Los Angeles partners John Dwyer and Leslie Sheehan and associate Nicholas Krebs achieved an outstanding result in a personal injury case pending in the United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire.
The plaintiffs filed a products liability and loss of consortium action against a crane manufacturer in a case where the plaintiff, the Vice President and Safety Director of a bridge building company, was severely injured during the assembly of the boom of a crane when the boom collapsed and struck the plaintiff. Immediately after the accident occurred and in anticipation of litigation, John Dwyer, as National Counsel for the crane manufacturer, lead the company’s investigation into the cause of the accident and developed the evidence necessary to support the company’s defense.
Once a complaint was filed against the crane manufacturer and its distributor, the plaintiffs demanded $12 million. Over $400,000 had been paid in medical and workers’ compensation benefits to the plaintiff.
Over the course of three days in September, Dwyer deposed three fact witnesses - two crane operators and a truck driver acting as a signalman. These were the first depositions taken in the case. Sheehan, Krebs, and paralegal Rafer Weaver assisted John Dwyer in these pivotal depositions in what was affectionately termed the “virtual deposition command center.”
Within a week after these depositions, and before the plaintiffs’ depositions were taken, the plaintiffs dropped their demand to $750,000. The firm's client rejected the demand and offered $7,500. After further negotiations, the case settled with the firm's client paying $30,000.
Special thanks goes to paralegal Siomara Hernandez who assisted throughout the litigation and was an integral part of this successful result.