Fannin Litigation Group Case Stories

I have represented thousands of people with most every kind of problem you can imagine. Many of my clients have become close friends. There is something about fighting for a client that bonds an attorney to his or her client. It is impossible to write about all of my experiences but I would like to share a few stories:

I once had the honor of representing the estate of a young mother of two. She was traveling between Spokane and the Seattle area when a car hit her, causing her car to roll-over. Tragically, she died in the accident. One of her babies was ejected and landed in the middle of I-90 but lived.

As a lawyer, I could not bring this mother back but it was an honor to represent her estate and her small children and to help them through such an ordeal.

I also represented the estate of another mother. Mom was jailed for minor reasons. She was dependent on a blood thinner. She and her daughter begged officials to give the mother the medicine. The daughter brought in a full prescription and had her mother's doctor intervene. Still, the jail doctor did nothing. Over eight days, the mother's condition deteriorated and her daughter - who was only 18 - went to heroic efforts to try to get her mom the medicine she needed. Tragically, her mother died of a stroke on the morning of the eighth day.

She left behind a grieving daughter and two grandchildren. Again, it was a profound honor to represent her.

I have been touched by other children as well, including an infant who was ran over by a riding lawn mower; a small girl whose estranged mother stole her inheritance after her father died; a handsome boy marred by a neighbor's horse when it bit an Oreo size hunk from his cheek; a beautiful young girl who lost three fingers from her dominant hand in a car accident; and a young man who was in a coma following a terrible boating accident.

Sometimes it has been hard hearing all of the negative press that lawyers are greedy and bring baseless lawsuits. I have never done that. I have however encountered several baseless defenses. I once sued an oral surgeon who operated on the wrong side of the body because he had the x-ray upside down. Operating on the wrong area caused serious injury to my client but the doctor refused to offer a penny toward a settlement. We won at trial but he still would not pay. We had to go all the way to the Washington Supreme Court, where we won again, before he would pay.

Another doctor left a foreign object in one of my clients. To get it out, the doctor had to cut a hole in her tibia and fish it out. Again, he offered nothing in settlement until after a lengthy appeal process.

There have been many interesting civil rights cases, like the one where the police sent their German Shepard into a house they mistakingly thought was being robbed and the dog mauled the sleeping, elderly occupant. Many of the civil rights cases have involved medical staff at jails withholding medical treatment from inmates in desperate need. For instance, one man was left unattended in great pain for weeks while his testicle died because of blood flow restriction and another inmate was left for months with a benign but extremely painful and large tumor on his face.

Of course, many of my clients have been garden variety motor vehicle accidents with wiplash but others have had more severe injuries ranging from death to broken legs, hips, ribs, and backs. Others have had head injuries, traumatic joint injuries to their knees, shoulders and other joints.

These stories are mostly about personal injuries but there have been many memorable corporate and construction cases. I represented the owner of an apartment complex and we had to sue over 30 sub-contractors, at the same time, regarding construction defects arising during construction. There have been countless other contract disputes, including contracts involving licensing, publishing, manufacturing, real estate, service contracts and many others.

I hope that neither you or your business have been injured because of someone's negligence or breach of contract. But, if you have been, you are not alone. Chances are you are experiencing many of the same problems as some of my previous clients. Call me and I will be happy to discuss your problem. Thank you for considering the Fannin Litigation Group.