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	Return to Attorney Examples from Scott's Case Files: Nahal v. Kauffman $424,700 Total Verdict Scott represented Surjeet Nahal, a Canadian tourist whose car was hit by a truck exiting a gas station. He sustained permanent soft tissue injuries to his low back, shoulder and neck requiring probable future surgery. The defendant and his insurance company denied liability, claiming that the driver of the car Mr. Nahal was in was entirely at fault. Because of his injuries, Surjeet was not able to work as much, and had ongoing pain. The case was eventually tried to a jury in June of 2009, and the jury returned a verdict in favor of Surjeet in the total amount of $424,700 for his permanent pain resulting from a bulging disc and annular tear in his low back. Following the jury verdict, Surjeet was able to start putting his life back together and has enough to cover all of his future medical bills and surgery, as well as most of his lost income. Aldrete v. Service Master of Seattle $4,000,000 Settlement On New Years Eve of 2004, Andrew Wolfe, an employee of Service Master of Seattle left a job site in Arlington, Washington in an intoxicated state as a result of drinking on the job. As he drove off into the night to head back to Seattle, he was lost and on the phone, paying little attention to what was going on in front of him. A bad accident was all but inevitable. Jessica Aldrete, a wonderful single mother of two young children, had just gotten off work and was heading to the store with her fiancé to buy a cake for her kids to celebrate New Years with her kids. Mr. Wolfe slammed into the rear of the Aldrete vehicle, causing massive head injuries to Jessica. She was transferred to Harborview, where she remained unconscious and was later deemed to be in a light coma. She remained in this state for 11 months before sadly passing away. While in the coma, she showed subtle signs of being aware of her surroundings. When her children visited her, she would shed tears. The insurance carrier for Service Master claimed that it was not responsible for Jessica’s “pre-death pain and emotional suffering” because she was not conscious, and that it was only responsible for the economic damages to her estate and her children’s loss of consortium claims. Scott knew this was morally wrong and researched the medical field for any studies supporting the fact a person can still experience pain and suffering even though they are not “conscious” in the classic sense. A new study was found supporting this position, and after Jessica’s neurosurgeon agreed with Scott, another world class expert was retained to testify to Jessica’s pain and suffering. The insurance carrier for Service Master realized it had a problem, and after listening to Jessica’s two experts, it was not interested in continuing with its position that a person in a “minimally conscious state” cannot feel pain or experience suffering. Service Master knew that Jessica’s suffering following her massive brain injuries was extreme for the eleven months she remained alive. Service Master then did the right thing and began settlement discussions so Jessica's two kids would not have to suffer the economic and human disadvantages of having no parents to look after them. With Scott's help, Jessica's children will be taken care of by their grandparents, and have the resources to attend the college of their choice. The Blair Firm helped Jessica’s parents create and set up the Remember Jessie Foundation, which is devoted to stopping drinking and driving. Each New Years Eve, the Foundation provides rides for intoxicated people home for free so they do not have to drive on the roads and endanger others. Peck v. King County $1,000,000 Settlement When a King County Police Officer made an illegal U turn in his patrol car in front of Chris Peck as he approached from behind on his motorcycle, Chris had no choice but to lay his bike down to avoid a broadside collision. Scraped from road burn and sore from traumatic soft tissue injuries, Chris was taken to the ER, where he was given treatment and a tetanus shot. He had no idea this seemingly minor accident would have devastating affects on his life and job. When Chris began to lose neurological function in his arms and legs, but his testing was normal, his physicians were stumped. One of his chart notes contained a vague reference to a tetanus shot with a question mark, as if there may be a connection. Scott accepted Chris’s case with the challenge of trying to establish whether or not there was a link between the tetanus shot and his odd neurological condition known as CIDP. After providing his treating physician every known article on any link between tetanus and CIDP, the neurologist was able to link up the two. World class experts in the area were hired to provide the doctor with the academic perspective on the link between tetanus and CIDP, and the devastating effects of CIDP on those who suffer from it. Because King County's negligence put Chris in the hospital, Washington Law holds that it is responsible for any negative effects of ordinary medical care. Chris’s medical bills exceeded $250,000 from the transient loss of use of his arms and legs from the CIDP. King County denied there was any connection between the tetanus shot and Chris's injuries. Following a vigorously fought case with King County spanning nearly nine years, King County finally agreed to pay $1,000,000 to settle the case, a first of its kind. Chris was able to put his life back together and eventually make a partial recovery. He finally had the resources to properly attend to his medical needs and bills that threatened to bankrupt him. With an uncertain future, Chris at least has some certainty now to deal with his ongoing physical challenges. Gluebrecht v. Insurance Auto Auctions et al. $1,200,000 Settlement Richard Glubrecht worked as a tow truck driver. Late one night as he dropped a wrecked car off at Insurance Auto Auctions with his flat bed tow truck, he used a fork lift owned by IAA. Unbeknownst to Richard, IAA permitted tow truck drivers to use the fork lift without telling them that the brakes were defective. When Richard set the brake of the forklift and stepped in front of it to loosen chains on his tow truck, the 13,000 lb. forklift rolled over him, nearly crushing him to death. After several surgeries, he was able to start functioning again but was never able to get back to work as a tow truck driver and support his family as he did before his accident. The Blair Firm, Inc., P.S. was able to help Richard get through all the barriers placed in front of him by the defense and get the matter resolved in a manner that gave him the piece of mind his family and medical bills would be taken care of in the future. Estate of Malone v. House of Shogun et al. $1,265,000 Settlement Late one night Michael Malone was working as a Washington State DOT employee on I-5 doing quality control inspections of repaving work in a coned off area of the freeway. At the same time, a patron of the House of Shogun had been served far too much liquor to even think of driving home from Federal Way to Seattle. Nevertheless, he left and drove into the night. The patron then crashed through the large cones and drove for several hundred feet in the sealed off lane, eventually striking Mr. Malone who had his back to the drunk motorist. Mr. Malone died at the scene. Suit was filed against the House of Shogun for wrongful death, as well as the driver of the car. After a long battle where the House of Shogun denied it served the motorist too much alcohol (that was shown to be untrue), and after and extensive investigation by The Blair Firm, Inc., P.S., on the eve of trial it finally agreed to settle for policy limits of $1,000,000 as well as $100,000 in additional personal money for the death it helped cause. The remaining $165,000 was paid by the driver and other insurance carriers. Granados v. State Farm Insurance Co. $275,000.00 Verdict for “soft tissue” injury to neck. When Julianna Granados was hammered from behind by an underinsured driver at 60 mph, she felt like she had been shot out of a cannon. Her car was a tangled mess of steel that barely resembled her former car. She suffered a permanent neck injury. After settling with the responsible party’s insurance company for 50k policy limits, she turned to her carrier State Farm for help with her underinsured motorist coverage for a permanent neck injury. Unfortunately, “like a good neighbor”, State Farm wasn’t there for her. After paying only $2,200 in “new money” for what it perceived as a mere “soft tissue injury”, Arbitration was commenced against State Farm, and the arbitrator proposed by State Farm saw things differently. In a stern ruling against State Farm, where the arbitrator dismissed all of State Farm’s defenses, a verdict of $275,000 was entered in favor of Julianna. She can now get the help she needs. Thornton v. Air Clair Trucking $1,000,000 Settlement for Mild Traumatic Brain Injury. Sara Thornton was struck from behind by a semi truck in Oroville, WA. She was spun around and suffered a brain injury, even though she had no visible injuries and damage to the car was minor. She was a 4.0 student who had plans to be a doctor. Her plans were cut short by her inability to study as she did before due to fatigue and memory problems. Although she remained a good student, she was easily fatigued due to brainstem damage from the twisting injury, and experienced classic mild traumatic brain injury symptoms. Unfortunately, her brain MRI’s were normal, a common finding in brain injury cases. For this reason, the trucking company denied she had a brain injury and claimed her behavioral changes or injuries could not have been from the accident. Scott Blair prosecuted the case, and after a hard fought battle with the carrier, was able to prove that in fact the collision did cause the brain injury through extensive questioning of independent witnesses who knew Sara and were able to paint a compelling picture of the changes in her behavior following the accident. Because the MRI findings were normal, a SPECT scan was also arranged and demonstrated objective findings in the areas where Sara was experiencing problems. All of her symptoms were then tied together with a neurological specialist and her original treating physicians. The insurance carrier ended up settling the case for $1,000,000 rather than take the case to trial. Sara is now able to get her life back on track and try to pursue a less rigorous educational path than medical school, even though it will take much longer. She now has the resources to hire help for certain tasks that have become a tough challenge for her. She is a proud, determined young lady who despite her permanent problems, will try to find a way to make her mark in life. Moquino v. Benton $135,000 Verdict for Shoulder Injury, Neck-Back Strain. Scott Blair represented Norma Moquino in her rear end collision case against an Allstate insured. Allstate denied liability, claiming the plaintiff changed lanes in front of the defendant even though this was false. Plaintiff suffered a shoulder strain, neck strain and low back strain. The shoulder initially got better, but then got worse after plaintiff did a push up that damaged the same area of the shoulder after the accident and required arthroscopic surgery. Allstate disputed that the shoulder aggravation was due to the accident, claiming this was a simple neck and back strain case. The case was tried in September of 2008, and the jury found the defendant liable for all injuries and awarded $135,000. Scheppele v. Prather $79,000 Verdict for Whiplash. Scott Blair represented the plaintiff in this modest case involving a claim of chronic low back pain. Plaintiff, a dental assistant, was rear ended and incurred $5,600 in chiropractic and massage bills. The jury agreed she had permanent pain and entered a verdict of $79,000 to help her deal with the chronic pain and future medical bills. Return to Attorney