Connecticut's Premier Personal Injury Firm

Donald J. Trella

Location: Waterbury, Connecticut

Phone: 203-663-3695

Fax: 203-755-1835

Email: E-mail Me

Don was born and raised in Hamden, Connecticut and was educated at Saint Rita’s School in Hamden and Notre Dame High School of West Haven, Connecticut.

He graduated from Brown University and after working in various jobs for a few years, including dealing cards at a casino, eventually decided to attend law school.  He received his Juris Doctorate at Roger Williams University School of Law and was admitted to the Connecticut Bar in 2018.

Don worked for nearly seven years for a general practice firm in Waterbury where he focused on litigation practice, particularly personal injury and workers compensation, but also did some work in employment law (wrongful termination, employment discrimination, False Claims Act / qui tam, wage & hour class actions), real estate, probate, estate planning, family law (divorce, child custody), and Social Security Disability (SSDI / SSI).

Early in his career, Don carved out a niche as the top lawyer in the State of Connecticut for unemployment benefit appeals, and he has represented parties in over 800 unemployment appeals between Connecticut and other jurisdictions.

Don joined the Law Offices of Brian J. Mongelluzzo, LLC in April 2024 where he now focuses his practice on workers’ compensation, personal injury, employment, and unemployment.  He prides himself on delivering top-notch service to his clients and most of all, favorable verdicts and settlements.

Don has successfully litigated numerous personal injury and workers compensation claims to verdicts or settlements in excess of $1,000,000.  However, even more than securing big numbers for his clients, he derives the greatest enjoyment from working on cases where he can use his creative mind to obtain results.

When Don is not working, he enjoys spending time at home in Woodbury, Connecticut with his wife, his two sons, and his dog. He has been elected to his third term as a member of Woodbury Zoning Commission, where he currently holds the position of Vice-Chairman. Don also volunteers for projects on behalf of the community as a member of the Woodbury Lions Club.

Education

Brown University, A.B., Philosophy
Roger Williams University School of Law, J.D.

Admitted

State of Connecticut, 2018
United States District Court, Connecticut, 2019
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, 2019
United States Supreme Court, 2023

Areas of Practice

• Workers’ Compensation
• Personal Injury
• Employment
• Unemployment

Professional Memberships & Community Associations

Connecticut Bar Association
Connecticut Trial Lawyers Association
Connecticut Italian American Bar Association
Waterbury Bar Association
Woodbury Zoning Commission, Vice Chairman
Woodbury Aquifer Protection Association, Vice Chairman
Woodbury Lions Club
Lake Quassapaug Sailing Club

Litigated a workers’ compensation case to settlement where he successfully connected a client’s severe depression / mental health issues to a serious work injury to the client’s back.  The “final offer” from the Defense before Don took over the case was $10,000; Don settled the case for $250,000.

Client injured his back by falling down the stairs in his own house; Don got the claim accepted under workers compensation because the client’s knee (which had been injured at work) gave out on the stairs and the court concluded that the work-related knee injury caused the client’s fall down the stairs and his resulting back injury.

Workers’ compensation client with preexisting glaucoma and vision loss in one eye was assaulted on the job and lost nearly all of his vision in the opposite eye.  When eyesight deteriorated in the eye which was not injured at work, bringing his binocular vision to less than 10% of normal, Don argued the client was permanently & totally disabled under Connecticut General Statutes § 31-307(c) even though it was the degeneration of the non-injured eye that brought the client’s eyesight below the 10% threshold in the statute.  Don argued that the degeneration of the uninjured eye was inevitable, but that were it not for the work injury, the client would not be at 90%+ vision loss.  The Court returned a verdict for the Claimant, finding him permanently totally disabled, and awarding workers’ compensation benefits for life (with annual cost-of-living adjustments for life) and medical treatment for life.