We did it! Four month trial results in $123M verdict against Ride the Ducks

Karen Koehler finally at peace as verdict being read. Andrew Ackley (me) on the right.

It started on October 1, 2018. Trial, that is. The case actually started around the same time three years earlier. For three years we have fought for our clients, who were innocent victims of the unthinkable—a sightseeing vehicle full of international tourists breaks an axle and turns uncontrollably across four lanes right into the side of a motor coach full of international students.

It started with one client—Phuong Dinh, an exchange student from Vietnam who found herself not in school, but in a nursing home. Then there were three international students under our wing. We pushed the case forward relentlessly, and before we knew it, we had 10, 12, 15 clients. Over three years, 15 became 20, then 40, and finally 48 victims of the worst mass casualty incident in Seattle history.

Trial took four months. There were four defendants, eight distinct legal claims, more than a hundred witnesses, 99 pages of jury instructions (that’s a lot), and literally hundreds of motions (there were 20+ lawyers for the defendants). The jury deliberated for a little less than two weeks and returned a verdict for 40 of our clients of over $123M.

There are so many stories to tell about this case and I don’t have the energy right now for hardly any of them. Suffice it to say, we are thrilled for our clients to get the acknowledgment, vindication, and accountability they deserve for their losses.