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Walter E. Laake, Jr. is a founding partner in the law firm of Joseph, Greenwald & Laake, P.A. He was its managing partner from its inception for more than 25 years. Since graduating from the University of Maryland and its School of Law, Mr. Laake has been an active member of numerous prestigious bar associations and achieved numerous honors and awards, including the following:
Walter Laake's practice areas include: Accidents, Personal Injury, Traumatic Brain Injury, Medical Malpractice, Premises Liability, Product Liability, and Professional Negligence.
VERDICTS & SETTLEMENTS:
In 30 years of practice, Walter Laake has helped more than 1,000 clients with all types of personal injury claims. In the 1970's, he handled the first case in the Court of Appeals of Maryland to apply the doctrine of strict liability in tort to an actual product liability case in the Maryland courts. Also in the 1970's, before the U.S. Supreme Court ever recognized the right of illegitimate children to recover for the loss of their biological parents, Mr. Laake was already obtaining recovery for illegitimate children in wrongful death claims in the Circuit Court for Prince George's County, Maryland.
Significant cases and recoveries in more recent years include the following:
In 1996, Mr. Laake recovered $1.5 million from a DC hospital for continuing to use infant cribs that had been recalled by the FDA and had fatally injured three children previously. This infant suffered a severe brain injury.
In 1997, Mr. Laake also recovered $1.5 million against the successor crib manufacturer who had allowed its dangerous and defective cribs to remain in the marketplace, a case brought in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.
In 1998, Mr. Laake obtained a $1.8 million recovery for personal injuries to a mother and father and for the loss of their infant child against a motorist and a highway construction company whose equipment and road markers precipitated the defendant motorist crossing the center of the highway.
In 2000, Mr. Laake obtained $750,000 for an off-duty DC police motorcyclist who lost the use of his upper extremity as a result of an intersection action while on his motorcycle in a case of disputed liability. There was only $1 million in coverage available.
In 2001, Mr. Laake obtained a $1.8 million recovery for a wife and two minor children against an apartment complex for failure to provide adequate security precipitating her husband's death by an unknown felon who robbed and shot the plaintiff, ultimately causing his death.
In 2003, a $750,000 recovery was obtained for the spouse and three adult children of a non-working husband who was fatally injured in a motor vehicle accident in Prince George's County, Maryland.
Also in 2003, a $1,043,583 award was obtained for the spouse and mother of a Prince George 's County victim of the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon. This case was handled on a pro bono basis with no legal fees charged.
In 2004, Mr. Laake obtained a $700,000 recovery for a 50-year-old Air Force major forced to retire on disability due to a frontal lobe brain injury caused by a defective product, i.e., an Anthony Sylvan Pool defective water filter which exploded striking Plaintiff in the forehead and leaving him with a permanent head injury.
In 2006 a case was brought in Superior Court for the District of Columbia that resulted in an $800,000 settlement for a patient who went into a DC hospital for a routine laparoscopic gynecological procedure and suffered a perforated bowel which could have been fatal.
In 2007 a judgment in the amount of $500,018.90 including costs was entered in the Circuit Court for Prince George's County, Maryland for legal malpractice against an attorney whose actions caused his client's personal injury claim for the loss of an eye to be dismissed by the court. $500,000 was all that had been sought in the original lawsuit.
In 2011, a $1 million recovery was obtained from the U.S. Government in a Federal Tort Claim Act medical malpractice case causing the death of a disabled husband and father of four. The maximum cap on non-economic damages available to the family was $812,500.00. The case was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.
In 2009 a case was brought in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia against a DC hospital for negligence by its resident in allowing a three month old infant’s blood sugar level to drop to 20 mg/dl for a prolonged period of time resulting in severe brain injury and a $4.5 million settlement.
Of course each case is different and a lawyer's past record of achievement is no assurance that the lawyer will also be successful in obtaining a favorable result in any future case.
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