Our Trial Attorneys Put Our Clients First

A drunk driver slams into the back of an SUV at almost 100 miles per hour. The drunk was under age but had been given free alcohol at a company party that evening. In the SUV are five friends who were on their way home from a night out and they had a sober driver. Geoff took over after the original lawyer settled the “dramshop” part of the case. A dramshop case is made against a bar which wrongfully serves alcohol to a customer. Geoff then aimed the case against the company which threw the party and settled the case right before trial for $2,000,000.00.

Our law firm stood up for two boat passengers after an intoxicated boat driver wrecked a boat and tried to blame one of his passengers. Both of the passengers were thrown from the front seats of the boat when the boat hit a floating concrete wave barrier called a “wave break” at night. Both passengers landed on the wave break and hit their heads, causing traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) and many broken bones and other injuries. The insurance company for the boat driver offered zero dollars until Geoff and his team prepared the case for trial. Just a few weeks before the trial the insurance company changed its mind and paid a total settlement of $1,800,000.00.

Geoff was hired to represent a 15-year-old girl who was riding in the back seat of a car driven by a 16-year-old friend. The boy who was driving borrowed his grandparent’s car and took his friends for a joy-ride on a country road near his grandparent’s farm. The driver went too fast over a hill, causing a terrible crash. Geoff was able to recover every penny of the $1,000,000.00 insurance policy at a mediation session for his client.

Geoff was honored to represent a father and two sons who suffered terrible leg injuries when a pick-up truck swerved into their lane and hit their Jeep. Geoff discovered three separate insurance policies covering the claim and convinced each insurance company to pay every penny of each policy. Geoff’s team produced a compelling video to tell the story of the case, with interviews and animation and clips from the 911 calls. The movie was critical to showing how the crash happened and how a wonderful family was harmed by a dangerous driver who broke the rules.

Our law firm was asked to represent a customer of a movie theatre who was hit in the back of the head by a door post which was unattached from the top of the door frame. As the customer was exiting the movie theater using the door on the left of the post, another customer exited using the door to the right which caught the door post and flung it forward into his head. Our client suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI) and developed a terrible condition called post-concussive syndrome (PCS). The movie theatre management denied they knew of the loose door post and said their customer was lying about his brain injury. The jury who heard five days of testimony returned a verdict of $312,000.00, which included $100,000.00 in punitive damages against the company for failing to act quickly to protect customers from obvious danger.

A grandpa takes his grandson, who is age five, to their hotel’s indoor pool. They are in town for a baseball tournament. The hotel pool was built with pool tiles which are small and slick instead of tiles which are large and textured. The pool was also built with small depressions near the edge where water accumulates. The grandpa slips on the water and fractures his hip requiring surgery. This was a tough case because pools are supposed to get wet. Geoff argued that when the hotel company combined slick tiles with bad drainage the hotel guests are put at risk. After trying to settle the case out of court, Geoff had no choice but to sue the hotel company. After depositions were taken, the hotel lawyers agreed to settle for $300,000.00 and fix the problem.

A dog owner decides to take her distressed dog for a walk into the community on Halloween night after kids had been trick-or-treating at her house. The dog bites a three-year-old boy dressed as Batman while he holds his candy pumpkin and mom’s hand. The bite is to his cheek and face and leaves a noticeable scar. The dog owner blames the boy and his mom and digs in for a long fight. Geoff takes the case to trial after a top settlement offer was made by State Farm for $150,000. Geoff calls witnesses at trial including a dog behavior expert from a major university. After four days of trial the jury allows a verdict of $250,000.00, finding the dog owner’s decisions and conduct to be dangerous. Read more about this incident.

A retired school principal goes for a walk in his neighborhood to enjoy the autumn leaves. The City of Chesterfield has big trees, whose leaves covered a four-inch vertical offset in a section of concrete sidewalk. After tripping and breaking his hip, the man hires our firm to look into the situation. This case took a turn for the better when Geoff uncovered a sidewalk inventory which the Public Work Department made of its dangerous sidewalks. The city failed to tell our firm about this until halfway through the case. Presented with damaging proof that it knew for more than a year about its dangerous sidewalks, the city and its attorney agreed to pay $200,000.00.

A driver dropped his cell phone while traveling 40 miles per hour. Instead of waiting for a red light, he bent over to pick it up. Not realizing traffic ahead of him had come to a stop, the driver hits our client who was waiting at the light, not realizing that his life was about to be changed by a distracted driver. Our client was a hardworking businessman who supported his family and his employees, and had to deal with a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and broken vertebrae in his neck. State Farm Insurance was given every document they asked for and valued the claim at just $17,500.00. Geoff refused to settle for such a small amount and took the case to trial. The community responded with a verdict of $200,000.00. Real justice.