News

Personal Injury Case Settled for $1,000,000

This was a personal injury case for a woman in her thirties who had slipped and fell in a restaurant bathroom. She had one of the top personal injury lawyers in the State of California. There were many difficult challenges in her case, including whether the restaurant had any liability at all (because the restroom did have mats), and the fact that she had many serious emotional traumas prior to the accident (which caused the defense expert to testify that all of her mental health issues and emotional damages preceded the accident). The biggest challenge was that multiple MRIs showed no brain injuries and no closed-head trauma, and there were no visible manifestations (“objective” evidence) of a head injury (no bruise, swelling, etc.). Yet she was eventually reduced to a wheelchair.

Eventually, because she refused to accept a quarter of a million dollars, her famous attorney dropped her case. She was representing herself for a year and a half. We met this challenge by getting her evaluated by more specific specialists, including a neuroradiologist and an osteopathic neuromusculoskeletal specialist. We were able to finally obtain an explanatory diagnosis and a treatment effective enough to get her out of her wheelchair. This personal injury case still had enormous challenges heading to trial, and the outcomes were uncertain. But we were able to obtain about one million dollars ($1,000,000) for her, just prior to the trial. She was able to move on with her life and pursue her music career again.

Theme Park Lawsuit Results in $350,000 Settlement

In a theme park case, our firm represented a client who was a patron at a water park. One of the slides released riders, riding on large tubes, down into a funnel. Because the ride was designed without a safety bar at the top, the ride operator was using their leg to hold back the tubes before they went down into the chute. As a result, the ride operator fell into the chute after the tube of patrons, and the operator’s feet collided at great speed with the back of one of the riders, causing serious short-term back injuries of a “soft tissue” nature. We retained an expert to inspect the video footage and the ride itself, and sued both the theme park and ride manufacturer. Eventually, our firm obtained money from both defendants and resolved the case for $350,000.

Trip and Fall Case Settled for $250,000

In a recent trip and fall personal injury case, the client was a dog groomer and made too much money to qualify for Medi-Cal and too little money to afford insurance. She tripped on some wires and broke her elbow. We were able to get her the needed surgery on liens (the doctors and hospital were not paid in advance; they were paid later, out of recovery funds, at a reduced negotiated level). The defendant had large pockets. The case resolved for a quarter of a million dollars ($250,000).

Case Settled for 50 Times the Initial Offer

This firm has often obtained results for clients 10-25 times the initial offer in soft tissue personal injury and other cases. For example, we had a client who had multiple pre-existing spinal injuries, as he had fallen into a construction hole, and had several prior motor vehicle accidents. However, we turned a $1,500 offer into a $75,000 settlement.

Six Figure Settlement in Hour and Wage Case

Our client was a “manager” in a business in which the employees were making phone sales. The defense offered zero money, on the basis that she was “exempt” as a manager from overtime and break protection laws. But at the deposition of the owner and of a corporate officer, it emerged that about 42% of her time was spent on managerial functions and the rest of her time was spent on non-managerial tasks. The wage and hour case therefore resolved for six figures (several hundred thousand dollars).

Wrongful Termination Case Leads to Investigation in Korea

Our firm took over a Wrongful Termination case from another law firm in a situation involving a preemptive lawsuit against a tech employee, for “misappropriation of trade secrets” and “unfair competition”, because the employee had a large wage and hour claim. The employer had sued the employee for hundreds of thousands of dollars. The firm pursued an investigation in Korea, and in the United States. The employee recovered a substantial sum of lost wages and contract damages; and the employer dropped its lawsuit.

Small Wage and Hour Case Leads to Large Business Fraud Case

In a small wage and hour case, our firm represented four employees for unpaid overtime compensation. During a settlement mediation, we insisted on being given verified financial statements of the defendant when it claimed it lacked funds to fully pay off the claims. On that basis, the case resolved for $60,000. However, after the first payment was made by an insurer, the defendant refused to make the remaining payments. In order to collect on the judgment on the unpaid sum, which was just $48,000, we sued the business owners and several of their other businesses. We determined that their attorney was their landlord and was paying himself first. We determined that the failed business which owed our clients their wages, had transferred it assets to several other companies controlled by the family. As a result, the case settled during trial for almost $200,000, well above the total lost wages.

Client Recovers $500,000 in Business Fraud Case

In an unusual business fraud lawsuit case, our firm represented a Jewish school which had been approached by a corrupt rabbi to help it obtain a “donation” of $500,000 for the organization the rabbi ran, a community center. The rabbi would give 10% of the funds to the school. The school was eager to help the rabbi. What the rabbi didn’t disclose was that there was no “donation”, but rather a contest in which schools competed for Facebook “likes”, with the 20 schools in the nation with the most Facebook “likes” each getting a $500,000 donation from a major department store chain. When the school learned that the rabbi had entered the school into the contest, it discovered that the department store had rules which required that the donation be used only for specified school purposes. But the rabbi insisted that all of the money would go to his community center because they had a “contract” with the school. The school realized that this was a fraud and advised that it could not give the community center 90% of the money without the approval of the department store, and refused to honor the so-called “contract”. The rabbi had his daughter intercept the check and deposit it into an account the rabbi opened in the school’s name. They withdrew almost all of the money. The bank eventually stopped payment and deposited the money with the court. Our firm won a judgment that the contract was illegal and void. It endured 3 appeals, including a Supreme Court appeal (using the help of appellate counsel). The client recovered the entire $500,000.

Business Fraud Case Leads to Investigation in Asia

In a business fraud lawsuit case, our firm pursued a freight forwarding company that was paid, but then did not pay the shippers, making the client, a small business, liable for the losses for undelivered products despite having paid for the products to be shipped. Millions of dollars in damages were incurred. The firm pursued investigations both in Asia and in the United States. The corporate defendant also filed a preemptive lawsuit in federal court against the client, seeking over a hundred thousand dollars from the client. Based on that lawsuit, the defendant filed an “anti-SLAPP” motion against our client on the false basis that the client was only suing the corporation because it had been sued. Our firm beat the anti-SLAPP motion and obtained $25,000 in sanctions against the corporation for filing the motion. Eventually, the client entered into a settlement and was paid back a substantial amount of the losses.

$200,000 Settlement in Real Estate Lawsuit

In a real estate lawsuit, our firm represented a real estate investor who owned a few tracts of undeveloped land on which he wished to build homes for sale. He approached a broker with an inside tip, that a landowner who lived in China would be willing to sell for a much cheaper price if there was a cash offer, and the broker agreed to represent him in the purchase. Without the client’s consent, the broker made her own bid on the same property, on a cash basis. The firm pursued the broker for the lost profits of $100,000 as well as for fraud damages. During trial, the parties settled for $200,000.

Construction Defects Case Resolved in Covering Cost of Extensive Repairs

In a home, the bottom floor flooded during heavy rains, and water intrusion often leads to even more problems, such as mold. After some investigation, it was discovered that the builder failed to waterproof the walls around the home. As a result, a trench had to be dug 6 feet deep around the entire home, and the walls and foundation walls (inside and out) had to be waterproofed (sealed). The flooding occurred just about 10 years after the construction had been completed (when a Notice of Completion was filed with the Building and Safety Department). The statute of limitations is 10 years for defects, such as the waterproofing failure, which are not obvious, and the case was resolved for the cost of the extensive repairs.

Theme Park Lawsuit Resolved for $250,000

In a case against a theme park holding a seasonal event with large crowds, the theme park secured wires in an encased rubber strip taped down to the ground. Due to extensive foot traffic, the tape became undone and the rubber strip became elevated. The client fell and broke a bone. The case resolved for $250,000.