Personal Injury/Wrongful Death

The Firm has extensive experience in catastrophic personal injury and wrongful death litigation. The following are examples of the variety of personal injury and wrongful death matters the Firm’s attorneys have handled:

• Michael L. Kirby and Jason M. Kirby represented an individual worker that had been hired to do roofing work by a homeowner in Rancho Santa Fe.  The worker was not provided with the required safety restraints and scaffolding and fell from the roof.  He was severely injured.  Because the homeowner failed to secure worker’s compensation insurance for his employees, the matter was properly venues in the San Diego Superior Court and the Firm’s attorneys leveraged the evidentiary presumptions against the homeowner.  The case settled for a confidential amount. 
• Michael L. Kirby represented the family of a passenger who was killed in the crash of Egypt Air Flight 990. The passenger was not married. His mother resided in San Diego. Kirby was able to secure $1,100,000 for the mother to compensate her for the loss of her son.
• Michael L. Kirby and Jason M. Kirby represented a family involved in a high impact automobile accident.  A large truck ran a red light and struck their car in an intersection. The husband/father was killed in the accident.  The wife/mother and their 2 year old daughter suffered significant injuries.  The defense argued that the party which had insurance to cover the claim was not liable because the driver and the company he worked for were independent contractors and not its agents.  The case settled for $4,000,000 before trial.
• Michael L. Kirby represented the family of a San Diego man who was killed in a helicopter accident.  Kirby obtained a settlement of $3,850,000 for the widow and her three sons.
• Michael L. Kirby represented a chief engineer of a tuna boat with respect to a lumbar strain he suffered when a floorboard broke and gave way on the vessel while at sea in the Western Pacific. The case was tried before a jury in San Diego Superior Court. Although the client had no objective evidence of injury (MRI, x-rays, and nerve conduction study were all negative), the jury returned a verdict in our client’s favor in the amount of $1,075,000.
• Michael L. Kirby represented the tuna boat captain of a tuna boat who suffered serious injuries when his helicopter began to shake violently and crashed into the Western Pacific.  Kirby secured a verdict of $3,036,000 for the captain.
• Michael L. Kirby represented a tuna boat captain who was injured while working aboard the vessel.  The captain was hit in the head with a cable.  The defendants alleged that the captain was the sole cause of his injuries under an admiralty law rule known as the primary duty doctrine.  In a bench trial, the Court awarded Kirby’s client $486,031 in damages even though his medical bills were approximately $5,000.
• Michael L. Kirby’s represented a young girl who was attacked by a neighbor’s dog and suffered significant injuries to her face.  The little girl was attending a party at a neighbor’s house with her family.  The neighbor had recently acquired two dogs from a shelter for abused animals.  During the party, the dog attacked the little girl and the parents had to pull it off of their daughter’s face.  The case settled before trial for $1,100,000.
• Michael L. Kirby represented a man who was using a personnel lift at a convention center to remove sound equipment.  The personnel lift tipped over while Kirby’s client was approximately 30 feet in the air and he was thrown to a cement floor, causing severe brain injuries. Kirby sued several Defendants including the manufacturer of the personnel lift.  All but one Defendant settled before trial.  Kirby was able to secure $2,560,000 for the Plaintiff.
• The Firm represented a tuna boat captain who was injured during a helicopter crash off the coast of Costa Rica. The captain suffered burns and a back injury, which required surgery, when the helicopter crashed onto the deck of the tuna boat. The Firm was able to secure a settlement before trial of $2,250,000.
• Michael L. Kirby represented a captain/owner of a tuna boat who suffered serious injuries in a helicopter accident. Kirby obtained a settlement of $3,700,000 for the captain prior to trial.