Lafayette Personal Injury Lawyer Joseph F. Gaar, Jr.
Email:joseph@gaarlaw.com
Born: Shreveport, Louisiana, December 2, 1958
Education:
Louisiana State University and A. and M. College, B.S., 1981
Loyola University, J.D., 1985
Practice Areas: Personal Injury; Admiralty Law; Maritime Law; Jones Act; Maritime Personal Injury; Diving and Offshore Injuries; Automobile Accidents and Injuries; Truck Accidents; Wrongful Death; Medical Malpractice; Personal Injury; Legal Malpractice
Membership: Life Member Million Dollar Advocates Forum and Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum; Louisiana State Bar Association; State Bar of Texas; Texas Trial Lawyers Association; Louisiana Trial Lawyers Association; Louisiana Association for Justice; American Association for Justice; Lafayette Parish Bar Association; St. Landry Parish Bar Association; Federal Bar Association.
Admissions: 1985, Louisiana; 1996, Texas; U.S. District Court, Eastern, Middle and Western Districts of Louisiana; U.S. District Court, Eastern and Southern Districts of Texas
Biography:
Joseph F. Gaar Jr. practices exclusively in the area of personal injury and wrongful death claims. He has negotiated settlements and litigated trials for bodily injury and wrongful death claims of various kinds and complexity, including truck accident and auto collision injuries; defective products/service injuries; electrocution/burn injuries; brain injuries; and offshore injuries. He has represented literally thousands of injured persons seeking compensation for legitimate injuries. Mr. Gaar provides personal attention and professional advocacy for individuals who have been injured or suffered wrongful death due to the carelessness or negligence of others.
A personal note from Joseph F. Gaar Jr. :
I am a personal injury lawyer because I like to help people who have been wronged. I think I ended up focusing on personal injury for a couple of reasons. My father and brother are both doctors. I didn't want to be a doctor, but I found the medicine fascinating. Being a personal injury lawyer gives me an opportunity to reference all of the medical information I have been surrounded with. From years of deposing and consulting with medical experts, I can't claim to know as much as my father or brother, but I sure know how to find the medical information I need to prove my client's case.
The other reason I like being a Louisiana trial lawyer is because it gives me the opportunity to do something for the working men and women of Louisiana. While I was growing up in Shreveport, Louisiana, my father made us work for our spending money. I chose to work offshore, in a refinery, and in construction. I liked the people I worked with then and I still do.
During my first job as an associate in a large maritime and admiralty firm, I tried my first case. It wasn't an admiralty case. It was a case where I represented my sister against her automobile insurer. I thought she had been treated unfairly by the insurer. I lost the case, but won the appeal. The case created law in Louisiana. Gaar v. Sowards, 573 So.2d 499, 501 (La. Ct. App. 1 Cir.), writ denied, 569 So.2d 990 (La. 1990) (selection of higher limits of liability insurance).
During the process of trying and appealing that case, I left my job at the maritime and admiralty firm and established my own personal injury practice in Lafayette. I've never looked back.
