The outcomes mentioned here are not guaranteed. Results may vary based on your specific facts and legal circumstances.
Pedestrian crash breaks pelvis and shoulder
While walking in a crosswalk, an SUV crashed into our client, sending her body sprawling across the pavement. She was airlifted to an appropriate trauma center where multiple breaks were found in her pelvis and a fracture was found in her shoulder. Surgical hardware was installed in her pelvis. She was hospitalized for weeks and spent several more weeks in a rehabilitation facility before being able to return home. She received additional conservative treatment for about a year after the car accident.
The client retained one of our lawyers, who immediately worked to obtain no fault medical benefits from her insurance and the driver’s to pay for her medical expenses. After further establishing her case and getting statements from her surgeon, friends, and family, the case was presented to the driver’s insurance company and our client’s own insurance company. The insurance companies pushed back for months. We pushed harder. They suggested that we mediate to reach a compromise. We told them we had no intention of compromising. The insurers relented and paid out every penny of available benefits: $1.25 million from the driver’s insurance and another $100,000 from our client’s insurer, all in addition to a combined $70,000 previously paid by those insurers for prior medical expenses.
Rear-end crash causes chronic headaches
While traveling one morning from one customer’s home to another’s, our client stopped to wait for oncoming traffic to clear before making a left turn. A driver approaching him from behind did not notice our client’s vehicle stopped in the road and crashed into him without slowing. Luckily, our client was able to walk away from the crash. While he survived, his life was changed.
Our client suffered neck injuries from whiplash that caused frequent neck pain and debilitating headaches. These symptoms and the limitations they caused prevented him from being able to maintain his business, and he had to give it up. The other driver’s insurance company wouldn’t even pay for his healthcare bills. One of our attorneys worked to show the defense how our client’s life was changed and gave them every opportunity to settle. But they refused to make it right. A jury understood that our client’s life was changed forever. After the case was taken to trial, the jury determined that his damages were worth seven figures. Our attorney subsequently obtained an additional $100,000 in benefits from the client’s own insurance as well.
Max benefits obtained for shooting victims
After an argument started between two bar patrons around closing time, the bar staff moved both participants and their groups of friends outside. In the parking lot, the argument between two individuals boiled over into a brawl between two large groups of people. Other patrons were attempting to exit as the bar closed. Sadly, several individuals drew their guns and opened fire on each other. Multiple people, including those not involved in the dispute, were shot and killed.
A Bastion Law attorney represented the estates of two of these individuals to pursue claims of wrongful death against the bar and the landlord. The claims resulted in highly contested litigation in which all defendants claimed no wrongdoing and pointed the finger solely at the shooters, who were defendants in separate criminal proceedings. In the end, the bar was forced to shut down and our attorney obtained every penny of insurance proceeds available to compensate the decedents’ estates for the loss of their loved ones.
Insurer refused to defend and indemnify business owner
After a business was sued for injury that occurred on the business property, the owner turned to his insurance company for help. Like many business owners, he had purchased insurance to provide him with protection in the event that someone pursued a claim against him: providing him with an attorney, paying all the legal expenses, and paying for any settlement or verdict. Instead of providing him with these benefits, the insurer denied the claim and hung him out to dry.
Until one of our attorneys stepped in. We worked in the underlying case with the injured plaintiffs and resolved their claims against the business. The owner had immediate peace of mind. We then pursued claims against the insurance company. Their attorneys repeatedly mused that we had no case until a judge set a hearing on one of our motions. The insurance lawyers scrambled to settle the case before the hearing, eventually resulting in a seven-figure settlement for the insurance company’s wrongful denial of the insurance benefits owed to the business owner.
Insurance company denied storm damage claim
After a storm damaged an elderly couple’s home, they turned to their homeowner’s insurance policy to help them recover the cost of the damage. Unfortunately, the insurance company severely undervalued the damage. It also delayed making necessary repairs, which caused dangerous contaminants such as mold and asbestos to enter the homeowners’ living area.
We tried to resolve the claim without the need for litigation but eventually we filed a lawsuit against the insurance company alleging violations of Washington’s Insurance Fair Conduct Act and Washington’s Consumer Protection Act. We also alleged bad faith and negligent claims handling. Ultimately, after several months of litigation, we were able to resolve the claim for an amount far in excess of the homeowners’ original claim.
Semi-truck crash caused brain injury to veteran
While helping his father-in-law move, our client was stopped in traffic when a semi-truck smashed through the car behind him, and shoved it into our client’s pick-up truck. Our client, a veteran, began intensive treatment to help him heal from a brain injury. While he worked to heal, we worked to document the effects of his injury both through his doctors as well as through his family and friends. Ultimately, we were able to secure a just settlement for our client, even though the amount of money that was available to him was limited by other claimants.
Rear-end crash injures neck and shoulder
While riding home after work as a passenger with her spouse, daughter, and dog, our client was rear-ended by an elderly gentleman who did not notice traffic stopping ahead of him. The impact tossed her body back and forth in her seat. Shattered glass was everywhere, her dog ran out into the highway, and she had trouble getting to her daughter. Eventually, everyone was safe and accounted for, but our client began to suffer intense pain in her neck and shoulder that went down through her arm.
Over the next few years, she received healthcare treatment almost every week ranging from chiropractic and physical therapy to various types of injections in her neck. While she improved a great deal, some of her symptoms remained. We filed suit after the insurance company refused to pay for even half of her healthcare expenses. As we worked on the case and were mere weeks away from trial, the defense and the insurance company finally understood what they were up against and agreed to settle for nearly four times the insurance benefits available to the defendant (20x more than the initial offer).
Rear-end collision injured neck and back
Shortly before Thanksgiving, our client was driving to the grocery store with his teenage nephew in the car when they were rear-ended by a semi-truck. Although our client initially felt fine at the scene, his efforts to recover from his injuries never fully panned out. A year later, his back and neck still bothered him and effected his ability to work in his job as a flight attendant. Further complicating the case was the testimony of the driver of the semi truck, who swore that he was barely moving when the collision occurred, and that the impact was little more than a bump.
After a lengthy investigation, we were able to locate our client’s car, now in the possession of another person, and pull the data from the vehicle’s event data recorder. That data revealed that our client had been struck with far more force than a bump and the case proceeded to trial. A jury returned a verdict more than 20 times the insurance company’s last offer to settle.
Brain injury when woman fell from car
Our client, a high-school student, was hanging out in a parking lot with her friends. As she sat on the back of a friend’s car, the friend suddenly accelerated forward and she fell to the parking lot, hitting her head. While she worked to recovery from her injury, we worked to find every asset of insurance benefits she could pursue. Our investigation uncovered an additional $300,000 in insurance benefits after she had been told that only $25,000 was available. Ultimately, we were successful in recovering every penny from all of the available policies.
Delivery truck T-bones driver
On her way to work one winter morning, our client proceeded through an intersection on a fairly busy highway on a green light. The next thing she knew, a large delivery truck was barreling toward her from the passenger’s side. An instant later, the truck smashed into her, knocking her car into oncoming traffic. She was lucky in that no other cars hit her, but the damage was done.
Our client had a long history of congenital back issues along with natural wear and tear plus symptoms from previous trauma. This crash took her back from bad to worse. She may have needed surgery at some point before the crash, but she now needed significant back surgery ASAP to avoid living in constant pain. Our attorneys thoroughly investigated our client’s claim and history to put together a comprehensive claim summary package. We worked with doctors, expert witnesses, and our client’s co-workers to detail the full extent to which the crash worsened her back condition. That package was enough to convince the defendant’s insurance company to agree to a pre-litigation mediation, resulting in a settlement that allowed our client to move on and obtain the surgery she could not otherwise afford.
Dog bites child and mother
While going on a walk through their neighborhood, a mother and son approached an unfenced front yard. Seemingly out of nowhere, a dog came around the corner of the house bounding at them. Before they could do anything, the dog latched onto the young boy and pulled at him. His mother pushed the dog away, but it bit her before the dog’s caretakers could intervene.
The young boy was fortunate in that he suffered no permanent disabilities. He did, however, experience great pain, underwent surgery, and was left with scarring and PTSD. Our attorneys were able to negotiate a settlement with the dog owners’ homeowners’ insurance to receive every penny of insurance proceeds available and arrange for the money to be invested to protect our client’s future when he comes of age.
SWAT team invades wrong home
One evening, our client, a young married man with three young children. Awoke to a SWAT team kicking down his door. They handcuffed our client and held him on the floor for 45 minutes. Officers soon figured out that they were in the wrong home. They then went next door, politely knocked on the door of the actual fugitive, and arrested him. Even after officers had arrested the correct fugitive, they continued to hold our client handcuffed on his floor, in front of his family, for another 30 minutes.
We sued the sheriff’s office alleging that the SWAT team had violated our client’s right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure under the Fourth Amendment. The case resolved soon afterwards.