Case Illustrations

Auto Accident - Rollover - Quadriplegia

1. The parents of a High School All-State wrestler made an appointment to talk with R.L. Fehseke, Jr. about a tragedy that had befallen their son. He had been a passenger in a pickup truck which hit a washed-out portion on a county road, causing the truck to roll and flip onto its top. The son broke his neck and became a permanent quadriplegic. The driver of the pickup truck had no insurance or assets. The parents carried no underinsured or uninsured motorist coverage. While the county appeared to be responsible for its lack of maintenance, Iowa had a statute that required a person like the son to give notice of his claims against the county to the county within a very short time — or forever be barred from recovering a judgment against the county. The parents missed the deadline. Almost two years passed before they sought any legal help. Despite the missed deadline, Dick took the family’s case. Believing the short time limit to be unfair, Dick filed a lawsuit after the deadline. He argued that the short statute of limitation period for the county, as opposed to the normal two year statute of limitations, violated his client’s equal protection rights under the Iowa Constitution and the United States Constitution. A local Court dismissed the lawsuit. Continuing to believe that the short time limit was unfair, Dick appealed the Court’s ruling to the Iowa Supreme Court. For the first time in Iowa history, the Iowa Supreme Court overturned the short statute of limitation period. It did so based on the constitutional grounds that Dick argued. Following the Supreme Court’s ruling, Dick negotiated a settlement with the county for an amount that the county’s insurance company insisted remain confidential.




Medical Malpractice - Spine Injury

2. Richard L. Fehseke III was contacted by a middle-aged woman who had worked for the United States Postal Service for many years and who had numerous back problems because of lifting over a long period of time. She underwent surgery to correct her back problem. Shortly after surgery, she experienced a loss of bowel function, a loss of bladder function, and partial paralysis in her legs. Richard obtained all of the woman’s medical records and determined that she had been diagnosed, post surgery, with quada equina syndrome — a syndrome that could have been avoided had it been diagnosed and treated at an earlier stage. Richard filed a lawsuit and the case went to trial. Ethics requirements prevent us from disclosing the amount of the jury's verdict.




Rear End Auto Accident - Tinnitus

3. Elaine Fehseke Eschman had a client who was a middle-aged schoolteacher. She was involved in a rear-end automobile collision and suffered minor back and neck injuries. In addition, she complained of a ringing sensation (tinnitus) in both ears. Medical opinions varied as to its cause. Although her doctors agreed that such a ringing sensation might exist, they differed in their opinions as to whether the rear-end collision caused it. Elaine argued that her client had the condition and that the rear-end collision did cause it. Ethics requirements prevent us from disclosing the amount of the jury's verdict.




Intersection Collision - Paraplegia

4. A middle-aged utility pole line worker was traveling on a city street at a speed of approximately 25 miles per hour. A young lady ran a stop sign and T-boned him with enough force to eject him from his car. After being ejected from his car, the man landed on a curb, striking his back in such a way that he became paralyzed from the waist down. Dick Fehseke reviewed the case and, after determining that the young lady who ran the stop sign had no insurance, gave the initial opinion that any recovery was unlikely. Unwilling to close the case without any recovery for his client, Dick decided to find out why the young lady ran the stop sign. When he investigated the intersection in question, he learned that over 90% of the accidents at the intersection involved people running the stop sign from the same direction as the young lady. Dick retained a behavioral scientist to inspect the intersection. The scientist discovered that the stop sign was partially obscured by shadows and tree limbs, and that a driver approaching from the same direction as the young lady would be distracted by a busy highway, itself controlled by a stop sign, just ahead. A review of the city accident records indicated that the city had knowledge of the dangerous characteristics of this intersection. Ethics requirements prevent us from disclosing the amount of the jury's verdict.




Auto Accident - Single Car - Back Injury

5. A young lady and her parents approached the firm, explaining that their daughter had been injured when a car she was riding in missed a sharp turn on a county highway and went into a ditch. The daughter suffered painful soft tissue injuries. Her odds of recovering any damages were low; the driver of the car she was in was a student who did not have insurance. Unsatisfied with their client’s lack of recourse against the driver, members of Fehseke & Eschman Law Offices went to the accident scene to investigate why the driver missed the curve. What the firm discovered was that most of the curves on the county road where the accident happened were marked with "speed advisory plates." The speed advisory plates advised drivers of the speeds at which they could safely negotiate the curves. Unlike most of the curves on the county road where the accident happened, the curve the student missed had no advisory plate. Fehseke & Eschman Law Offices sued the county that maintained the advisory plates, since it, in essence, told drivers that they had to slow for only some curves. Where the county chose not to install advisory plates, the county gave drivers the false impression that they could negotiate those curves at the posted speed limit. Ethics requirements prevent us from disclosing the amount of the jury's verdict.




Boating Accident - Death

6. Most people associate "maritime law" with the law of the high seas. However, maritime law applies to any navigable waterway, including the Mississippi River. Fort Madison, Iowa, is located on the Mississippi River. Rail and highway access from Fort Madison, Iowa to Niota, Illinois exists over a bridge owned by the Santa Fe Railroad, now the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway. On Memorial Day weekend, 1994, the driver of a boat and his eight passengers collided with a "bullnose," an object protruding upriver from the Santa Fe Bridge. The collision caused two deaths and major injuries to the driver and other passengers. Fehseke & Eschman Law Offices was contacted to look into a potential claim against the BN&SF Railway. It represented seven of the nine occupants of the boat, including the two decedents and five of the injured persons. The firm made a preliminary investigation and recommended to its clients that further investigation was warranted. It retained an accident reconstructionist, behavioral scientist, economist, and toxicologist. The toxicologist was hired because of the blood-alcohol content of the boat’s driver. After a thorough investigation, the decision was made to file a claim against BN&SF Railway for its failure to warn of a hazard and its lack of maintenance of the bullnose. Extensive pretrial discovery through depositions, interrogatories, and thousands of pages of materials occurred. Before trial, Fehseke & Eschman Law Offices negotiated a settlement between its clients and Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway for a confidential amount.




Corporate Theft - Intellectual Property

7. A young corporation with an exciting new invention believed that one of its employees had stolen its trade secrets. It hired the Fehseke & Eschman firm to discover the extent of the employee’s illegal activity, to take legal action to prevent any further legal activity, and to take the legal steps necessary to recuperate the losses suffered by the corporation because of the illegal activity. In the course of its investigation, the firm discovered that the employee had stolen trade secrets with military implications, had traveled to Russia in an attempt to sell the trade secrets, and, when questioned about his activities, had repeatedly lied to his employer, the corporation. Fehseke & Eschman Law Offices filed a lawsuit against the employee arguing that his theft and deceit damaged the corporation in excess of several million dollars. The case went to trial. Ethics requirements prevent us from disclosing the amount of the jury's verdict.