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Clayeo C. Arnold

Founder and President

CLAYEO C. ARNOLD, Founder and President of the ARNOLD LAW FIRM

Clayeo C. Arnold has built a successful law practice aggressively representing Californians injured by the negligent or careless actions of others. For forty years, Mr. Arnold has fought for full compensation for losses as a result of injuries or the death of a loved one.

Born in Sacramento on Feb. 13, 1947, Mr. Arnold attended Christian Brothers High School. In 1966, Mr. Arnold joined the U.S. Army and served in Vietnam in 1967-68 with the 589th Combat Engineers. Mr. Arnold received the Army Commendation medal for his meritorious service. He was discharged as a sergeant in January 1969, having served as a drill instructor and motor pool sergeant.

Mr. Arnold returned to his hometown and attended college and law school on the G.I. Bill while working full-time. He received his law degree from Lincoln University in 1975 and was admitted to the bar the same year.

The Arnold Law Firm was founded in 1975 with a secretary and a law clerk. From the beginning Mr. Arnold made a commitment to work for people rather than corporations. He began representing accident victims and also handled Workers Compensation claims. He soon discovered that he found satisfaction and fulfillment in the civil jury system and representing those who had been hurt through no fault of their own. Consequently, he began in 1980 to practice solely personal injury law.

As a trial lawyer, Mr. Arnold sees those he represents very much as individuals who might be friends or neighbors. Today, Mr. Arnold is a trial attorney who has limited his practice to Personal Injury, Wrongful Death, Products Liability, Professional Liability and Uninsured and Underinsured Motorists cases. He loves trial preparation, working with the best experts in the world in areas of accident reconstruction, machinery design, manufacturing and medical causation. This has provided extraordinary challenges and rewards every day over his long career.

Mr.. Arnold was admitted to practice before the California Supreme Court in 1975, the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California, in 1976, the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York in 1994, the U.S. Supreme Court in 1995 and the U.S. District Court, District of California, in 2008. He has served as Judge Pro Tem for Sacramento and Placer Superior Courts off and on since 1985.

Mr. Arnold has helped the continuing education of his fellow trial lawyers over the years. He has been a guest speaker and lecturer. He hosts the monthly Problem Solving Clinics for the Capitol City Trial Lawyers Association, a continuing education opportunity for plaintiffs lawyers in the Sacramento Valley. Mr. Arnold has taught Winning Your First Civil Trial sponsored by National Business Institute; Trying the Wrongful Death Case In California sponsored by National Business Institute (1999, 2000, and 2003);  Handling an Automobile Case From the Day the Client Walks Into Your Office Up Through Trial sponsored by CCTLA; Winning the Million Dollar Verdict sponsored by CCTLA; Auto Insurance Law and Accident Litigation in California sponsored by Lorman Education Services; MRI Problem Solving Clinic sponsored by CCTLA; California Mock Trial Judge sponsored by Constitutional Rights Foundation.

A past president of the Capitol City Trial Lawyers Association, Mr. Arnold has served on the CCTLA board in excess of 20 years. He is also an active member of the American Board of Trial Advocates, American Association for Justice, Association of Trial Lawyers of America, Consumer Attorneys of California, and National Brain Institute. Mr. Arnold and his firm are active in supporting legislation to protect and advance the rights of injured persons. He also has worked over the years to knit together a national network of consumer attorney firms to handle major and complex injury cases.

After 25 years of practicing from his office on University Avenue, Mr. Arnold moved his law firm to a landmark building at the corner of Howe and Northrop avenues. The three-story structure is designed to handle the growth of the firm and to provide his ever-increasing list of clients with expanded service.  This new location has a fully operational private courtroom in the Sacramento area.

Outside his practice, Mr. Arnold has made significant community contributions. In 1992, he co-founded the Roseville Community School, which continues to serve the Sacramento area with an innovative hands-on approach to youth education. He has twice been appointed to serve on a Sacramento County advisory board where he helped to supervise building permits and reduce zoning violations. While serving with the board, he also helped craft a no-cost trash removal service that helps to eliminate the accumulation of unsightly and potentially dangerous waste. The Sacramento County Master Plan also benefited from two years of service by Mr. Arnold, including his successful efforts to secure federal funding for the Rio Linda Water Company expansion.

In 2009, the Capitol City Trial Lawyers Association awarded the Friedman Humanitarian Award to Mr. Arnold as a great example of a trial lawyer working for his community under the radar, donating time, expertise, and money according to the CCTLA. The Friedman Humanitarian Award honors exceptional public service, recognizing trial lawyers who have shown an outstanding commitment to their community.

Under Mr. Arnold’s leadership, his law firm regularly sponsors and participates in such charitable events as the Run to Feed the Hungry, the Walk for Thought (benefiting the California Brain Injury Association), and the American Cancer Society Run. Annually his firm adopts a family for Christmas by providing gifts and household goods to a needy family in the community.

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Military Background

  • Sergeant E-5, Drill Instructor, Motor Pool Chief
  • 589th Combat Engineering Company
  • Deployment to Quy Nhon, Pleiku and An Khe, Vietnam 1967-1968
  • Received Army Commendation Medal serving in Vietnam, 1967-1968
  • Soldier of the Month in March, 1968
  • Discharged in January, 1969

Educational Background

  • 1975 Lincoln Law School, Sacramento, California
  • 1975 Admitted to Bar

Admitted to Practice in the Following Jurisdictions

  • California Supreme Court System, December 15,1975
  • U.S. District Court, Eastern District of California, June 24, 1976
  • U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, 1994
  • U.S. Supreme Court, August 11, 1995
  • U.S. District Court, Colorado December 21, 2011
  • U.S. District Court, Central District Court of California, November 18, 2008
  • U.S. District Court, Northern District Court of California, May 7, 2015

Practice Areas

  • Trial Practice
  • Personal Injury
  • Wrongful Death
  • Products Liability
  • Professional Liability
  • Uninsured and Underinsured Motorists
  • Class Actions
  • Multi-district Litigation
  • Accredited in Veterans Benefits

Reported Cases

  • Susanne Jacobs v. Fire Insurance Exchange (1995) 36 Cal.App.4th 1258
  • Mid-Century Insurance Company v. Ron Gardner (1992) 9 Cal.App.4th 1205

Instructor/Lecturer

  • Continuing Education on Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Claims
  • National Business Institute-Trying the Wrongful Death Case 1999
  • National Business Institute-Trying the Wrongful Death Case 2000
  • C.T.L.A.-Winning the Million Dollar Verdict1992
  • C.T.L.A.-Handling The Automobile Case…1994
  • Sacramento Consumer Attorneys (SCA):
  • Anatomy of a Civil Jury Trial(1992
  • Premises Liability(1992)
  • Handling an Automobile Case…(1994)
  • Uninsured Motorist Law-An Update(1996)
  • Uninsured Motorist Cases Part I and Part II(1998)
  • Alternative Dispute Resolution(1998)
  • Voir Dire-Picking the Unbiased Jury(1998)
  • Opening Statements(1998)
  • New and Old Treatment of Disk Injuries(1999)
  • Uninsured Motorist Cases Part I and II(1999)
  • Closing Arguments2000
  • Lincoln Law School Guest Speaker and Lecturer

Memberships

  • Sacramento County and American Bar Associations
  • State Bar of California
  • Consumer Attorneys of California(C.T.L.A.)
  • Capitol City Trial Lawyers Association (CCTLA – Past President and Board of Directors for 21 years)
  • American Board of Trial Advocates(ABOTA) Advocate
  • Super Lawyers
  • The Million Dollar Advocates Forum
  • American Trial Lawyers Association
  • American Association for Justice
  • Sacramento County Bar Association

Awards

  • Trial Advocate of the Year(1997)
  • American Board of Trial Advocates (1999) Advocate Rank
  • Mort Friedman Humanitarian Award (2009)