LAWYERS & ADVOCATES FOR WYOMING

SUMMARY OF CLOSED CASES 1991 through 2000

(Please note that clients' and potential clients names were omitted to protect confidentiality)

1991, 1992 & 1993 (Christopher Hawks, Director)

Obtained relief for residents of a mobile home park who were illegally evicted when the owner, a large corporation, revoked their leases.

Obtained Worker's Compensation benefits for widow.

Assisted a widow in obtaining husband's belongings from Sheriff's department.

Represented a battered woman who shot her perpetrator. The State charged the woman with felony aggravated assault. LAW negotiated a plea agreement wherein the client pleaded to a misdemeanor offense and obtained counseling.

Obtained a court order for a marriage license for two teens who conceived a child and wished to be wed.

Obtained a building permit for a gentleman whose house inside a National Park burned to the ground. The Park Service refused to issue a permit to rebuild the house. After LAW intervened, the permit was issued.

Representation of a homeless individual charged with assault.

Convinced a city council to enact a measure to allowing enforcement of handicapped parking designations on private property.

Litigated a probono divorce for a woman who could not afford a lawyer.

Negotiated and handled a major land donation for a nonprofit organization aimed at assisting residents attain affordable housing.

Assisted local landowners fight efforts to mine gravel in protected wetlands.

1994 & 1995 (R. Daniel Fleck, Director)

Assisted numerous women to obtain settlements in the breast implant class action cases.

Represented two inmates in Parole Hearings.

Represented a young man who was assaulted and permanently braininjured by a guard at a State Penitentiary. This case was settled.

Represented inmate assaulted at a State Penitentiary. This case was settled.

Assisted inmate in dispute with prison regarding his prison hobby shop.

1996 & 1997 (Lou Ann Cloy, Director)

Assisted local family in a dispute with gas company regarding moving their mobile home.

Represented two women who were sexually harassed by coworkers at a construction site. This case was settled.

Represented eleven (11) migrant workers who were held at gunpoint and whose homes were illegally searched by the Immigration and Naturalization Service. This case was settled.

1998, 1999, 2000 (Vonde Smith, Director)

Represented nurse in sexual harassment case against surgeon who berated, abused and assaulted nurses in the operating room. This case was settled.

Assisted individual who needed liver transplant due to contraction of Hepatitis C. Her insurance refused to pay for liver transplant because she was a former alcoholic, despite coverage. Client obtained liver transplant and is doing well.

Assisted mentally disabled woman abused at nursing home. Obtained a new guardian and arranged for transfer to a facility appropriate for her disability.

Assisted mentally disabled male inmate sexually assaulted by another inmate.

Filed lawsuit on behalf of women inmates sexually assaulted by prison guards and assisted them in finding continuing representation.

Assisted Gulf War Veteran with Fibromyalgia obtain an alternative job within his company under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Reviewed materials and provided legal assistance for death row inmate seeking Writ of Habeas Corpus.

LAWYERS & ADVOCATES FOR WYOMING

SUMMARY OF OPEN CASES & CAUSES

September 19, 2000

CASE I

A young college graduate worked at a coal mine to earn money while searching for a job in his chosen field of forest management. The man was killed when the mine collapsed with him inside. The mining company knowingly took too much ore from the underground mine, leaving inadequate structural support. After the collapse the mining company lied to the man's family continuously, telling them that he was alive and well, when he had actually passed away much earlier.

We challenged the worker's compensation bar by arguing it was unconstitutional. The Wyoming Supreme Court rejected this argument. Additionally, we attempted to establish a cause of action for intentional infliction of emotional distress on behalf of the family, but the Wyoming Supreme Court denied this action as well. Currently, we are seeking to sue the engineering company involved the mining for negligent design of the mine.

CASE 2

We represent three individuals who were savagely beaten by an onduty police officer on three separate occasions. Each of our three clients were stopped for petty offenses by the same officer and were subsequently physically assaulted. We are suing the officer and the police department for a pattern and practice of civil rights violations as well as for state law negligence claims.

CASE 3

In this case, we represent a 30 yearold woman involved in a severe motor vehicle accident while on vacation. The other driver was cited for the accident. The woman's first lawyer negotiated a very small settlement without her permission. We stepped in to help her renegotiate the unjust settlement, and to extricate her from her previous lawyer, who was not acting in her best interest.

CASE 4

A profoundly mentally ill man was shot and killed by a police officer in his home. Since his early teens, the deceased was shuffled through the legal and mental health system in his State. As a result, he distrusted and resented police. His mental illness led him to be extremely paranoid and afraid of authority. The deceased was well known to the police and his mental history was documented.

This department has no protocol or procedure in place addressing the mentally ill. Despite the fact that the deceased had a long, documented history of police fear and paranoia associated with his mental illness, the police officer delivered a warrant without notifying other officers of his intentions or requesting backup. When the deceased resisted service, the officer fatally shot him. The resistance that led to the shooting was predictable given the deceased's previous interaction

with government and particularly police. The lack of training, policies and procedures regarding mentally ill subjects within the police department is grossly in violation of established civil rights laws.

CASE 5

Our client's brother was killed by police. Officers hogtied him and left him unsupervised because he was suffering a reaction to cocaine and they did not know how to respond to the situation. The deceased was delirious, locked out of his house, naked. He failed to respond when officers tried to speak to him. The officers hogtied him and ignored his pleas for help while he suffocated before their very eyes.

We sued the officers and the police department for civil rights violations. The Court denied Summary Judgment and the Defendants exercised their right to an immediate interlocutory appeal. This case is presently on appeal.

CASE 6

A man was brutally killed by a drunk driver one evening while walking along a quiet highway towards his home. The driver, who was dragracing, hit the unsuspecting pedestrian going over 80 miles per hour. The driver of the vehicle has only minimal insurance to compensate his daughter and we are attempting to recover the policy limits for her.

CASE 7

A young woman hung herself in a county jail after she was arrested for a probation violation. The jailers knew the woman was addicted to drugs and suicidal, as they had dealt with her on prior occasions. The jail ignored the young woman's condition and left her unattended for several hours.

CASE 8

Our client was injured when she, her husband and two boys were traveling on a highway. Their vehicle hit a patch of black ice, slid out of control and rolled several times. Our client and her husband purchased a $ 100,000.00 insurance policy to protect themselves and their family. Unbeknownst to them, an addendum to the policy reduces their insurance to $ 25,000.00 in accidents where a family member is driving. There are internal inconsistencies in the policy

CASE 9

Our client, a 16 yearold woman, was sexually harassed by managers and coworkers while working at a local fast food restaurant. The other employees, males, routinely called the young woman a "slut" and a "whore" and made derogatory sexual comments towards her. Another female employee threatened to beatup our client after work. Although she reported the harassment to supervisors, they failed to take remedial measures to eradicate the harassment. The State labor commission has issued our client a right to sue.

CASE 10

Our client is 21 years of age. He was born with a cleft palate and required extensive corrective surgery as a child, for which he continuously received financial assistance from State Children's Health Services (CHS). At the age of 16, it was discovered that his jaw was grossly out of alignment and that he suffered a severe underbite. These defects caused extreme headaches and jaw pain. The boy was referred to a doctor for corrective surgery. The doctor unduly postponed the surgery, creating fictitious reasons why the surgery could not be completed. Finally, the boy reached the age of 19 and became ineligible for CHS financial assistance. The doctor then stated he would only perform the if the boy's family would pay him cash. We are in the process negotiating an agreement with the CHS to pay for the boy's surgery.

CASES 11 & 12

Our clients, both women, were employees of Federal Express. Male employees and male managers at Federal Express discriminated against them because of their sex and because they were not members of a predominate religion. Both women had exemplary records during their tenure at Federal Express. However, advancement by women is frowned upon in the basic tenets of the religion, and their male supervisors became hypercritical of their work and their performance. The women were disciplined for behavior that was overlooked in male employees and eventually persecuted until they were forced to resign their positions.

Although the facts of these cases are similar, the acts of discrimination in this case constitute separate causes of action on behalf of each woman. Therefore, these cases will be filed separately.

CASE 13

The owner of a small company contacted us requesting assistance because he had built a number of custom items for a local governmental entity, pursuant to a contract. The governmental entity was refusing to pay the company a large sum of money, due to a defect in a particular material used in the building project. The entity had, itself, selected and approved the defective material and the manufacturer agreed to replace the defective material. However, the entity is refusing to pay the company who installed the material. The company is on the verge of bankruptcy due to the government's actions.

CASE 14

We were contacted on behalf of a severely mentally retarded man who is a ward of the State. He is housed in a state facility. The caregivers at the facility ignored the ward's complaints regarding his teeth for many, many months. Finally, he was taken to a dentist who determined that he suffered from extreme abscesses in his teeth. Twelve (12) infected teeth were removed. Following the surgery, he

was not monitored properly by his caregivers. The young man aspirated and had to be lifeflighted to a hospital with special respiratory equipment.

CASE 15

A young NativeAmerican man suffering from severe, documented schizophrenia hung himself at a State Penitentiary. The young man was convicted of burglary. Prior to the conviction the man's family had sought treatment for him, due to reoccurring "voices" and delusional behavior. The burglary occurred on a reservation, and the reservation authorities had the young man institutionalized at the State Hospital for several months because of ongoing suicidal behavior. Upon return from the State Hospital, the State pursued criminal charges for the burglary and the young man was subsequently sentenced to the State Penitentiary. The Penitentiary was on notice of the young man's ongoing mental illness and suicidal tendencies. Presentence investigation documents, county jailrelated documents and numerous psychological evaluations exist documenting these behaviors. The prison negligently adjusted and failed to monitor the young man's medication. Although he was purportedly placed on suicide watch, the prison guards failed to monitor him. Additionally, he was placed in a cell with a mesh ceiling grate and sheets, which made it possible for the young man to string his sheets through the ceiling and create an apparatus to kill himself.

CASE 16

A 24 yearold man contacted us from a State Penitentiary. He had terminal testicular cancer and was receiving grossly inadequate treatment from the prison system. The charge which resulted in incarceration was car theft. Upon entering the prison system at the age of 20, he informed prison officials that his cancer was in remission, but he needed medical and blood checkups every three months to assure it did not return. The prison failed to perform any checks for over a year. Once a check was performed, it was discovered that the cancer had returned and was aggressively taking over his body. Despite this fact, the prison delayed treatment for over a month. At the time we were contacted, doctors estimated that he had less than a 10% chance of survival.

Medical experts who reviewed the file indicated that if the cancer was detected earlier and treatment begun immediately, the survival rate would have been extremely high.

We first filed an application for Clemency on behalf of the young man. We worked diligently with the Governor of the State were successful in obtaining his release. The release was the first Clemency petition granted in over eight (8) years in that State. We are currently pursuing a civil rights claim against the prison and the doctors who failed to treat the young man, and whose dilatory behavior will most assuredly result in his death.

CASE 17

A 13 yearold boy was run down in a crosswalk by a speeding teenage driver in her parents' vehicle. The boy suffered a brain injury and significant physical injuries. He was in ICU for several weeks. We are pursuing recovery from the parents of the teen to compensate the boy and his family.

CASES 18, 19, 20 & 21

We represent four (4) AfricanAmerican men who were employed by a large multistate Construction Company for ongoing and shameless racial discrimination. Among other things, the men, along with other Hispanic gentlemen, were forced to ride on a dilapidated, unheated bus labeled the “minority bus." The nonminority bus was clean, wellheated and ran properly. It was draped with a Confederate flag to signify that blacks were not welcome. The AfricanAmerican men were subjected to daily racial slurs and epitaphs, called unthinkable names. Investigation demonstrated that the nonwhite employees were paid significantly less than white employees and given less chance for advancement.

Although the facts of these cases intertwine, it is unlikely that they will be litigated in the same proceeding as each individual possesses his own, individual claim against the company.

CASE 22

A 40 yearold nurse was injured by one of her patients while working. The injury required a spinal fusion at C4/C5. A titanium plate was installed to perform the fusion. Several months after the surgery, the pain had not subsided and it was discovered that the plate used for the fusion had fractured. A second surgery was required to remove the broken plate and install a second plate. The second surgery has resulted in significant improvement, although the large amount of time required for recovery from two surgeries rather than one had caused the nurse to lose her job, and has caused significant financial and personal damage.

CASE 23

A 53 yearold woman was drinking alcohol at a local bar when she became unconscious and tumbled from the bar stool onto her head. The medical evidence demonstrated that the fall caused several vertebrae in her neck to break. The owner of the bar saw the fall. He ignored the possible injury to her neck and back and drug her by the shoulders from under the bar and propped her up in a chair. She did not regain consciousness. The intoxicated woman could not sit up in the chair, so he drug her across the bar to the package liquor store and propped her up on the floor between some beer cases and called 911. When police arrived, they also ignored possible injury to the woman, failed to investigate why and how she had become unconscious and neglected to treat her condition as a medical emergency. They hauled her to the police cruiser, dropping her several times along the way. Finally, they "stuffed" her into the back of a police car, in the words of one witness. They did not get her all the way inside the car, though, and the officers slammed the door on her head. When the woman arrived at the hospital with a blood alcohol of .34, she was paralyzed from the neck down.

At trial, the jury awarded 1.25 million against the police officers, and found that the owner of the bar was not responsible for the woman's injuries. We are currently on appeal, arguing that the verdict against the bar is unsupported by the evidence. Further, we are arguing that the State law that caps damages against police officers at $ 250,000.00 is unconstitutional.

CASE 24

We represent a 53 yearold attorney who was on an "action adventure" vacation with his family. An outfitter unfamiliar with the area organized the trip. Although our client was not an experienced bicyclist, the trip's agenda required biking down a heavily traveled, steep, narrow mountain pass. Not surprisingly our client was thrown from his bicycle and hurt when a truck pulling a large camper and a boat hit him while rounding a bend in the road. Our client was in ICU for over a week and nearly died. He is currently unable to work.

CASE 25

We are currently investigating the case of a woman who was sexually harassed at her place of employment, a large manufacturing company. She was subjected to foul language, sexual innuendoes, pornographic material and degrading sexual behavior by male supervisors at her place of employment. When she complained, she was chastised for being sensitive and demoted.

CASE 26

We are investigating claims of an inmate who asserts that he was assaulted by police officers during his arrest. He claims that the assault caused a collapsed lung resulted in permanent damage to his pulmonary system.

CASE 27

A woman was braininjured in a car accident. As a result of her injury, she suffers from mental disabilities and severe mental illness. Although she is the sole source of support for her three children, her injury makes it impossible for her to maintain employment that will support her kids. One of her children is also disabled. Her husband deserted her and the children. The woman asked that we attempt to help her seek social security benefits for herself and Medicaid for her children.