Most people assume that I became a lawyer because my father was a lawyer.  That is not the case, although later in my education I was influenced by my father to go to law school.  I had always wanted to be a doctor—a surgeon—but it was not to be.

The first great legal influence was the YMCA Youth and Government program.  As a Hoquiam Hi-Y Club member, for three years I participated in the Youth and Government program.  We took over the state capital buildings and conducted a mock legislature for three days, proposing and arguing for the passage of state legislation.  Both my junior and senior years in the program I managed to get a bill passed by the youth legislature. 

I began college at the University of Washington as a pre-med student.  After one year of chemistry, calculus and other assorted science classes, I decided to turn my attention to the liberal arts.  I majored in economics, but took classes in speech and debate.  I loved the competition of arguing key political and legal issues.  I decided I wanted to be a trial lawyer and the rest is history.  And of course as a personal injury trial lawyer, I get to combine my interest in medicine, economics,  law and debate.  I am fortunate indeed.

In my first personal injury trial, I took over a case of my father’s against the City of Aberdeen.  I had been practicing law for four months.  Our client had tripped on a city sidewalk as a result of a significant offset.  She had fractured three ribs with other cuts and bruises.  Dad’s Claim filed before the lawsuit, sought a recovery for $2,500.  (Today we are not allowed to file a complaint for a particular dollar figure.)  I argued in closing for an award of $13,800.  The jury awarded $14,000.  What a thrill.  Turned out I was a trial lawyer!!

Since that beginning I have handled well over 1,000 plaintiff personal injury cases.  I have settled or tried to verdict 80 cases for over one million dollars each.  The cases have run the gamut from auto crashes to plane crashes.  From highway design to product design.  From recreational diving to recreational soccer.  From medical malpractice to legal malpractice.  From insurance fraud to Insurance Fair Conduct cases.  From Federal Tort Claims to Tribal Court claims.  I have done them all. 

And when you are a trial lawyer, you become an appellate lawyer because many of my significant verdicts have been appealed.  I established the right of a wife to sue for the loss of consortium of her injured husband in Lundgren vs. Whitneys, Inc.  I successfully argued the case that found the Legislative artificial cap on damages was unconstitutional in Sofie v. Fibreboard Corp.  I established the dual persona doctrine in Washington, allowing an employee to sue his employer who owned land as a separate legal entity.  I helped establish the legal concept of governmental roadway liability in Breivo v. City of Aberdeen.  I established the liability of gun dealers who provide a gun to an intoxicated person in Bernethy v. Walt Failor’s, Inc.

And all of this has been done based out of my hometown of Hoquiam, surrounded by family and friends from childhood.