The Law Offices of W. James Chandler, P.L.L.C. is proud of its record of protecting the rights of injured persons no matter how complex or difficult the issues each case presents. No trial attorney can guarantee success in every set of facts. But the attorneys of W. James Chandler, P.L.L.C. will guarantee that we will aggressively pursue the rights of each client through negotiation if possible but through litigation if necessary.

In just the past decade, the Law Offices of W. James Chandler, P.L.L.C.  has obtained settlements and verdicts for our clients in selected cases that total in excess of $84,000,000.00. These results were produced from some of these fact situations:

Product Liability

• A negligently designed pool filter exploded under pressure, causing blindness and brain damage to the homeowner. Litigation continued for 6 years until the case settled the night before jury selection. Over $350,000 was spent in trial preparation with a recovery in excess of $4,000,000.
• Defective brakes on an improperly designed fork lift crushed the foot of the operator and resulted in his total disability. The trial involved experts from 5 states and a recovery that provided the client and his family a lifetime income.
• A negligently engineered transmission system on a bulldozer resulted in serious injury to a yard worker when the machine lurched forward, pinning him against a dumpster. A substantial verdict sent the bulldozer manufacturer the message that safety should take precedence over profits.
• A scaffolding system separated because of an improperly welded bracket, causing disabling injury to a mason working on the third level. In trial preparation it was discovered that other welds on the scaffolding had been improperly made and even though the welder was fired once the mistakes were recognized, the company that offered the scaffolding for lease had made no attempts at repairs because of installation deadlines. The insurance company paid its policy limit on the second day of trial.
• An examining table in a doctor’s office malfunctioned due to a hydraulic problem, causing a severe laceration to the patient’s leg and a subsequent amputation. The case settled at mediation for a substantial sum.
• A poor connection from the water source to an ice maker in a restaurant leaked water onto the floor. The client suffered severe orthopedic injuries in the fall. Interviews with tenants in the same office building revealed 6 people had complained about the condition 3 weeks before this injury.
• A surgical staple designed to retain tissue connection at the site of a gastric bypass failed upon installation, causing the contents of the small intestine to drain into the stomach cavity. Terrible complications followed and the patient barely survived. The manufacturer of the instrument that installed the staple settled the case prior to trial when our experts reconstructed the surgery and discovered the malfunction.
• Brake drums on a dump truck were improperly serviced, resulting in a lock down of the truck in the travel lane of an interstate highway. The client struck the rear of the truck whiling attempting a lane change. He later died from his injuries. Engineers and accident reconstruction experts were used extensively at trial to establish the liability of the trucking company.

Negligence

• A city bus, operating on the wrong route with a malfunctioning speedometer and horn and driven by an unsupervised trainee driver, rear ended a pickup truck, causing serious injury to the client.  Six weeks of trial produced a verdict in excess of $1,000,000 that was affirmed on appeal.
• A pest control operator, using outdated and malfunctioning equipment, misapplied a toxic pesticide to a residence, causing neurological injury to the family living there.
• A car with minimum insurance coverage turned left into the client’s path, causing injuries that resulted in total disability and the need for lifetime care. Through our investigation it was determined that the at fault driver was returning to her company’s office, having picked up the morning mail. This information led to the discovery of a $5,000,000 insurance policy.
• A woman who had lived in her apartment for 3 days slipped in water produced by a clogged toilet, severely fracturing her pelvis and leg. Our investigation disclosed 5 complaints of the same problem from former tenants and an engineering inspection revealed an inadequately sized pipe that caused the backup.
• Sheriff’s Deputies in a small rural town organized a drug raid on a suspected dealer. Even Barney Fife would have been embarrassed by the tactics. The deputies came rushing onto the property without any identification, no uniforms or marked cars and no search warrant. A gun battle broke out. A next door neighbor heard the gunfire, came to his front door with a shotgun to protect his property and was shot point blank by deputies who mistook him for a criminal. Fortunately he survived. The 3 week trial in Federal Court produced a large compensatory as well as punitive damages award.

Aviation Law

• A trainee air traffic controller failed to notice two private planes on the same coordinates 18 minutes before the mid-air collision. Both planes had filed flight plans with their home airports but through a controller error, one was not entered into the system. With the use of aviation experts, former FAA employees and a computer reconstruction of the events, the claim of our client’s estate settled at mediation for $4,000,000.
• Our client, a licensed pilot, was rendered paraplegic when the stabilizer on his aircraft failed following negligent repairs performed three days earlier. The FAA investigation discovered the cause of the crash and our experts convincingly tied that cause to the negligent repairs, resulting in a settlement that assured the client the care and income he needed for the remainder of his life.

Professional Malpractice

• The client, chief of anesthesiology at a major hospital, was ordered into improper physical therapy following rotator cuff surgery, disrupting the repair and disabling the client from the practice of medicine. The case settled when the surgeon who performed the rotator cuff repair testified that the therapist used the wrong protocol following surgery and produced the damage.
• Accounting errors and deceptive marketing practices resulted in the overselling of time share units at a major resort to more than 86,000 people. The jury verdict was a multi-million dollar award to those persons cheated in the scheme.
• A multi-million dollar tax avoidance scheme was developed and marketed to select customers of a major bank which used tax strategies that the IRS rejected, resulting in massive assessments, interest and penalties against our clients. The final settlement restored those clients to their original financial positions.

Insurance Litigation

• The client, having lost his home to fire, was falsely accused of arson by the insurance adjuster. That rumor was spread throughout the client’s home town. Litigation against the insurance company for fraud and bad faith resulted in a punitive damages award of 3 times the policy limit.
• Allstate Insurance Company refused payment of a death claim of a passenger under an uninsured motorist policy. The verdict ordering payment of the policy limit was trebled and all attorneys fees and costs were ordered paid by Allstate because of its unfair and deceptive trade practices. Allstate lost all appeals.

Premises Liability

• A Georgia motel chain provided inadequate security for its customers in a high crime area. The client was attacked outside his room by a criminal who had just been thrown out of the motel’s bar for assaulting another customer with a bottle. The police were not called because minors were drinking in the bar at the time. The client suffered complete hearing loss and a brain injury in the attack. The case settled during jury selection for an amount approaching $1,000,000.
• A construction company and an engineering firm hired by a city to install a 54″ water main on a busy highway completely failed to follow the traffic control plans drawn for the project. The client was critically injured and totally disabled when he became confused by the traffic pattern at night and struck a bulldozer parked in the roadway. The turning point in this lawsuit was the discovery of a letter from the city to the contractor, written 4 months before the accident and concealed for 2 years, which read: “The traffic controls must be followed as drawn or a motorist will likely suffer serious injury.” The case concluded for a multi-million dollar settlement.
• A refrigeration technician entered a hotel under construction carrying the back of a large cooling unit. He could not see his feet. Another subcontractor, in violation of OSHA regulations and safety codes, had removed the cover from an HVAC duct and the client fell through, severely injuring his knee and back. 5 operations followed. Investigation revealed that the cover had been removed to install the duct work but the worker left the job at quitting time without reinstalling the cover and that night was arrested for his 3rd DWI and imprisoned. He never returned to the job. Upon completion of discovery, the case settled for a considerable number.