We win by being ready to try every case. Insurers, corporations and governments know which lawyers will take them to a jury, and which will not. The results below are what happens when the other side knows we will.
$800,000+
Insurance bad faith · Settlement
When your own insurer won’t pay what it owes
Montana law requires insurers to investigate promptly, pay what is reasonably clear and never force their own policyholders into litigation to collect what they are owed. When an insurer broke those rules, we built the case on its own claim file and Montana’s Unfair Trade Practices Act, pressed claims for both the underlying loss and the bad faith, and recovered more than $800,000 in total for our clients.
Montana
$750,000
Toxic tort · Settlement
Toxic exposure, proven with science
Exposure cases are won with experts, testing and patience, against defendants who count on neither. We built this one from the ground up and resolved it for $750,000.
Southwest Montana
$550,000
Civil rights · Wrongful death · Settlement
Estate of Alexander v. Cascade County
A young man died in the Cascade County jail. We brought federal civil-rights and wrongful-death claims for his family and secured a $550,000 settlement from the county.
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U.S. District Court, Great Falls
$488,291
Jury verdicts · Legal malpractice against a law firm · Breach of contract
Konesky v. Keller and Church, Harris, Johnson & Williams: we took on a Great Falls law firm, and won
A rancher sold the family ranch on a promise he could stay in the farmhouse. His own lawyers let a fire clause into the deal, and when the house burned, the buyer pocketed the insurance and ended the lease. The trial court threw out the malpractice claim; we won it back in the Montana Supreme Court. Then a Cascade County jury found against both: $100,000 against the rancher’s former law firm, Church, Harris, Johnson & Williams, and $388,291 against the buyer.
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Cascade County
$350,000
Construction defect · Consumer protection · Settlement
A home built wrong, and a builder held to account
A Fort Shaw family’s new home came with defects and exposure problems the builder would not fix. Montana’s consumer-protection laws gave them leverage, and we used it: $350,000.
Fort Shaw
$280,000
Medical malpractice · Settlement
A preventable medical error, and a hospital system held to account
When a patient was harmed by care that fell below the standard every Montanan is owed, we built the case with medical experts and resolved it at mediation for $280,000.
Montana
$257,000
Insurance bad faith · Court order
Benefits wrongfully denied, then ordered paid
An insurer refused benefits its policyholder had paid for. We took it to court, and the court ordered $257,000.
Missoula
$225,000
Premises liability · Settlement
A fall that should never have happened
A fall on someone else’s property can change a life in a second. We held the property owner responsible and recovered $225,000 for our client.
Southern Montana
$200,000+
Personal injury · Mediated settlement
A duty of care, and an institution that had to answer for breaking it
When an organization responsible for our client’s safety failed in that duty, it insisted it had done nothing wrong. We pressed the claim through mediation and recovered more than $200,000.
Montana
$200,000+
Personal injury · Settlement before suit
Hurt by a contractor’s work near power lines
A Montana woman was injured by a utility contractor working on nearby lines. We pressed the claim hard enough that the insurer paid more than $200,000 without a lawsuit ever being filed.
Montana
$175,000
Commercial truck crash · Property damage
A chain-reaction truck crash, and $175,000 for property damage alone
A contractor’s truck rear-ended a sedan and drove it into our client’s pavement-striping truck. Insurers lowball property-only claims because they assume no one will fight. We documented every dollar of lost equipment and downtime and recovered $175,000.
Montana
$168,500
Jury verdict · Car crash · Reinstated on appeal
Voegel v. Salsbery: the verdict a judge threw out, and the Supreme Court restored
A woman who stopped for a child waiting to cross the street was rear-ended by a pickup. The jury awarded $168,500; the trial judge threw the verdict out. We took it to the Montana Supreme Court, which reinstated every dollar.
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Phillips County
$150,000
Premises liability · Slip and fall · Settlement
A slip and fall, and two insurers who both had to pay
A fall on a business’s premises left our client hurt, with two companies each pointing at the other. We held both accountable, and their insurers paid a combined $150,000.
Montana
$130,000
Construction defect · Consumer protection · Settlement
Defective construction, fixed the right way
A Great Falls homeowner was left with a builder’s defects and a builder’s excuses. We turned Montana’s consumer-protection laws on the problem and recovered $130,000.
Great Falls
$128,000
Consumer protection · Settlement
A defective purchase, and a company that finally paid
A consumer bought a product that failed almost immediately, and the companies behind it would not make it right. Montana consumer law says otherwise. $128,000.
Montana
$115,000
Jury verdict · Municipal negligence
Jack v. City of White Sulphur Springs
A family’s basement flooded because the city’s drainage failed. Other lawyers said the case wasn’t worth taking. We tried it to a small-town jury against the town itself, and won.
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Meagher County
$110,000
Car crash · Settlement
Hurt in a Great Falls crash
Injuries from a crash rarely heal on an insurance adjuster’s timeline. We built the claim on the medicine, not the adjuster’s estimate, and recovered $110,000.
Great Falls
$100,000
Car crash · Policy limits
A tragic crash, and every dollar of coverage there was
A tragic crash left a family facing losses no insurance policy could cover. We pressed the claim until the insurer paid its full $100,000 policy limits, every dollar available.
Central Montana
$50,000
ERISA · Disability benefits · Summary judgment
A disability insurer and plan administrator denied benefits the plan promised. We sued under ERISA and won on summary judgment.
Billings
$50,000
Car crash · Drunk driver · Settlement
Our client was hit by a drunk driver. Her injuries were soft-tissue, but the pain followed her into school. We resolved it on her terms.
Missoula
$48,750
Golf cart crash · Settlement before suit
Struck by a golf course employee driving a cart. Resolved before a lawsuit was ever filed.
Great Falls
$47,985
Fair Labor Standards Act · Judgment
An employer hired migrant workers and broke federal wage law. We won a judgment for the workers.
Sheridan County
$30,000
Wrongful termination · Settlement
A contract employee was wrongfully let go and her reputation damaged. We made it right.
Helena
$27,000 + debt erased
Debt defense · Counterclaim · Settlement
Our clients came to us as defendants, sued over a debt. We fought back. The company dropped its claim, forgave the debt and paid our clients about four times what it first said it should pay.
Cascade County
$17,000
Consumer protection · Home sale · Settlement
Homebuyers discovered undisclosed defects and a failing water source after closing. The sellers paid.
Helena
Amounts are gross recoveries before fees and costs.
