Washington DC Injury Attorney William P. Lightfoot’s Significant Cases

Significant Cases – the following are a sample of the cases that Mr. Lightfoot has litigated that result in improved safety procedures, or million dollar recoveries:

• $4.5 million settlement for the families of three women who were killed by a Prince George’s County Police Officer.  The officer drove thru a stop sign while chasing an alleged criminal into the District of Columbia.  As a result of this law suit, the PG county police changed their rules governing high speed police chases into DC. Reported in the Washington Post 2007.
• $4.5 million settlement for an electrician who fell from a work platform.   The construction worker was overcome by paint fumes that were not properly vented from the construction site.   The injury would have been prevented if the defendant construction companies had obeyed OSHA safety rules.
• $3.0 million dollar settlement for a pedestrian who was struck by a car when the driver lost control in the parking lot of a shopping center.   The shopping center did not install bollards or other protective devices to prevent injuries to pedestrians when drivers lose control of their cars in parking lots.  An increasing practice is for shopping centers to design parking lots with the goal of pedestrian safety and to install traffic control devices to prevent injuries to pedestrians.
• Product Liability: Gomez & Maddox cases, $6 million & $15 million
  Children scalded by unsafe water produced by water heaters with inadequate warning and temperature limiting devices
  (reported on television, radio and the Washington Post, Wednesday, May 27, 1992 & June 27, 1997)
• Premises Liability: House Fire cases, $2.3 million, $4.5 million & $3.5 million
  Family devastated by a house fire caused by a defective heater, a boy severely burned in a house fire and a woman severely burned in an apartment building fire
  (reported in The Washington Post, August 7, 1986)
• Premises Liability: Williams v. Casino Royale, $1 million
  Firefighter died in the line of duty
  (reported in The Washington Post, February 4, 1987)
• Premises Liability:  Johnson v. Hechinger, $2 million
  Attorney suffered a brain injury when he fell in a hardware store
  (reported in The Washington Times, October 27, 2000)
• Malfunctioning Car case, $3 million
  Woman was burned when her car malfunctioned
• Brain Injury case, $2.8 million
  Worker suffered a brain injury when overcome by poisonous fumes
• Construction Site cases, $2 million, $1.5 million & $1.5 million
  Construction worker lost his leg when he was struck by falling steel, construction worker injured when a hoist broke on a bridge, and a carpenter injured his leg on a construction site when safety regulations were violated by a supply company
• Worker Termination case, $1 million
  Worker fired from a heath care facility because she testified the facility committed medical malpractice