Around The Firm

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Bradley D. Westphal recently tried Stewart v. Nordbo, a three-day jury trial in King County Superior Court. Brad’s client was a motorist who hit plaintiff in a marked crosswalk. Plaintiff suffered from cerebral palsy and was wheelchair-bound, Brad’s client admitted liability, The jury returned a verdict of $27,037.03, which included stipulated medical bills of $16,037.03. The jury’s verdict was considerably less than the settlement amount that defendants had offered prior to trial. ... Brad Westphal also won a defense award in mandatory arbitration in Harvey v. Leonard. This was a disputed-liability case in which Brad’s client was broadsided while making a turn into her driveway. Plaintiff alleged that the defendant abruptly turned in front of her and failed to use her directional signal. The arbitrator also awarded Brad’s client $50,000 on her counterclaim for her personal injuries suffered in the accident. ... Brad Westphal won a motion for summary judgment in Jones v. Pieratt. Plaintiff alleged that a dog owned by Brad’s client bit and injured him. All claims against defendants were dismissed because the dog, while residing at Brad’s client’s residence, was owned and under the care, custody, and control of another person who lived at defendants’ home.

Marc Rosenberg won Medialdea v. Loeffler, a professional-liability action against an attorney in federal district court. Plaintiff alleged violations of the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and Washington’s Consumer Protection Act (CPA), which were based on events occurring in an underlying unlawful-detainer action, in which the attorney had represented the plaintiff. The claims were based primarily on the allegation that, in a motion for attorney fees in the underlying unlawful-detainer action, the attorney sought reimbursement fees for an unregistered process server and for utility fees, which were allegedly not permitted under law or contract. The federal court dismissed the CPA claims on a motion because plaintiff did not show damages, since the superior court had denied reimbursement of these fees on the motion. The FDCPA claims were dismissed on summary judgment in regard to the process server fees, because the attorney made representations to the debtor’s attorney, rather than to the debtor, and therefore did not fall under the FDCPA. Plaintiff also failed to show that the representations by the attorney regarding the utility fees were either false or misleading.

Rebecca S. Izsak recently won a defense award in arbitration in Lagonoy v. Huang, et al. Plaintiffs contended that Rebecca’s clients, a construction company and its employee, were negligent in failing to properly stop traffic near a construction site, which led to plaintiffs’ vehicle being struck by a second car exiting a driveway 200 feet from the area. The court denied summary judgment, finding that there were issues of fact as to whether the drivers relied on the actions of the employee who was stopping traffic. But at the arbitration hearing, Rebecca successfully persuaded the arbitrator that any alleged actions of her clients did not cause or contribute to the accident.