April 8, 2025
ShareKelley Kronenberg Secured Strategic Resolution in High-Exposure Wrongful Death Case
Kelley Kronenberg Partner/Business Unit Leader Matthew Garnett and Attorney Christopher Wright represented a confidential client in a high-exposure wrongful death case where their bold recommendations, made in the face of complex factual, legal, and extrajudicial challenges, paved the way for a swift resolution at a fraction of the client’s self-insured retention. The client’s excess carrier remains stunned at the resolution in view of the challenges faced during the litigation.
The case involved an accident in which our client, pursuant to alleged contractual and gratuitous undertakings, was alleged to have created or failed to correct dangerous conditions that caused a fatality. Initial interrogatory responses prepared in consultation with the client’s in-house counsel proved inaccurate (albeit based upon an accurate review of corporate records), the client’s deposition raised more questions than answers about its knowledge and opportunity to correct the dangerous conditions that led to the fatalityaccident, and discovery had devolved into sensitive financial, proprietary, and technical areas that promised to substantially increase the costs of litigation.
Two different corporate co-defendants, along with the plaintiff, had developed a theory of liability against the client and done so with the same discovery available to all parties. As a result, after six months of litigation, three rounds of discovery, and an unsuccessful mediation, the client’s substantial self-insured retention was all but written off as the minimum cost of resolution. The client was told by the Plaintiff that negotiations could resume only when a seven-figure offer was on the table.
Matthew and Christopher refocused their investigation. They understood that additional analysis was potentially futile as the same documentation had already been poured over by a half-dozen attorneys, as well as their respective clients and consulting experts, with no progress made on critical issues. However, along with nearly daily client contact, Matthew and Christopher methodically dissected dozens of Excel spreadsheets, GPS logs, public records, contracts, communications, witness statements, photographs, body-worn camera video, and other corporate documentation.
Persistence paid off. During a late evening Teams meeting with the client, our legal team reviewed a tab from a three-year-old spreadsheet that had no discernible relation to the lawsuit. The data involved a different type of work than was involved in the lawsuit and had no significance when viewed in isolation. However, once cross-referenced with public records, contemporaneously generated business records, and GPS data, it proved to be the key to understanding why the client’s corporate records were misleading on critical issues. The complexion of the litigation was transformed from concern and frustration to immense relief. After completing due diligence, Matthew and Christopher were able to cultivate the new information into a compelling presentation showing that the client’s work, and corresponding undertakings, did not create a duty, or even a meaningful opportunity irrespective of duty, to address the conditions that led to the fatal accident involved in the lawsuit.
At this stage of the litigation, there was no time to proceed through traditional channels (e.g., amendment of affirmative defenses, amendment of discovery responses, completion of errata sheets, engagement of experts, and pursuit of summary judgment). Instead, Matthew and Christopher recommended a bold approach: a multimedia presentation to both opposing counsel and the decedent’s family to walk them through the new information. The premise was that a compelling presentation would prevail irrespective of whether corporate records and discovery hitherto suggested that the client had seven-figure exposure. The risk undertaken included the possibility that the analysis by our office was mistaken or inaccurate in some way, or even that the adverse parties would conclude that the client was involved in a cover-up. These risks were acceptable to the client.
Matthew and Christopher got it right during an emotional two-hour presentation. The presentation was effective not just because it was sincere, but also because no stone was left unturned. Our legal team was able to provide the Plaintiff’s family with meaningful answers about the circumstances of their loss by speaking authoritatively on issues that no one had previously been able to decode. The presentation perhaps even provided some closure to the Plaintiff’s family – something no monetary settlement could achieve. The case was resolved the same evening at a fraction of the self-insured retention.
Matthew and Christopher tackled a client problem with a head-first, goal-oriented approach crucial to a timely and reasonable resolution. As in-house counsel for the client acknowledged, our persistent, principled advocacy was the only way to put the pieces back together when the case was in the process of falling apart. Similar feedback came from counsel for the Plaintiff after the settlement, who acknowledged, inter alia, that the comprehensive and compassionate approach taken was rare in the industry.
Stay up to date on the latest developments in general liability and third-party insurance. Click here to read the latest issue of our newsletter, “In the Know: General Liability Edition.”
Learn more about Kelley Kronenberg’s General Liability and Third-Party Insurance Defense Division. Click here.