Preg O’Donnell & Gillett, PLLC, is a Northwest civil litigation defense firm with 23 lawyers. POG lawyers have the experience, energy, and resources to handle a wide variety of litigation. Remarkably, POG lawyers have successfully tried six jury cases in the last 3 months.
These trials occurred in Seattle, Spokane, Snohomish, and, Oregon. A brief summary follows:
Trial 1: In August, Alex Wylie defended a contractor accused of causing $450,000 in damages to Plaintiff’s rental property. At the end of a trial spanning two weeks in Clatsop County, Oregon, Plaintiff backed off somewhat, and asked the jury for an award of $314,000. The jury awarded Plaintiff $79,800.
Trial 2: In September, Eric Gillett and Emma Owings of our Seattle office successfully defended a personal injury action in King County. The case involved an accident between a commercial package truck and a motorcyclist. The pre-trial demand was 2.8 million dollars. The verdict was for less than $1 million.
Trial 3: Lori O’Tool and Greg Hixson of our Seattle office tried a construction defect claim involving a hotel in Spokane against project subcontractors and a product manufacturer. The general contractor’s insurer had resolved the claim for approximately 1.3 million dollars. Lori and Greg were prosecuting breach of contract and indemnity claims on behalf of the general contractor. The case settled after the first week of trial for $995,000.
Trial 4: In November, Christine Tavares of our Seattle office successfully defended a personal injury action in King County. The defendants had offered to settle before trial for $125,000. The key issue was claimed income loss. The Plaintiff refused the offer and asked they asked the jury for $940,000. The jury awarded $41,000.
Trial 5: In November, Maggie Sweeney of our Seattle office successfully defended a personal injury case in King County. The key issue involved Plaintiff’s claim of TMJ. The pre-trial demand was $65,000. The defendants offered $48,000. The jury rejected Plaintiff’s claims of TMJ and awarded $38,000.
Trial 6: David Antal successfully defended a contract logger who was hired by the defendant land owner to clear his property. The Plaintiffs offered to settle for $300,000. After the Plaintiffs walked out of mediation, a combined Offer of Judgment of $75,000 was made and rejected with a counter offer of $225,000. David obtained a defense verdict for the logger. The co-defendant was found liable for single damages in the sum of $21,000. The defense verdict allows for recovery of attorney fees and costs from the co-defendant for refusing a tender of defense pursuant to a contractual indemnity premium. The case was tried in December in Snohomish County.