Ride the Ducks

On September 24, 2015, the worst mass transit disaster in Seattle history occurred when a Ride the Ducks amphibious vehicle full of tourists suffered a catastrophic axle fracture on the Aurora Bridge and crashed into a Motor Coach carrying international students from North Seattle College. A total of five students were killed and 70 others injured.

I was second chair through three years of litigation and four months of trial, with lead counsel Karen Koehler, representing 49 victims. Forty of those plaintiffs went to a verdict in February 2019. The jury held the manufacturer and operator of the Ducks responsible, and awarded an unprecedented $123,000,000 in damages. Thirteen individual awards substantially exceeded $1,000,000.