Nolan R. Jones is a Partner at Dreyer Babich Buccola Wood Campora, LLP. He represents people and families in cases involving catastrophic injury, wrongful death, dangerous conditions of public property, trucking and commercial incidents, product defects, and complex premises liability. Nolan joined the firm in 2013 as a law clerk while attending McGeorge School of Law in the evenings, working directly with Roger Dreyer and Robert Bale on high-profile matters. Since 2016, he has practiced at the firm as a trial lawyer who guides clients through investigation, discovery, expert development, motion work, mediation, and trial.
Clients and referring lawyers know Nolan for detailed preparation, clear communication, and steady leadership through difficult moments. He treats every case as a story that deserves to be heard, from life-changing injuries to more routine collisions that still turn a family’s life upside down. His practice includes hands-on work with technical experts, scene inspections, data and video analysis, and careful presentation of medical and causation issues to juries and mediators.
Nolan’s peers often seek his help with lien strategy and post-resolution planning. He has written for Forum Magazine on lien negotiations and has presented twice for the Consumer Attorneys of California on lien strategy. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Capitol City Trial Lawyers Association, where he helps develop education and resources for the plaintiff bar.
Before practicing law, Nolan spent nearly a decade in restaurants, from host stand to management. That experience shaped how he thinks about safety rules, training, customer flow, and risk prevention, which now informs his work in premises and operations cases. At McGeorge, he immersed himself in Trial Advocacy, completed every specialty course available, graduated a semester early, and passed the California bar exam on his first attempt.
Nolan has resolved hundreds of cases through negotiation and trial and has recovered tens of millions of dollars for clients. He is licensed in all California state courts and in the federal courts of California.
Selected Results
- $9,300,000 — Dangerous Shoulder Parking & Sight-Line Trap at Hwy 49 Confluence (El Dorado County) - Resolved on day one of trial after we showed years of notice about haphazard shoulder parking that blocked visibility at the American River Confluence, a string of similar crashes, and post-incident striping to force parallel parking.
- $9,000,000— Dangerous Condition of Public Property (San Francisco “Slow Street”) - City-installed, unmarked asphalt berm on Clay Street created a roadway trap on a designated bike route that caused significant injuries.
- $3,400,000— Hospital Golf Cart Strikes Surgeon in Marked Crosswalk (Sacramento County) - Security guard rolled a stop sign while looking left for parking-lot traffic and accelerated a hospital cart into our client as he stepped from a steep, stair-fed walkway directly into the crosswalk; we provided evidence of a sight-line trap from shipping containers and poor sign placement (installed without permits). (This is Owens v. Mercy San Juan Medical Center)
- $3,280,000 in Total Recoveries — Three Collisions, One Coordinated Case (Sacramento County) - While overcoming apportionment and causation defenses across three successive Motor Vehicle Collisions within 18 months of each other, we secured $3,280,000 in total for the client.
- $3,000,000— Electric-Shock Explosion at Commercial Panel (Sacramento County) - Property manager repeatedly sent a handyman—not an electrician—to reset a chronically tripping main breaker on a panel missing a secured dead-front; a high-voltage arc blew out, throwing him to the pavement and causing severe burns to his dominant hand/arm and PTSD. We traced the hazard to years of negligent maintenance and a misinstalled breaker/bracket.
- $2,400,000 Global Recovery against Multiple Defendants — Wedding Reception Speaker Collapse (Contra Costa County) - A 50-lb band speaker on a tripod toppled into the dance-floor crowd at the Lafayette Park Hotel, striking our client and causing a documented occipital hemorrhage with post-concussion sequelae. We prosecuted a complex, multi-defendant case against the hotel, the entertainment vendor, and the coordinator—using floor-plan approvals, vendor communications, and equipment-setup proof to show how an unsafe layout let the speaker encroach a pedestrian path and vibrate over—resolving the matter for a combined $2.4 million.
- $2,000,000 — Motorcycle Wrongful Death at a Five-Point Intersection (Vallejo) - County employee entered a five-way, stop-controlled approach without yielding, killing a motorcyclist; we proved the employee was negligent in her duties as a County employee, and also argued obstructed sight lines and deficient limit-line placement created a dangerous condition by the City.
- $1,000,000 Policy-Limits Settlement — Pedestrian Run Over by Semi in Truck-Stop Crosswalk (Glenn County) - Trucker left the fuel island at the Pilot Travel Center and rolled a tractor-trailer over our client’s foot as he walked in a designated pedestrian walkway; the claim resolved for full insurance policy limits of $1,000,000
Areas Of Practice
- Personal Injury Litigation
- Wrongful Death
- Construction Accidents
- Product Liability
- Motor Vehicle Accidents
- Premises Liability
Honors and Awards
- National Trial Lawyers Top 100
- The National Trial Lawyers Top 40 Under 40
- Northern California Super Lawyers® Rising Stars, 2018-2022
- Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch (2025)
Professional Associations and Memberships
- American Bar Association, Member
- Capital City Trial Lawyers Association, Member
- Consumer Attorneys of California, Member
- Sacramento County Bar Association, Member
- The State Bar of California, Member
- The American Association for Justice, Member
