Up high in their huge cabs, semi-truck drivers have an incomparable view of the road ahead. They are the first to see avoidable hazards and should be able to react safely. When a driver for a major trucking company in Washington flouted the responsibility that comes with driving such a massive heap of metal, his big rig slammed into the car in front of him. Its stunned driver had no time to react to the blast from behind that sent his sedan careening into another vehicle. As the smoke settled, his vehicle was left crunched into an accordion.
The man caught in the middle of this smash-up was a Californian who had recently moved to the Pacific Northwest. He'd been hunting for work until the accident cast an insurmountable shadow over his search. Preexisting medical conditions had already dealt him a difficult hand, but a permanent and debilitating head injury shouldn't have been in the cards. After over a year of pain, uncertainty, and not being able to hold a job, he had no choice but to seek help.
The case landed at the desks of Edward Le and Mike Kittleson, partners of Le & Kittleson, and exactly the fighters the unfortunate driver needed in his corner. The firm’s specialization in traumatic brain injury cases guaranteed that they represented the victim’s best chance to get his life back on track. Fortunately for the duo, the Plaintiff had been thorough and consistent in documenting his symptoms. Thus, they focused their mission on establishing causation.
Mike and Ed had to uncover the accident catalyst: who had hit whom and when? If the Plaintiff's car had initiated the crash, then the wreck would have been mostly his fault. They subpoenaed electronic data from the impacted vehicles for the team to analyze. Next, the two attorneys faced the more complex task of determining whether the crash had truly caused the Plaintiff's significant central nervous system problems.
The Defendant knew that the Plaintiff's case was big enough to warrant hiring lawyers before proceedings even began. Mike and Ed outran them, though, and anticipated precisely how they would attempt to challenge them. A massive hurdle in brain injury cases is medical imaging: findings that aren't life-threatening routinely get dismissed. This case was unusual in that the Plaintiff's initial head CT revealed substantial intracranial bleeding. However, because their most pressing concern was their client's ongoing health, Mike and Ed arranged for the Plaintiff to undergo a follow-up brain MRI.
Mike and Ed bet that a heavy up-front investment in experts would exponentially increase the eventual settlement or verdict. They hired a neuroradiologist to evaluate the totality of the Plaintiff's imaging. The Plaintiff's treating physicians — including a neurologist and physical therapist — also weighed in. Their opinions supported that the crash had clearly and definitively caused the Plaintiff's symptomatology. An accident reconstructionist established that the collision was indeed the trucker's fault. Assembling a persuasive demand package based on these complex facts required easy-to-follow visuals. To that end, Mike reached out to DK Global to produce a concise slideshow of the irrefutable medical facts of the Plaintiff's case.
The first slide of DK Global's presentation featured a detailed model of the victim's head and brain with blood overlying the injury. Axial CT images of the injury flanked the model with the bleed highlighted. A sagittal MRI image demonstrated the injury's location from another perspective. The second slide featured another model based on the Plaintiff’s follow-up MRI imaging. It showed a chronic blood deposit in the brain. Axial MRI images accompanied this model, as did another sagittal cut for added context. The third slide contained a detailed list of the victim's brain volume measurements with the areas of greatest asymmetry highlighted. The fourth slide focused on coronal MRI evidence of the victim's brain asymmetry. The final slide's model and MRI imaging featured graphical overlays of asymmetric brain fibers, accompanied by a brief explanation of how they affected the victim.
Once Mike and Ed were equipped with the necessary medical evidence, they filed a lawsuit and discussed it with the Defense. They sent a demand package with a deadline. With the help of DK Global's presentation, the package rendered obvious that Mike and Ed's case was ironclad and ready for trial. The Defense asked for more time to review their demands, but before the second deadline arrived, they offered the Defendant's full insurance policy limit of $3,000,000. Mike and Ed's client was elated to see the dark cloud over his horizon finally give way to a brighter future.
Mike Kittleson is a partner at Le & Kittleson, a boutique law firm in Renton, Washington, that specializes in personal injury cases. They have recovered tens of millions of dollars for their clients, some of whom had their cases initially rejected by other attorneys. Mike has personally obtained several seven-figure verdicts, settlements, and awards for his client's injuries. He tirelessly advocates for individuals who have been wronged by insurance companies and large corporations. He is a member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum and is an Eagle member of the Washington State Association for Justice. He has been named to the National Trial Lawyers Top 40 Under 40 and is a Super Lawyers Rising Star.
Edward Le is a senior partner and founding member of Le & Kittleson who focuses on litigating civil law cases. Le has over 25 years of experience practicing law and has been admitted to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th and 9th Circuits. He has been honored by the National Trial Lawyers Association, American Society of Legal Advocates, and is a member of the prestigious Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum.
