Personal injury law is generally designed to compensate individuals for injuries they have suffered as a result of the bad conduct of others. That conduct is generally falls into two categories. The first is "negligence" and the second is "intentional tort." Automobile accidents are usually negligence actions because the defendant typically did not intend to crash into the plaintiff. Bar fights are usually intentional torts because the puncher was intending to punch.

The injuries in a personal injury case range from a scratch to death. Since the law can not undo the scratch or bring life to the dead, it compensates personal injury plaintiffs with money. Our legal system is called "adversarial" which means the plaintiff’s lawyer argues for as much money as he or she can get, while the defense lawyer’s job to argue that the plaintiff should get as little as possible, or even none. After both sides present their case, the jury decides the amount.

From a monetary perspective, the main difference between negligence actions and intentional torts is that punitive damages are generally not available in negligence actions, but are for intentional torts. The policy behind the distinction is that the law should punish those actors that intend to harm people. Punitive damages are to deter or discourage the defendant from repeating his or her intentional act in the future.

Mr. Gilliland has tried numerous personal injury cases and received verdicts or settlements in excess of one million dollars in each of the four largest counties in California (Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego and San Francisco). He has handled cases involving catestrophic injuries from truck, automobile and motorcycle accidents. He has handled cases where death has been caused by construction accidents and even the negligence of a school nurse. He has litigated cases against night clubs for failing to protect the safety of their guests and a former Mrs. America, her attorney and bounty hunter for false imprisonment of her ex-husband. The jury awarded almost half a million dollars in punitive damages against the trio for that intentional tort. Mr. Gilliland has tried a road rage case to a $450,000 verdict after an Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Navy chased and shot at Mr. Gilliland’s client in Chula Vista, California. He represented a Mexican national in state court in Florida after he was run over and left for dead by negligent driver. He represents six clients in the 4.85 billion dollar VIOXX class action settlement in New Orleans, Louisiana and filed the first class action challenging the red light ticket cameras. Mr. Gilliland collected a "policy limits" settlement for the wife and children of a Navy seaman after he died from his injuries in a motorcycle accident at the North Island Naval Station and recovered 4 times the amount of a life insurance policy limit for a widow and her children after the insurance company wrongfully refused to pay. Due to his experience trying plaintiff cases, Mr. Gilliland is also retained to defend civil cases including the civil defense of the notorious BUMFIGHTS video.