Success Stories

Earl Bode v. County of Sacramento, Sacramento Superior - Kirk Wolden

40 year old Earl Bode and his wife Christine walked into the Arnold Firm in March, 2007, with three garbage bags of medical receipts and insurance documents handed to them by their prior attorney.  Accused of causing an accident that was not Earl’s fault and with his own insurance company claiming he was uninsured, Mr. Bode was dazed and hurt.  He had suffered a permanent brain injury and multiple other physical injuries when two Sacramento County probation officers, speeding without cause down the center turn lane of a busy Sacramento thoroughfare during rush hour, struck Earl Bode’s vehicle broadside at 50 miles per hour as Bode attempted to make a lawful left turn.  Despite a police report (authored by acquaintances of the probation officers) that blamed Bode 100% for the collision, The Arnold Firm believed Earl’s version of how the collision occurred, and undertook his representation. 

The Arnold Firm first succeeded in suing Earl Bode’s own insurance company to establish the coverage necessary to sue the County.  In the ensuing lawsuit against the County of Sacramento, Earl was wrongfully accused of faking his brain injury, an injury which kept him from his life’s work as a commercial construction site supervisor.  The Arnold Firm and its experts proved through accident reconstruction that Earl’s version of the collision was in fact what had happened, and that the County probation officers were at fault.  Using sophisticated medical technologies, including EEG and PET scan, to show the damage to Earl’s brain, plaintiffs forced the County’s medical experts to take back their charges that Earl was faking.  After four, hard fought years of battle for redemption and compensation, Earl and Chrsitine Bode settled their lawsuit against the County of Sacramento for $3,500,000.00—an amount sufficient to provide Earl with the care and replace the financial opportunities taken from him and his family. 

Doe v Roe Restaurant

Douglas Stein obtained a confidential settlement on behalf of our clients for the wrongful death of their adult son against a commercial retail restaurant and another drive thru lane customer.  The lawsuit arose from the death of our client’s adult son, which occurred in the drive-thru lane of the restaurant when he was run over by a car as he laid unconscious in the drive-thru lane as a consequence of being attacked by a gang of young African American males.  We alleged that the restaurant was partially at-fault for the death of their son because the restaurant did not have proper video security cameras, and, that the restaurant did not properly train its employees to respond to emergency situations, which caused a delay in calling “911”.  Our clients faced the likely dismissal of their case against the restaurant by a Motion for Summary Judgment because there was no history of gang related violence or beatings.  Instead,  the matter resolved for a confidential amount which allowed our clients to “let go” of the case on their own terms and focus on moving through their grieving process rather focused on litigation surrounding the untimely and tragic death of their son.