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Verdicts & Settlements
In 30 years of practice, Walter Laake has helped more than 1,000 clients with all types of personal injury claims. In the 1970’s, he handled the first case in the Court of Appeals of Maryland to apply the doctrine of “strict liability in tort” to an actual product liability case in the Maryland courts. Also in the 1970’s, before the U.S. Supreme Court ever recognized the right of illegitimate children to recover for the loss of their biological parents, Mr. Laake was already obtaining recovery for illegitimate children in wrongful death claims in the Circuit Court for Prince George's County, Maryland.
Significant cases and recoveries in more recent years include the following:
- In 1996, Mr. Laake recovered $1.5 million from a Washington, D.C. hospital for continuing to use infant cribs that had been recalled by the FDA and had fatally injured three children previously. This infant suffered brain damage from an anoxic episode.
- In 1997, Mr. Laake also recovered $1.5 million against the successor crib manufacturer who had allowed these dangerous and defective cribs to remain in the marketplace. This case was brought in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.
- In 1998, Mr. Laake obtained a $1.8 million recovery for personal injuries to a mother and father and for the loss of their infant child against a motorist and a highway construction company whose equipment and road markers precipitated the defendant motorist crossing the center of the highway.
- In 2000, Mr. Laake obtained $750,000 for an off-duty DC police motorcyclist who lost the use of his upper extremity as a result of an intersection action while on his motorcycle in a case of disputed liability. There was only $1 million in coverage available.
- In 2001, Mr. Laake obtained a $1.8 million recovery for a wife and two minor children against an apartment complex for failure to provide adequate security precipitating her husband’s death by an unknown felon who robbed and shot the plaintiff, ultimately causing his death.
- In 2003, a $750,000 recovery was obtained for the spouse and three adult children of a non-working retired husband who was fatally injured in a motor vehicle accident in Prince George's County, Maryland.
- Also in 2003, a $1,043,583 award was obtained for the spouse and mother of a Prince George's County victim of the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon. This case was handled on a pro bono basis with no legal fees received by the firm.
- In 2004, Mr. Laake obtained a $700,000 recovery for a 50-year-old Air Force major forced to retire on disability due to a frontal lobe brain injury caused by a defective product, i.e., an Anthony & Sylvan Pool defective water filter which exploded striking Plaintiff in the forehead and leaving him with a permanent head injury.
- In 2006 a case was brought in Superior Court for the District of Columbia that resulted in an $800,000 settlement for a patient who went into a DC hospital for a routine laparoscopic gynecological procedure and suffered a perforated bowel which could have been fatal.
- In 2007 a judgment in the amount of $500,018.90 including costs was entered in the Circuit Court for Prince George's County, Maryland for legal malpractice against an attorney whose actions caused his client's personal injury claim for the loss of an eye to be dismissed by the court. $500,000 was all that had been sought in the original lawsuit.
If you have a serious personal injury case, you need to consult with an attorney who has a proven track record of success in handling significant cases such as those listed above.
Of course each case is different and a lawyer's past record of achievement is no assurance that the lawyer will also be successful in obtaining a favorable result in any future case.
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