Results
In addition to the Howell v. Hamilton Meats California Supreme Court victory, Tyson & Mendes attorneys have played a role in some of the country’s top insurance defense cases, with high profile results including:
Defense Verdict: $22 Million Demanded in ClosingFollowing a 5-week jury trial, a San Francisco County jury on April 18, 2019, found an airport shuttle service and one of its drivers not liable for injuries the plaintiff alleged he suffered while riding on an airport shuttle. Attorneys in Tyson & Mendes’s Northern California office, Partner Jim Sell and Senior Counsel Brian Johnson, represented the two defendants and secured a full defense verdict in a case in which the injured plaintiff sought $22 million in damages. |
Northern California Partner Jim Sell |
Defense Verdict in Child Brain Injury CaseA San Bernardino County jury on April 10, 2019, found Chino Hills Ford not liable for a serious car accident which allegedly caused seizures to a child. Tyson & Mendes attorneys Kristi Blackwell and Christopher Schon represented Chino Hills Ford and secured a full defense verdict in which the injured plaintiff sought more than $7.4 million in damages. |
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Defense Verdict in Accounting Malpractice CaseA California Superior Court jury found accountant Roy Hosaka and his firm, Hosaka Nagel & Co., not liable in a $2 million malpractice case. Tyson & Mendes attorneys Dan Fallon and Garry McCarthy represented Mr. Hosaka and Hosaka Nagel & Co. in the high-stakes professional malpractice case, which alleged fraudulent nondisclosure and breach of fiduciary duty. |
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Doctor Not Liable in Medical Malpractice Wrongful Death TrialAfter a 3-week trial, a California Superior Court jury in San Bernardino has found a physician in Upland, Calif. not liable in a $1.7 million medical malpractice case. Tyson & Mendes attorneys Susan Oliver and Jennifer Lowis represented Dr. Mark L. Alwan in the high stakes case, which alleged wrongful death and professional negligence. |
San Diego Partner Susan Oliver |
Defense Verdict in $36 Million Product Liability TrialFollowing an eight-day trial, a Los Angeles County Superior Court jury ruled in favor of the defense on October 5, 2018 – awarding a full defense verdict versus the $36 million requested by a plaintiff injured at a Costco Warehouse in Van Nuys, California. Partner Kevin Place and Senior Counsel Marsha Yasuda successfully defended Sun Products. |
Los Angeles Partner Kevin Place |
$125 Million Summary Judgment Win: Ruling UpheldA San Diego appellate court upheld on Sept. 11, 2018 a judgment in favor of Carlsbad’s Omni La Costa Resort & Spa, which was being blamed for the devastating 2014 Poinsettia fire. Tyson & Mendes attorneys Susan Oliver, Dana Furman, and Jessica Heppenstall were able to prove the plaintiff, Axis Insurance, did not have evidence that Omni Hotels caused the massive and unrelenting wildfire. |
San Diego Partner Susan Oliver |
Admitted Liability: Millions Saved in Premises Liability CaseIn July 2018, a Los Angeles Jury returned a fraction of the plaintiff’s demand in an admitted liability injury case. Tyson & Mendes successfully defended a Santa Monica Bar when a customer was injured after falling backward off a barstool. Partner Kevin Place, along with Tyson & Mendes Senior Counsel Marsha Yasuda, represented Copa d’Oro, a popular upscale cocktail lounge near the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica. While admitting liability on behalf of their client, they were also able to prove that the plaintiff’s original demands were excessive. |
Los Angeles Partner Kevin Place |
Tyson & Mendes Secures Defense Verdict in $10 Million Child Burn Injury CaseAfter a two-week federal trial, a San Diego jury found children’s clothing manufacturer Schwab Company, Inc. not liable for a minor’s injuries after one of its alleged shirts caught fire while the child was playing with a cigarette lighter. Tyson & Mendes Managing Partner Robert Tyson and San Diego Partner Kristi Blackwell represented Schwab against plaintiff’s attorneys John Gomez and Raymond Boucher, who demanded $10 million in damages after additional defendants Macy’s and Ralph Lauren settled for hundreds of thousands of dollars before trial. |
San Diego Partner Bob Tyson |
Jury Awards $26,775 in Possible $34 Million Admitted Liability TBI TrialPartners Bob Tyson, Mina Miserlis, and Jim Sell obtained a jury verdict less than 0.1 percent of plaintiff’s demand at trial. The plaintiffs, a 69-year-old software programmer and his wife, sought approximately $34 million in damages arising out of a rear-end motor vehicle accident that occurred on U.S. Highway 101 in San Rafael, California. The plaintiff claimed he suffered a traumatic brain injury, among other injuries, which interfered with his ability to invent and develop software, and prevented him from completing a mobile phone application for TV evangelist and megachurch Joel Osteen Ministries. Defendants admitted liability but disputed the cause, extent, and severity of all injuries and damages claimed by the plaintiffs. After a 21-day trial, the Marin County jury awarded the plaintiff $26,775 in total damages and awarded his wife $0 for her loss of consortium claim. |
San Diego Partner Bob Tyson |
Dreyer Receives $389,000 Instead of Demanded $6 MillionPartners Jim Sell and Bob Tyson defeated one of the most well-known plaintiff’s attorneys in California, Roger Dreyer of Dreyer Babich. Dreyer sought $6 million in this admitted liability, three-week jury trial in Napa, California. The plaintiff’s counsel asked the jury to award almost $2 million in past and future medical expenses for back and neck surgeries the plaintiff underwent and would need in the future. The lowest settlement demand just before trial was $4 million. The jury returned a verdict of only $389,000, and the plaintiff was found 40 percent at fault. |
Northern California Partner Jim Sell |
Jury Awards $355,000 For Brain Damage and Multiple Neck SurgeriesPartners Mina Miserlis and Bob Tyson won a 5-week long jury trial in Ventura County in which plaintiff sought damages for brain damage and two neck surgeries associated with an automobile incident. The plaintiff’s counsel asked the jury to award just under $7 million. Partner Mina Miserlis asked for $362,000. The carrier had offered $1.8 million in a CCP 998 Offer to Compromise before Tyson & Mendes’ Complex Trial Team was parachuted in for the trial. The jury ultimately returned a verdict of just $355,000. After expert fees and expenses are deducted for beating the defense’s CCP 998 Offer, the plaintiff ultimately owed the defendant expert costs and court fees. |
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MSJ Granted: Client Saves $100 MillionTyson & Mendes won a motion for summary judgment on behalf of a Southern California golf resort, on which a wildfire started and ultimately caused $100 million in damage to neighboring commercial and residential properties. Partner Susan Oliver won the summary judgment motion in San Diego County. |
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Tyson & Mendes Brought in at Trial, Prompting Panish Firm to Settle a Fraction of DemandThe Complex Trial Team at Tyson & Mendes was parachuted in shortly before trial to defend a multi-million-dollar jury case against the most famous lawyer in California, Brian Panish. This adverse liability, traumatic brain injury case settled for only 6 percent of the plaintiff’s last demand before Tyson & Mendes was brought in as trial counsel. Why the number one plaintiff’s law firm in California would settle an adverse liability, traumatic brain injury case for less than $1 million when its demand was $15 million, may never be known. What is known is the trial team of Partners Mina Miserlis and Bob Tyson were prepared to start the six-week jury trial the next day when the Panish firm settled this case with the insurance carrier. |
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