Representative Cases

AMOUNT

DESCRIPTION OF CASE

$15,510,000

 2007 Unsafe Product

Jury verdict after a seven week highly publicized trial. Material escaped from an open U-Haul rental trailer being towed on a highway and struck the following vehicle driven by our client, penetrating the windshield and causing blindness, facial disfigurement and traumatic brain injury. U-Haul did not provide any tie-down points inside the open trailer for securing loads. The jury found that the trailer was not safely designed.

$3,025,000

2007 Unsafe Intersection

Settlement with the City of Vancouver, Washington, for a negligently unsigned intersection. A collision at the intersection resulted in paraplegia suffered by our client who was operating a motorcycle.

$1,750,000

2007 Construction Site Wrongful Death

Settlement for the construction site wrongful death of a truck driver who was killed when the general contractor's employee, using a fork lift, negligently knocked cargo off the truck onto the driver.

$4,400,000

2006 Insurance Bad Faith

Settlement after two weeks of jury trial against an excess insurer based upon allegations of breach of contract and insurance bad faith for failure to provide a defense to a general contractor against claims by our client who was severely injured on the general contractor's job site. The excess insurer failed to defend after the general contractor's primary insurer had refused to provide a defense. In an earlier settlement agreement with the general contractor our client obtained an interest in the general contractor's claims against both insurers and our firm successfully pursued those claims in court.

$12,950,000

 2005

Settlement with an insurance company for bad faith and breach of contract in failing to defend or indemnify a general contractor against the claims of our client who suffered paraplegia and traumatic brain injury on the job site. The insurance company settled for this amount despite having insurance policy limits of only $1,000,000.

$1,300,000

2005 Unsafe Utility Pole Placement

Settlement with public utility company for improper placement of a utility pole within the safe recovery area of a roadway. Our client sustained a severe traumatic brain injury when the vehicle in which he was riding as a passenger collided with the pole.

$1,100,000

2004

Policy limits settlement with an automobile insurer for traumatic brain injury suffered by our client, a pedestrian, who was struck by a motor vehicle.

$4,250,000

2003 Unsafe Highway Construction Zone

Settlements with the State of Washington, a general contractor and a subcontractor for negligently setting up an unsafe construction zone on an Eastern Washington highway. Our client, working as a flagger, sustained a severe traumatic brain injury when he was struck by an automobile.

$6,000,000

2002 Unsafe Jobsite

Settlement with a general contractor for severe injuries suffered by our client when the general contractor's employee, operating a track hoe, negligently knocked a large steel pipe into an excavation pit where our client was working. The pipe struck our client causing paraplegia and brain injury. The general contractor's primary and secondary insurers refused to defend the general contractor or pay for the loss to our client. A total settlement with the general contractor of $17,400,000 was approved by the court and upheld on appeal. Howard v. Royal Specialty, 121 Wn. App. 372 (2004). In the settlement, our client received policy limits of $6,000,000 cash from the only insurer that did defend the general contractor. Our client also received an interest in the general contractor's claims of bad faith against the two insurers that refused to defend or provide coverage to the general contractor. We successfully pursued those claims on behalf of our client in Court.

$3,000,000

2002 Insurance Bad Faith

Settlement with an insurer based upon allegations of breach of contract and bad faith on the part of the insurer in failing to properly evaluate and pay the property claim of an Eastern Washington potato processor whose processing plant had been damaged due to a heavy snow storm.

$1,250,000

2002 Unsafe Loading of Logging Truck

Settlement with insurers for a logging company on behalf of a logging truck driver who was severely injured by a log knocked off his truck by a negligently operated log loader.

$4,050,000

2000 Unsafe Highway Condition

Settlement with the State of Washington and its highway construction contractor for negligently leaving a drop off on the edge of newly constructed highway pavement. Our client was rendered quadriplegic when the vehicle in which she was riding as a passenger caught its wheel on the exposed pavement drop off and rolled over.

$1,006,200

2000

Settlement with a college fraternity for negligently allowing alcohol to be consumed at the fraternity house. Our client was a pledge at the fraternity who consumed alcohol and subsequently fell from an upper story fraternity house window sustaining severe injuries.

$700,000

2000

Settlement with a city bus company. Our client was a passenger on a bus and was severely injured when the bus plunged off a city bridge after a gunman shot and killed the bus driver. Investigation revealed that the same gunman had harassed other bus drivers previously and that bus drivers on the same route experienced more threats and assaults than on other routes but that no added security was provided by the bus company.

$1,420,000

1999

Policy limits settlement with multiple automobile insurers. Our teenage client was a passenger in a car whose driver was trying to keep up with a caravan of vehicles driven by other teenagers who were all traveling too fast for conditions. Our client suffered a severe brain injury when the driver of the car she was in lost control and crashed. The insurers of all drivers involved in the caravan participated in this settlement.

$2,350,000

1998 Unsafe Guardrail Installation

Settlement with King County for a negligently installed guardrail. The vehicle in which our client was riding as a passenger made contact with the end of the guardrail which was not properly secured to the ground. On impact, the guardrail speared through the vehicle's windshield and caused severe traumatic brain injury to our client who was riding in the rear seat.

$3,802,000

1997 Unsafe Road Design

Jury verdict after a six week trial against Yakima County for defective road design. Our teenage client was a passenger in a vehicle that crashed causing her catastrophic brain injury after the vehicle encountered the defective road condition.

$1,780,000

1995

Settlement with a Washington County for failing to sand a portion of roadway where black ice had formed. The County knew that the weather conditions were causing ice to form on its roads and that the area in question was known to ice up under such conditions. The County claimed that one of its sanding trucks had sanded the area but State Troopers arriving at the scene confirmed that there was no sand on the black ice. Our client, a high school basketball star, suffered a severe brain injury when the driver of the vehicle in which he was riding lost control on the black ice and crashed. As part of the settlement our client received a portion of the County's claim against its own insurance company for failure to cover the County for this loss. That claim was successfully pursued against the insurance company.

$1,290,000

1994 Attorney Malpractice

Policy limits settlement of a legal malpractice lawsuit that we brought against two Utah attorneys who negligently handled the medical malpractice case of a brain-injured woman against her doctors and a hospital.

$1,065,000

1994

Settlement with the City of Auburn and an automobile insurer for severe traumatic brain injury suffered by our bicyclist client at a negligently designed intersection.

$2,400,000

1992 Overservice of Liquor

Settlement with a tavern and a grocery store for over service/selling liquor to a person who, while driving later, crossed the centerline hitting our young client head-on causing brain damage and paraplegia.