Alex's family V. napa county

$2M

On March 19, 2011, Alex was driving to work when a huge, rotted oak tree fell and landed on his car, killing him instantly.  This tree was located partially on Napa County property and partially on a private homeowner's property.  Our law firm filed a wrongful death action against Napa County and the homeowner alleging negligent maintenance of the tree. 

At the outset of the case, Napa County advised our firm that they would never pay a penny to settle this case. Litigation was very difficult and hard fought, and involved approximately eight pre-trial discovery motions.  We were finally able to discover that a part of the tree fell six months before our accident and that Napa County and the homeowner knew about it, thus putting them on notice of the rotted condition of the tree. 

This case settled for $2 Million Dollars, with Napa County paying $1.5 million and the homeowner paying her policy limit of $500,000.00.

Note:  $600,000 of Napa County's $1.5 Million was used for a structured settlement and thus the check below was for $900,000.00.

See redacted Settlement Video below.