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. 

HOUSE EXPLOSION FROM PG&E GAS LEAK

On Christmas Eve, a quiet Rancho Cordova neighborhood was violently changed when a gas leak exploded—killing one man, severely burning two women, and injuring many others. Rancho Cordova tragically lost one of its finest citizens and a respected veteran; the two women were hospitalized in critical care; and the many others are still treating with their doctors for multiple injuries. All names are withheld to respect the families’ privacy.

The citizens of Rancho Cordova want to know if their houses are safe; are their families safe;and how to insure that this doesn’t happen again. At a recent town hall meeting, PG&E was asked these questions, but refused to provide substantive responses. When asked WHO? WHAT? and WHY?, PG&E dodged the questions by repeating a pre-prepared response of “We gave our answers to the NTSB…”. Most of the residents have reached out to The Arnold Law Firm for help, and are now clients of the Firm. The Arnold Law Firm will get from PG&E real responses to these very real concerns. We have a right to know if our homes are safe, and it is our job as your lawyers to guarantee that right.