist policy. The insurer refused to pay fairly. Court House Lawyers demanded arbitration and secured the full policy limits for the client.
Personal Injury · Government Entity
A wheelchair-bound client was thrown forward when a Metro conductor slammed on the brakes. Metro denied the claim outright. Court House Lawyers filed, obtained the conductor’s own footage — including a statement caught on Metro’s camera — and settled for $35,000.
Personal Injury · Car Accident
Client was offered $500 after a school bus accident. Court House Lawyers filed suit and recovered $50,000 — 100x the original offer.
Past results are specific to the facts of each case and do not guarantee future outcomes. Every matter is evaluated on its own merits.
Tell us what happened, what vehicle was involved, what your injuries are, and what information you have. We will tell you what the case is worth, who is potentially liable, what evidence needs to be preserved immediately, and exactly what to do next — even if you decide not to hire us.
George handles your case. Not a junior associate. Not a case manager. The attorney you speak with on day one is the attorney who takes the case to resolution. In a claim against a corporation whose legal team processes these cases full time, that continuity matters.
Waymo's sensor data, camera footage, and software event logs are held in systems the company controls. We send formal preservation demands the day you retain us. This is almost always the most time-sensitive step in any autonomous vehicle case in Glendale.
AV accidents in Glendale can involve the vehicle operator, the software developer, the hardware manufacturer, a third-party driver, and in some cases a government entity if a road defect or signal failure contributed. We identify every defendant and every insurance policy from the start.
We document your injuries, medical costs, lost income, and pain and suffering — and we present that documentation to every applicable insurer with full case preparation and a clear willingness to file in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
If you need specialist care and cannot afford it upfront, we connect you with experienced providers in Glendale and the surrounding area who treat accident victims on a lien basis — no cost until the case resolves.
If the manufacturer or insurer refuses to pay what the case is worth, we file. Every case is prepared from the first meeting as though it will be tried. That preparation is what produces real offers from defendants who otherwise don't move.
If a Glendale city street defect, signal malfunction, or freeway condition contributed to the crash, we file the required government tort claim within the six-month window — without exception. Missing this deadline permanently bars that portion of the claim.
No upfront costs of any kind. No hourly billing. If we don't recover for you, you owe us nothing.
We talk through the incident, which vehicle and company were involved, your injuries, and the information you have. You walk away knowing what your claim is worth, who is potentially liable, and what evidence needs to be preserved before another day passes.
We send same-day requests for the autonomous vehicle's sensor data, camera footage, pre-crash event logs, and any DMV incident report filed by the manufacturer. We also request any available surveillance footage from the crash location — Glendale's commercial corridors along Brand Boulevard, Colorado Street, and Glenoaks Boulevard all have significant camera coverage that disappears quickly.
We identify every potentially liable party — the AV operator, the software developer, the hardware manufacturer, any human safety driver, and any third-party driver or government entity whose conduct contributed. Each carries separate insurance exposure and separate legal liability. All of them are named.
We build a complete picture of your injuries — current treatment costs, future care needs, impact on your ability to work, and the full non-economic toll. In cases involving serious injury, we work with medical experts to project long-term costs accurately.
We send a comprehensive demand to every applicable insurer and corporate defendant. We push back against lowball responses with complete documentation and a clear willingness to litigate.
If any defendant refuses to pay what the case is worth, we file in Los Angeles County Superior Court. Autonomous vehicle manufacturers respond to the credible threat of a jury evaluating their technology's performance on Glendale's actual streets. We are prepared to take it there.
* These are general deadlines. Always confirm your specific circumstances with an experienced attorney.
Even as a pedestrian crossing Brand Boulevard or a cyclist on the Glendale bike network, your own auto policy may cover you after a self-driving car accident.
The first priority is evidence. Autonomous vehicles record continuous sensor, camera, and software data — and California DMV regulations require the manufacturer to report every collision within 10 days. That creates an official record, but the raw vehicle data is proprietary and requires formal preservation demands and often a subpoena to access. Beyond evidence, the key questions are: which parties are liable, what insurance coverage applies, and what the full value of your injuries is. With Waymo specifically, $5,000,000 in third-party liability coverage is available per incident. Getting the right answers to all three questions requires an attorney acting from the day of the crash.
Yes. Waymo operates under a California DMV deployment permit and is fully subject to California personal injury law. If the vehicle’s operation caused your injury, you have a direct claim against Waymo LLC. That claim runs through Waymo’s commercial insurance carrier in most cases, though direct litigation against the company is available when necessary. Waymo is a sophisticated defendant — it defends these cases with engineering teams and national counsel. The case needs to be built for trial from the start.
Depending on what caused the crash, responsibility can fall on Waymo LLC for the vehicle’s operational decisions, the vehicle’s hardware manufacturer if a component failure contributed, a third-party driver whose conduct forced the vehicle into the collision, or some combination of all three. California’s pure comparative fault system allows you to pursue every responsible party simultaneously — responsibility is not an either/or question, and identifying all of them from the start is the only way to ensure no coverage layer is missed.
Yes. Tesla’s Autopilot and Full Self-Driving features have been the subject of product liability litigation in California courts. A claim against Tesla typically involves both product liability — arguing the system was defective — and negligence by the human driver who activated or failed to monitor it. California requires Tesla to report AV-related crashes to the DMV, creating a formal record. The vehicle’s own event data recorder and Autopilot logs are central evidence. We build both liability tracks simultaneously.
Autonomous vehicles operating in California must comply with all California traffic laws, including yielding to pedestrians in crosswalks, obeying traffic signals, maintaining safe following distances, and operating at safe speeds for conditions. The standard is not different from a human driver — the vehicle must operate reasonably and lawfully under the circumstances. California Vehicle Code §38750 governs AV testing and deployment permits, requiring manufacturers to carry insurance and to report every collision to the DMV within 10 days. Violation of those regulations, or of any traffic law, is evidence of negligence in a civil claim.
Nothing upfront and nothing unless we win. Our fee comes from the recovery at the end of the case. If we do not recover for you, you owe nothing. Our office is on Glenoaks Boulevard in Glendale — call and we will tell you what the case is worth before you decide anything.
Report the accident immediately. If the crash is on Brand Boulevard, Colorado Street, Glenoaks, or another surface street, the Glendale Police Department responds. If it is on the 2, 5, or 134 freeways, CHP has jurisdiction. Either way, make sure the responding officer documents that the vehicle was operating autonomously and records the company name and vehicle ID in the incident report.
There is no human driver to exchange information with in a fully autonomous Waymo. The vehicle will have an external identification number and company markings. Photograph them clearly. Also photograph the sensor array — the lidar units, cameras, and radar equipment visible on the vehicle's exterior. Document whether any sensors appear damaged, dirty, or obstructed.
Some autonomous test vehicles still carry a human safety driver. If one was present, get their name, employer, and contact information. If the vehicle was fully driverless, confirm this and note it in your account of the incident.
The crash scene, vehicle positions, property damage, skid marks, traffic signals, road conditions, and your visible injuries — all before anything is moved. Along Brand Boulevard and the Americana at Brand, note the locations of any surveillance cameras on nearby buildings or traffic signals. That footage is critical evidence that disappears within days.
A Waymo or manufacturer representative may arrive at the scene or contact you afterward. Do not give a statement. Do not sign anything. Tell them you have retained legal representation.
Go to the emergency room or urgent care even if pain is not immediately severe. Adrenaline masks injury. A documented same-day medical assessment is critical evidence and establishes the timeline of your injuries. Follow every follow-up recommendation your doctor makes.
Names and phone numbers of anyone who saw the crash or who saw the vehicle behaving erratically before impact. Bystander accounts establish what the vehicle was doing before the collision — independent of the company's own sensor data — and can be critical if the company disputes liability.
Call (818) 293-8293 Free, same-day review from our office at 613 E Glenoaks Boulevard. We tell you what evidence to preserve, who is liable, and what your claim is worth before you speak with anyone from the company involved.
10
YEARS OF EXPERIENCE AND SUCCESS
Trusted Glendale self-driving car accident attorney holding Waymo, Tesla, and autonomous vehicle companies accountable — recovering full compensation for medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, and everything the crash took from you.
You didn’t cause this. You shouldn’t be the one paying for it. Uber, Lyft, and Waymo have legal teams working on your case before you’ve left the scene.
From our Glendale office, we represent rideshare accident victims across California — including Glendale, Los Angeles, Burbank, Pasadena, the San Fernando Valley, and statewide. The earlier we get involved, the stronger your case.
Call today. The review is free and there is no obligation.
