News

May 23, 2013

$16.5 million Christian Brothers settlement

We have reached a tentative settlement in the Christian Brothers bankruptcy. Under the proposed terms, the Christian Brothers and one of its insurers will pay $16.5 million to fund the settlement, and will also transfer ownership of other assets, including property. The settlement would only apply to the Christian Brothers in North America and allows abuse survivors to pursue claims against other entities, including the owners of school where the abuse happened.

The Christian Brothers of Ireland, a Catholic religious order, has agreed to pay $16.5 million to settle the claims of more than 400 survivors of sexual and physical abuse. The order will also transfer ownership of various properties and certain insurance policies that may provide coverage of abuse claims.

In April 2011, two asset-holding corporations of the Christian Brothers, The Christian Brothers of Ireland, Inc., an Illinois corporation, and the Christian Brothers Institute, a New York corporation, filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. According to court documents, the corporations filed for bankruptcy because of pending sexual abuse lawsuits, primarily in Washington state.

Since then, more than 400 men and women filed claims with the bankruptcy court, alleging they were sexually or physically abused by a Christian Brother or at a school run by the Christian Brothers. The religious order has owned or operated schools in the United States since the early 1900s.

Seattle sexual abuse attorney Jason P. Amala, who represents more than 80 abuse survivors in the bankruptcy, believes the settlement is vindication for his clients and others: “For years the Christian Brothers denied any wrongdoing, but this settlement acknowledges their role in decades of children being sexual abused at Catholic schools across the country. It not only begins to provide closure for our clients, but it will help offset the costs to their families and to society as a whole.”

Since approximately 2002, Amala and his law partner, Michael T. Pfau, have settled more than 50 claims against the Christian Brothers and the Seattle Archdiocese on behalf of men who claimed they were sexually abused at Catholic schools in Washington state, including O’Dea High School and Briscoe Memorial School. The total settlements exceeded $25 million. Pfau and Amala were pursuing ten more claims against the Christian Brothers in Washington when the religious order chose to file for bankruptcy protection.

Although the settlement applies to claims against the Christian Brothers of North America, it allows abuse survivors to pursue claims against other institutions that they allege are also responsible for the abuse. For example, more than 50 of the men represented by Pfau and Amala have filed claims in Washington and Illinois against other institutions that they allege are also responsible for the abuse, including the Seattle Archdiocese and the Archdiocese of Chicago. The settlement does not affect those claims, or the rights of other abuse survivors to file similar claims against the same or other entities.

According to Pfau, additional lawsuits may be filed against a number of other entities, including the owners of schools where abuse took place: “In many cases the local diocese or another entity owned the school and collected money from the school. Those entities are often just as liable for the abuse as the Christian Brothers. Many of our current clients intend to file claims against those entities, and I would not be surprised if more people come forward with similar claims.”

In addition to the monetary settlement, the Christian Brothers have also agreed to a number of measures that are designed to protect children from sexual abuse. Pfau says the non-monetary terms were an important part of the settlement: “Our clients want to make sure history does not repeat itself. This settlement will help ensure future children are protected.”

May 13, 2013

Woman Settles Gel Fuel Lawsuit for $5.375M

PCVA Attorney Jason P. Amala has settled a lawsuit against a Canadian gel fuel manufacturer and others for a total of $5.375 million. Trial in the lawsuit was set to begin today in Marion County Circuit Court in Salem, Oregon.

PCVA’s client, Lillis Larson, was volunteering at her church’s food booth at the Salem Art Fair and Festival in July 2009 when she was burned by a bottle of Ecoflame Warming Gel, a gel fuel product that the church was using to keep food warm. As another volunteer tried to re-fill an Ecoflame can, the Ecoflame bottle of gel that she was using for the refill caught fire and exploded. Witnesses described an explosion that resulted in flaming gel shooting out of the bottle, covering Ms. Larson across her torso and neck. The flames could not be put out with water so volunteers had to use fire extinguishers.

Ms. Larson was life-flighted to a hospital in Portland and spent months recovering in a hospital burn unit and intensive home care. She suffered second and third degree burns on approximately one-third of her body and underwent multiple skin graft surgeries.

The Ecoflame product, which was labeled as “non-explosive,” was marketed as a re-fillable, environmentally friendly alternative to the familiar Sterno brand chafing cans that are used by restaurants and caterers to keep food warm. Members of Ms. Larson’s church testified they switched to Ecoflame from Sterno because of those representations.

Jason represented Ms. Larson with his father, Oregon attorney Carl R. Amala of Harris Wyatt & Amala, LLC. According to Jason and Carl, Ecoflame knew its product was dangerous but put profits over consumer safety: “We discovered evidence that Ecoflame not only believed its product was explosive if exposed to flame, but the company chose not to use a safety cap that would have prevented this type of accident because it knew people would be less likely to buy it. It then chose to market the unsafe product as ‘non-explosive.’ We asserted that this was a classic case of a company intentionally putting profits over consumer safety.”

The $5.375 million settlement is believed to be the largest yet arising from use of a gel fuel product. Last year, nine manufacturers voluntarily recalled some of their gel fuel products at the request of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which had received dozens of complaints from injured consumers. The CPSC is currently drafting new regulations to address gel fuel products, which began gaining popularity in 2008 until news of the voluntary recall.

A number of lawsuits were filed against gel fuel manufacturers, but the largest prior settlement is believed to have been $225,000. In contrast, Ecoflame’s insurers will fund $2 million of the settlement with Ms. Larson. The remaining $3.75 million was paid by insurers for the church.

Ms. Larson, a retired teacher of human development, hopes news of the settlement will prevent other people from being injured. “People need to know that these products are still out there and they are very dangerous, both for the people using them and for innocent bystanders.”

PCVA in the News

Salem grandmother badly burned by exploding fuel bottle settles case for $5.3 million – OregonLive.com

April 30, 2013

MultiCare Sued for Filing Fraudulent Liens

One of the region’s largest health care service providers has been accused of defrauding accident victims in a multimillion dollar lien fraud lawsuit filed in Pierce County Superior Court.

Tacoma attorneys Darrell Cochran and Tom Gallagher filed suit Tuesday against MultiCare Health System, which operates 5 hospitals and dozens of primary and urgent care clinics all around the South Sound area, alleging that MultiCare conspired with a California company to file thousands of illegal medical services liens with the Pierce County Auditor’s office.

“MultiCare has a lot of explaining to do,” Cochran said. “This hospital group touts itself as a consumer award winner, all the while they are violating the most basic consumer rights we have. Every single lien they filed through this company, Hunter Donaldson, is based on a fraudulent notary. That violates the law. “

The suit alleges that MultiCare “acted in concert” with California-based Hunter Donaldson to “fraudulently register” one of its employees as a Washington State notary. Then Hunter Donaldson would falsify and record medical liens for MultiCare in the Auditor’s office, according to the complaint for damages. The falsified liens would then be used to collect money from lawsuits and settlements stemming from accident claims.

“Injured accident victims who go into MultiCare’s hospitals and clinics are being kept in the dark about MultiCare’s intention to never bill their insurance but instead to try to get more money from the injured victims’ later recovery,” Gallagher said. “Had the injured victims gone to one of the other local area hospitals like St. Joseph’s or St. Claire’s, their insurance would be billed. MultiCare’s hospitals appear to be the only local hospitals involved in this scheme.”

Cochran and Gallagher said they will ask the court to certify this as a class action lawsuit and stop MultiCare and Hunter Donaldson from filing any more fraudulent liens.

“We hope the court will run Hunter Donaldson right out of doing any more business in Washington,” Cochran said.

April 13, 2013

OELC’s Insurance Disputes their Settlement Agreement

The now-defunct Olympia Early Learning Center’s insurer is disputing the value of a $24.5 million settlement agreement for five civil lawsuits filed by families of a child who was raped and four pupils who were allegedly molested by former teaching assistant Eli Tabor.

A “reasonableness hearing” to determine the value of the settlement agreement will be scheduled this spring before Thurston County Superior Court Judge Erik D. Price.

February 15, 2013

Fake Tiffany Jewelry Sold at Costco

Tiffany & Co. is suing Costco for selling engagement rings branded as “Tiffany” that have nothing to do with Tiffany & Co. If you or anyone you know has bought a Tiffany branded engagement ring at Costco, please contact our office immediately. You may have a claim, and PCVA would like to help you hold accountable those who may have mislead you. More info can be found at the Seattle Times.

January 11, 2013

NK Recording of Appeals Court Argument

Hear our legal argument as we fight for justice in the name of our client in the Court of Appeals.

October 18, 2012

Boy Scouts release secret child abuse files — the “Perversion Files”

Our co-counsel in Oregon has released a database of 14,500 pages of the secret “perversion files” of the Boy Scouts. The Seattle Times wrote an extensive piece on the files, including part of an interview with our Seattle sexual abuse attorney Jason P. Amala.

October 4, 2012

King 5 Investigates Boy Scout Perversion Files

Tonight, King 5 ran an extensive story on the Boy Scout perversion files in Washington state, including an interview with PCVA sexual abuse attorney Michael T. Pfau.
Michael has been prosecuting cases against the Boy Scouts for nearly a decade, and was one of the lead attorneys who took the Boy Scouts to the Washington Supreme Court in order to gain access to the perversion files.

If you or someone you love was sexually abused while in Scouting, please contact Michael Pfau or Jason Amala.

You can also visit http://www.boyscoutssexualabuse.com for more information on the perversion files and claims against the Boy Scouts.

September 28, 2012

Jury Awards Nearly $1.5 Million to Victim of Olympia School Bus Driver

ATTN: If you have a child who was a kindergartener named Stormy or Payton during the 2007/2008 or 2008/2009 school year, please contact us as soon as possible.

A unanimous Thurston County jury awarded a 7 year-old Olympia student $1.425 million for sexual abuse she suffered, because the Olympia School District failed to protect her from a pedophile school bus driver. The child and her mother filed suit against the school district after she was molested by employee Gary Shafer in the 2010. Shafer pled guilty in August 2011 to molesting the girl and another kindergarten bus rider and is now serving 15 years in prison.

The child’s attorney, Darrell Cochran, said that his client is only one of many students victimized by Shafer on board Olympia school buses, but that the district has worked hard to keep this issue quiet to avoid embarrassment.

“Gary Shafer admitted to sexually assaulting 30 or more school children that the Olympia School District has done absolutely nothing to assist or even identify,” Cochran said. “The district won’t truly be held accountable until all those kids who are suffering in silence are found and given some help.”

Over the course of the two-week trial Cochran showed evidence to the jury that district supervisors and officials ignored numerous warning signs that should have told them Shafer was a danger to children on board the bus. According to Cochran, the district broke basic safety rules by allowing Shafer to sit in the same seats with children, even with kids on his lap, all while being completely out of the driver’s view.

“Shafer rode on school buses all around the district for no purpose, other than to seek, groom and ultimately molest children,” Cochran said. “Parents put their elementary school students on the bus under the promise that the district would see their kids safely to school. The Olympia School District broke that promise.”

News outlets talking about the story:

The Olympian

KOMO News: Victim awarded nearly $1.5M in school bus molestation case

September 2, 2012

Federal Way Police Department Sued for Wrongful Death

Filing comes on the two-year anniversary of the shooting death of David Young

(Seattle) — PCVA Attorney Darrell Cochran filed suit today in Federal Court in Seattle on behalf of the family of a 23 year-old Federal Way man shot and killed by police two years ago today.

On August 31, 2010, David Young was shot by Federal Way police officer Matthew Leitgeb after a brief, slow speed police pursuit. Leitgeb and another Federal Way officer claimed that Young failed to stop and disobeyed commands to exit a truck the officers said was suspected of being stolen. Leitgeb performed a Pursuit Immobilization Technique or “P.I.T” maneuver on the truck Young was driving and then began firing his gun from the rear of the vehicle. After unloading one clip, Leitgeb reloaded and began firing again, eventually hitting Young in the back of the head from 90 feet away.

At an inquest in March 2011, a jury was unsure whether Leitgeb had a reasonable fear for anyone’s safety at the point he fired the fatal second volley of bullets at David Young. The lawsuit claims that Leitgeb and the City of Federal Way’s Police Department unconstitutionally used excessive force by unreasonably using lethal tactics against an unarmed individual suspected of a minor, nonviolent crime.

The lawsuit also seeks accountability for FWPD actions immediately after Young was shot. “For 45 minutes, Officer Leitgeb and other Federal Way police officers prevented on-scene emergency medical personnel from giving David aid as he sat behind the wheel, nonresponsive and bleeding profusely with a large bullet hole in his head. That’s unconscionable,” Cochran said. Under the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution, law enforcement have a duty to aid someone injured and in their custody. Once EMTs were allowed to assist Young, he was rushed to Harborview Medical Center, but died three hours later.

Young’s death was the first of two fatal police shootings by Leitgeb over the course of a 16-month period. In July 2011, Jedidiah J. Waters was shot and killed by Leitgeb in the parking lot of the Wal-Mart in Federal Way after Waters allegedly reached for a gun while being chased by police. Leitgeb shot Waters 11 times and, as in Young’s case, he was the only officer who fired his weapon.

In the news:
KOMO News Story