Salt Lake City, Utah - 2009.
A 19 year old male agreed to accept policy limits of $1,300,000 as a settlement for injuries he suffered from a fall from a backyard home made play fort. The client fell when he was 6 years old. He was climbing on an area of the fort that had low walls, no railings, and no safety netting. No one saw him fall. He was found next to an unprotected electrical box.
The boy suffered a serious traumatic brain injury. He was able to complete a high school education through resource classes and an Individual Education Plan (IEP). However he was not able to compete in sports and had difficulty making friends. He will not be able to attend college and will struggle holding more than just a simple manual labor job.
The family did not pursue a law suit immediately as they wanted to wait to observe their son's life problems. The were forced to litigate when the insurance company contacted the boy directly after he reached the age of 18. A that point they came to Eisenberg, Gilchrist & Cutt which immediately stopped these improper insurance company tactics.
A problem with the case was trying to recreate and investigate a 12 year old accident. This required legal motions to obtain insurance statements and photos. Also a computer was used to show the various ways the accident could have occurred. The firm had to find experts who could review and comment on the standards for play equipment, and had to fight legal issues regarding the standard of care for backyard private equipment. Despite the passage of time the firm was able to show that this was a preventable accident. It then worked with the family to make sure the money was properly invested. Bob Gilchrist was the lead lawyer for the firm, Attorney Eric Olsen also worked on the case.
