Our Washington DC, Maryland, and Virginia Personal Injury Lawyers are in the News!

Bad Gas: The Story of the Former Chevron at 3011 MLK Ave, SE

Christine MacDonald reveals how a long history of crime, conspiracy, and neglect has forced this former Chevron gas station to make changes, hopefully for the better.

Fiedler Gives Seminar Presentation on Appellate Practice

Koonz McKenney partner Marc Fiedler gave a presentation with Judge Joseph F. Murphy, Jr. of the Maryland Court of Appeals on the topic, Trial Lawyers in Appellate Courts, on January 22, 2010 at the Workhorse Seminar 2010. The full-day seminar, sponsored jointly by the Maryland Association for Justice and the Trial Lawyers Association of Metropolitan Washington, D.C., brought together more than 75 trial lawyers from Maryland and the District of Columbia to learn how to improve their law practice from experts such as Mr. Fiedler.

The presentation by Mr. Fiedler and Judge Murphy, supported by a detailed written handout that they prepared, focused on specific ways for trial lawyers to become more effective appellate advocates. Among the topics on which they touched were framing the appellate issues cogently, developing winning strategies, writing persuasive briefs, and delivering powerful oral arguments. The presentation was well received by the attendees.

Mr. Fiedler is a specialist and well-recognized expert in handling appeals and dispositive motions. A graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, he served as a law clerk for two appellate judges before joining Koonz McKenney 25 years ago. The Best Lawyers in America, Super Lawyers and Washingtonian Magazine have all recognized Mr. Fiedler as a leading practitioner of personal-injury litigation and appellate law.

Washingtonian Magazine

Staff writer Marisa M. Kashino spent six weeks ferreting out Washington’s top lawyers.  She relied heavily on peer recommendations, asking attorneys who was setting the standard in his or her field.  She also interviewed clients and analyzed high-profiles case.  Says Kashino: “The people attracted to the legal profession in this city are some of the nation’s smartest and most powerful.  Learning about them and hearing their stories never gets old.”  Kashino grew up near Seattle and studied journalism and political science at the University of Washington.  She moved here for a job at Legal Times, where she covered law firms and government lawyers.  She joined The Washingtonian in September.

Julie Harry Heiden Honored for Excellence in Legal Services

Julie Harry Heiden, AV Rated by Martindale-Hubbell, Has 17 Years of Experience in Personal Injury Law

FAIRFAX, VA, November 18, 2009 /Cambridge Who's Who/ --Julie Harry Heiden, Partner of Koonz, McKenney, Johnson, DePaolis & Lightfoot, L.L.P, has been recognized by Cambridge Who's Who for demonstrating dedication, leadership and excellence in legal services.

A 17-year veteran of the legal profession, Ms. Heiden is respected for her mastery of personal injury law. She has devoted most of her career to the law firm of Koonz, McKenney, Johnson, DePaolis & Lightfoot. As a partner, she represents over 400 individuals in personal injury and workers' compensation cases, and oversees all aspects of being a trial attorney. Ms. Heiden ventured into law because she was inspired by her soccer coach in school, who was also a lawyer. She attributes her success to her devotion to her profession and the support that she receives from her colleagues and her team.

Ms. Heiden earned her JD in 1992 from George Mason University School of Law. Her professional affiliations include The Virginia Bar Association, The District of Columbia Bar, the Fairfax Bar Association, and the American Bar Association. She is AV Rated by Martindale-Hubbell.

Read the original article on Cambridge Who's Who

$1 million given to family of fatally beaten patient

D.C. wanted to get incident at psychiatric hospital 'over with'

The District paid $1 million Monday to the family of a former patient of St. Elizabeths Hospital, the city's public psychiatric facility, who was stomped to death by another patient.

City officials made the payment 10 months after a D.C. federal court jury found the city liable in the 2005 death of Alan Martin. Martin, 56, a former Washington physician who had a diagnosis of bipolar disorder, was admitted to St. Elizabeths just four days before he was housed with another inmate, William E. Dunbar, 29, who investigators said later stomped Martin.

Martin was found April 4, 2004, with a cracked skull and a broken neck. He lapsed into a coma and died about a year later. Dunbar was charged in the killing.

St. Elizabeths officials were criticized for placing Martin, a nonviolent patient, in a unit with Dunbar, who was admitted for having homicidal thoughts and threatening family members.

In January, a jury found the District negligent in Martin's death. The District appealed the verdict but later withdrew the appeal.

Martin's sister, Theresa Roberson, said in a statement through her attorney, William Lightfoot, that the lawsuit was about forcing the District to take responsibility.

"I knew the city would not accept responsibility, so I filed the lawsuit to hold the city accountable," Roberson said.

D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles said he authorized the District to make the payment to get the case "behind us."

"The judgment had been entered against us, and interest was accruing, so I felt it made sense just to get it over with," he said.

Just weeks after Martin's death, another patient, Willie Fraley, 76, was fatally beaten by another patient. Two years earlier, hospital staff had been criticized for not properly supervising Frank Harris Jr., who used his hands to gouge out his own eyes in March 2003. Most recently, in January 2007, Mark Harris, 39, went into cardiopulmonary arrest and died after a hospital employee tried to restrain him when he became disruptive and violent.

Critics of the hospital cited the incidents as the most egregious signs that the hospital was overcrowded and understaffed.

The settlement comes two years after the District agreed to implement a long list of improvements as part of a settlement with the Justice Department, which had threatened to sue over widespread deficiencies at the hospital. Nickles said that since the agreement, the District has "made progress" in improving the hospital, partly by reducing the number of patients and shifting patients to community-based treatment facilities. The hospital also renovated and subsidized apartment units for patients who have shown they can live on their own.

Favorable Verdict Received for Family who was Struck by a Dump Truck on the Beltway

Yesterday, the trial team won a verdict in Prince George's Court for three people injured in a motor vehicle collision. The defendants offered $500, $40,000 and $43,000 for the individual plaintiffs. Jurors heard a stellar opening by Kelly Fisher, a compelling direct exam of the plaintiffs by Ms Chapman, as well as Paulette's withering cross of the doctor hired by the defendant. Josh Davenport aided the team with is local knowledge of Maryland courts and Maryland law. Powerful persuasion convinced the jury to return a verdict of $2,800, $150,000 and $133,000 for the plaintiffs.

This is the third jury trial that was won by the team of Chapman and Fisher in 2009. Their earlier verdicts were for $1,000,000, and $684,577. They have obtained the largest jury verdict this year in DC Superior Court for a motor vehicle crash.

We are proud and thankful of the important work done on behalf of our clients.

Will Critical Review Keep Judge From D.C. Circuit Slot?

Jeff Jeffrey, The National Law Journal

D.C. Court of Appeals Judge Vanessa Ruiz, who has been aggressively pushed by a number of well-connected Democratic lawyers for promotion to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, is being taken to task for having an excessive backlog of undecided cases.

As part of a mandatory review before Ruiz could be reappointed to another 15-year term, the seven-member D.C. Commission on Judicial Disabilities and Tenure wrote that her backlog was "the highest by far" of any appellate judge at the court. In the District, judges on the local bench -- like federal judges -- are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. Unlike federal judges, they must be reappointed after serving 15 years.

Despite giving Ruiz a "well qualified" rating, which automatically ensures her reappointment, the commission pulled few punches in the evaluation it sent to President Barack Obama. "The Commission believes that this problem is not only about the pace of opinion production, but also about a less than fully adequate appreciation on the part of Judge Ruiz as to how her backlog adversely affects the litigants, the court, and her colleagues," the Aug. 10 evaluation said.

One commissioner, Jones Day partner Noel Francisco, a former Bush U.S. Department of Justice official, took the unusual step of filing a dissent which recommended that Ruiz receive merely a "qualified" rating because of the backlog. A qualified rating means the president must either renominate the judge and subject her to Senate scrutiny again or pick someone else. Commission members are appointed by the president, the D.C. mayor, the D.C. Council, the chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and the D.C. bar. Both the mayor and the bar get two picks each. Francisco was appointed to the commission by Bush.

Ruiz, who declined to comment, submitted a letter to the commission on Aug. 13 saying that its criticisms about her backlog were based on potentially misleading statistics provided by Chief Judge Eric Washington. "The chief judge submitted averages for active judges at intervals since 2006, as well as the actual number of my pending cases during that period. Without information on where on the spectrum other judges stand in relation to the average, one cannot infer how I stand in relation to any one of them," Ruiz said in her letter, which she asked be forwarded to the White House.

Francisco said the letter would not change his vote. "My decision is based on Judge Ruiz's significant and longstanding backlog, which her letter does not dispute," he said.

Ruiz has had a number of heavy hitters pushing for her to be named to a higher court. Supporters include lawyers at Jenner & Block and Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, who have lines into the upper echelon of the Justice Department. In March, the Hispanic Bar Association of D.C. announced its endorsement of Ruiz for a circuit slot and sent letters of support to Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. and White House Counsel Gregory Craig.

The question now is whether the commission's report and Francisco's dissent will torpedo her chances for the federal bench. "Case management is not an unsolvable problem, but it is a significant issue and one that will be asked about," said Scott Coffina, a partner at Montgomery, McCracken, Walker & Rhoads who, as associate counsel to President George W. Bush, worked on judicial nominations.

A former judge-picking adviser to the Clinton administration agrees. "For appellate court judges, poor case management is not good because they sit in panels. If someone isn't getting their work done, it affects the litigants, but it also affects the other judges on that panel," said the former adviser, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "You can be an intellectual giant, an Oliver Wendell Holmes, but if you're not getting the work done, it's an issue."

Jamie Gorelick, a partner at Wilmer who served as deputy attorney general in the Clinton administration, said the backlog may not keep Ruiz from the federal bench. "Case management would be something that would be discussed, but in terms of priority it's going to be farther down the list," said Gorelick, who added that she knows Ruiz and thinks highly of her. "What is more important to the president is to find someone with an impressive intellect who has a judicial philosophy in sync with his own."

Other supporters point to the positives mentioned in the commission's report, including her "engaged" questioning and her "significant role in improving the administration of justice."

Ruiz, in her letter, acknowledged having a backlog that is "bigger than I feel comfortable with," but she said it was created by a "perfect storm" in 2006. That year, she became president of the National Association of Women Judges at the same time that the court was already overburdened as a result of vacancies.

Ruiz's community involvement is well known. In recent years, she has held leadership positions inside and outside the courthouse. Her involvement in community activities prompted the commission to say in its evaluation that in order to address her backlog, Ruiz may "require a temporary reduction in these activities."

Unlike the federal courts, the D.C. Court of Appeals does not annually make public its backlog statistics for individual judges. Washington would not provide Ruiz's caseload statistics to The National Law Journal.

The D.C. Court of Appeals has long been criticized for its backlog. According to the most recent court statistics, the average time from argument to decision was 135 days. But some cases take much longer. Last month, both Ruiz and Washington issued opinions that had been argued more than two years ago.

Commission chairman William Lightfoot, managing partner of D.C.-based Koonz, McKenney, Johnson, DePaolis & Lightfoot, said while the confusion over the court's statistics may warrant a clarification, the commission plans to closely monitor Ruiz's progress in reducing her backlog and will meet with her in December for an update. "We'd like to see her backlog cleared. That's the goal," Lightfoot said.

Washingtonian Magazine Selects Four KMJDL Lawyers Among DC's Best Personal Injury Lawyers.

Congratulations!

Koonz McKenney Appellate Ruling Information

Provided by a Washington DC, Maryland and Virginia Personal Injury Lawyer

The case arose from a motor-vehicle accident in which a Metrobus suddenly and without warning merged into the lane in which Mr. Brown was driving his van. To avoid colliding with the bus, Mr. Brown steered his van toward the curb and crashed into a lamppost. He sustained significant neurological injuries.

On behalf of Mr. Brown, Koonz McKenney attorneys William P. Lightfoot and Kelly Fisher sued the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. They alleged that the negligence of the Metrobus operator caused the crash that resulted in Mr. Brown's injuries, and they sought an award of money damages to compensate him. The case proceeded to trial before Superior Court Judge Geoffrey M. Alprin. The jury found WMATA liable and awarded Mr. Brown damages of $287,500.

WMATA then appealed the judgment to the D.C. Court of Appeals. WMATA argued that the trial judge committed error in three evidentiary rulings. Koonz McKenney attorney Marc Fiedler countered that the trial judge (1) properly allowed two eyewitnesses to present lay-opinion testimony that Mr. Brown "did the best thing" by swerving away from the bus and into the lamppost; (2) properly admitted into evidence Mr. Brown's medical bills without direct testimony from a doctor verifying their reasonableness; and (3) properly allowed Mr. Brown to testify about the permanence of his injuries where his treating physician also testified they are permanent. The appellate court rejected WMATA's arguments and agreed with Mr. Fiedler that the trial judge committed no reversible error. The court therefore affirmed the judgment in favor of Mr. Brown. With interest, the damages award now exceeds $300,000.

Thomas McWeeny Successfully Litigates Claim on Behalf of Catastrophically Injured Worker Against an Uninsured Employer

On July 21, 2009 the Virginia Workers' Compensation Commission upheld the rights of an injured worker whose arm was dragged into a PTO shaft of a post-hole digger after a three hour evidentiary hearing. On February 11, 2008, a string from the worker's jacket was blown into a post-hole digger causing his arm to be pulled into the augur. The worker was diagnosed with right rib fractures, a complete tear of the right supraspinatus, infraspinatus and subscapularis tendons, a right biceps tendon dislocation, a right superior labrum tear, and severe nerve damage down the right arm. The employer had originally thought he had purchased workers' compensation coverage through his liability carrier; however, he learned after the incident that his business was completely uninsured for workers' compensation injuries.

Over the following months the case was heavily contested and litigated by both the uninsured employer and the "Virginia Uninsured Employer's Fund." The employer alleged that the claimant had been smoking marijuana just prior to the accident and the worker leaned across the moving machinery against the advice of coworkers. Thomas McWeeny was able to prove that there were no tests performed on the date of the accident or testimony from the employer's witnesses that could establish that the worker had been intoxicated. This along with the credible testimony of the injured worker, his girlfriend, and his coworker persuaded the Virginia Workers' Compensation Commission that the worker was entitled to benefits.

Because of Mr. McWeeny's efforts, the judge ruled the worker was entitled to lifetime medical benefits, past due benefits, as well as weekly benefits while the worker remains unable to work. Further, this result will allow the injured worker to finally undergo surgery to his injured shoulder that he could not afford.

In addition to workers' compensation accidents, Mr. McWeeny represents clients in automobile accidents, products liability, personal injury, medical malpractice, slip and fall accidents, and construction accidents.

If you would like to set up a free consultation with our Washington DC, Maryland, or Virginia personal injury attorneys, please call us today.