12 minute read
TBW Law, Newport Beach
Persistence with Passion
TBW Law Combines Persistent Effort with a Passion for Justice in Personal Injury
by Dan Baldwin
The firm has been in business for eight years and we have managed to expand our reputation, our client list, and the number of people on our staff even during the pandemic slowdown. I attribute that success to our persistent effort toward excellence in all we do and in our total passion for justice,” says Ted B. Wacker, founder.
Wacker began his firm with no employees and only four cases. Today, the Law Offices of Ted B. Wacker (TBW Law) now employs a firm of five attorneys, including: Vince Howard (past President of OCTLA, 2016), Sara Bedirian, Douglas Wacker, and Pegah Withjack, with offices in Newport Beach, California and Bellevue, Washington, serving clients in a wide variety of areas, including transportation, premises liability, general personal injury, and product liability.
A recent product liability case exemplifies how the firm combines “Persistence with Passion” to achieve often startling success for their clients. The victim was a young man, a lawyer who had recently married and who had a love of golf. He was also a concerned citizen who had volunteered in his younger years to do work in Nicaragua. When he saw an online ad for Adirondack chairs manufactured in a village in that country, he decided to help out by making a purchase. Unfortunately, the manufacturer did not test his product for safety defects. When the young attorney first sat in the chair it collapsed and cut off his fingers. “That’s a typical case for us,” Wacker says. To evaluate the case, Wacker had to determine the personal impact on the client and his young family and the value of such a loss. Combining the client’s personal story and future damages, he was able to obtain the largest settlement for a finger amputation case in the country at $1.35 million.
30 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE
He is licensed to practice by the State Bar of California and the United States District Court for the Central and Southern Districts of California. He is a member of the American Bar Association (ABA), American Association of Justice (AAJ), and the prestigious American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). He participates as an active member of the Consumer Attorneys’ of California (CAOC), Consumer Attorneys’ of Los Angeles (CAALA), Orange County Bar Association (OCBA) and has been a member of the Orange County Trial Lawyers’ Association (OCTLA) for the past 18 years including service on the Executive Committee, Board of Directors, and President in 2015. Additionally, he was named to the Federal Multi-District Litigation (MDL) Science and Expert Committee for Rezulin,
Standing Left to Right: Jenni Teran (Legal Assistant), Isabella De La Isla (Receptionist), Sara Bedirian (Partner), Doug Wacker (Attorney), Ted B. Wacker (Partner & Founder), Pegah A. Withjack (Attorney), Vincent Howard (Partner), Samar Hellar (Law Clerk), Liz Medina (Legal Assistant), Yesenia Madrigal (Legal Assistant), Jayna Bosse (Medical Records). Sitting Left to Right: Sonia Saba (Legal Assistant), Melina Arroyo (Accounting/Bookkeeper), Sandra West (Discovery), and Marylou Gilsleider (Paralegal).
as well as both State and Federal MDL Science and Expert Committees for Baycol and Zyprexa. The Baycol and Zyprexa cases resolved with multi-million dollar settlements.
His honors and awards include: American Jurisprudence Awards in Products Liability and Creditors’ Remedies; 12 years as Partner at nationally recognized plaintiffs’ firm Robinson, Calcagnie; voted California Super Lawyer for 2013-2022; President of the Orange County Trial Lawyers Association in 2015.
FAMILY VALUES
Wacker grew up in Seattle, Washington but made Orange County, California his home after completing his education in Southern California. Wacker’s father was a major influence in his life and he learned the value of persistence through his father’s example. “There were so many times in my life where I thought, ‘I can’t do this’ or ‘I’m not going to make it.’ My dad just taught me that persistence was the name of the game.”
Other family influencers imbued in Wacker a sense of empathy and compassion for others. Wacker’s passion to help those in need stems from an early age. He related a childhood story in which his grandparents helped a man “riding the rails” from Missouri to Seattle to be with his dying sister. When he got off the train, he was directed to Wacker’s grandparents’ home. They not only fed the man, but allowed him to clean up in their guest room, and even donated some clean clothes to the traveler. “They believed that even if you didn’t have a lot, you could still give something,” Wacker says. Going his grandparents one better, Wacker gave the man $5, which was his entire allowance for the week—a sizeable sacrifice for a seven-year-old kid. When his grandparents found out, they asked him why. “I said, it was just the right thing to do.”
He graduated from San Diego State University in 1988 earning a Bachelor of Science with honors and was a four-year scholarship recipient and was named Captain of the Men’s Soccer Team. He earned his Juris Doctor at the University of San Diego School of Law in 1991.
In the firm’s most recent settlement, his younger brother played an integral part. Wacker assigned his younger brother, Douglas, to evaluate the economic damages in a motorcycle collision that resulted in severe orthopedic injuries to the client. His younger brother had only joined the firm a month earlier to continue in the family’s legacy of litigation advocacy. The value of the case was not so much on the physical injuries as it was on the impact it had on this client’s ability to work and provide for his family presently and in the future. The client was only in the first year of a five-year apprenticeship program and whether it was more likely than not that the client would complete the apprenticeship to become a journeyman electrician which would significantly impact his future earnings was hotly contested by the defense. His younger brother found a discrepancy in the data relied upon by the defense’s expert witness on the topic and undermined the defense’s argument that the client wouldn’t have completed the
apprenticeship regardless of the injury. The discovery of that critical information presented by Wacker to defense counsel two weeks before trial allowed for a policy limits settlement for the client of $3 million. “Sometimes a fresh set of eyes can show you something that everyone else missed. It was going to be a hard fought trial, so to get the defense to finally accept a reasonable value in settlement for the client and to avoid the risks and anxiety of trial for the client is something that may be in the client’s best interest.”
TEAM LEADERSHIP
Wacker attributes much of how he runs the firm to his experiences from his youth through college and beyond playing team sports. Establishing a team mentality is an essential part of his firm’s success. “We do a lot of team building, whether it’s meetings, or having lunch together, there’s a lot of opportunities to bond together. I think the closer you are and the more you are there to support one another, the better everybody does. I may be the leader, but I could never meet all of my clients’ needs without the tremendous support and attention to detail that my staff provide. I am a member of the team who leads by example.”
The approach pays off for TBW Law’s personal injury clients. For example, a recent case was one of those touch-andgo situations in which the life of the client was in the balance. A 23-year-old man and collegiate soccer player had been hit by a big-rig truck on the freeway. The man’s life was ruined. He was on life support for three months and his injuries were such that the family was told the only thing left to do was to donate his organs. He survived, but with a significant brain injury. The defense disputed liability in addition to the significant damages that young man required to get his second-best life to move forward. To demonstrate the impact on this young man and his family required every available tool in a plaintiff’s attorney’s toolkit: expert witnesses including medical experts, economists, vocational rehabilitation specialists, and life care planners, as well as a videographer to be able to document the client’s impacted life in visuals and testimonials from family. Wacker utilized his staff and built a team to manage all of the moving parts. Wacker says the man will need a caregiver for the rest of his life, “But, man, he’s come back. He’s got two kids and he’s walking with a cane. We got him the largest settlement that our firm’s ever had on a very difficult liability case.” The settlement for that case was $12.65 million.
Another case, a motorcycle injury, at first seemed nearly impossible to win. The police report concluded the accident was their client’s fault. Another attorney had told the client, who had a below the knee amputation, that the most he could hope to possibly obtain was $1 million. When the client approached TBW Law alleging that the police report was in error, Wacker’s passion to advocate for this client and prove the truth of the case was a necessity. Lawyers for the firm located a dash cam video from another big rig that showed that much of what the police concluded was wrong. They further determined that the defendant driver of the big rig had lied to the police and the police relied upon this false information for their conclusion. They discovered other errors in the police report regarding witnesses’ observations. “Once we changed the dynamic of the liability picture, we focused on the damages. Our client had a below the knee amputation, so we brought in the top orthopedic expert in the world to have him evaluated. The settlement was for $8 million.
In some cases the medical prognosis for the client never appears to resolve. Wacker discussed a case in which the client had been involved in a motorcycle injury accident where he was allegedly speeding. His injuries included a shattered leg and knee cap. His medical team had performed 11 separate surgeries to save the leg, however, it was possible if not likely the client would need future surgeries or potentially an amputation of his leg. Wacker found the top amputation expert in the country in his hometown of Seattle. An orthopedic surgeon who had been integral in working with Veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Based on his medical opinion testimony, Wacker was able to obtain an $8 million settlement for the client.
CONNECTION WITH CLIENTS
An important element in such success is the firm’s willingness to reach and maintain close and personal contact with each client. For example, in one challenging case the attorneys face enormous hurdles. They invested significant hours and days in the family’s home and attending doctor visits to understand their clients’ struggles on a personal and emotional level. They even sorted through thousands of family photographs and videotaped their day-to-day struggles to boldly illustrate how their injuries had affected their lives.
Wacker says, “I believe that I am a people person. I really love working with individuals rather than huge corporations or insurance companies where sometimes the human element is lost in the shuffle. I believe that I am perceived as a reputable and respected adversary, but I am also fiercely competitive, which probably comes from playing Division 1 sports in college.”
In one case, Wacker was presented with a client who was parked eating a burrito on the side of a residential street,
© Christopher TODD Studios
Sara Bedirian (Partner), Vincent D. Howard (Partner), and Ted B. Wacker (Founder & Partner).
waiting to head into work, when he was struck by the defendant’s speeding vehicle (70-80 MPH in a 45 MPH zone) that had lifted from a bump in the road eventually flying off the ground and colliding with five separate vehicles. The client suffered significant head and spine injuries resulting in multiple surgeries. Wacker’s team was able to locate video from a neighbor’s security camera. “The video was so low quality that the speed of the defendant’s vehicle appeared to jump frames like an old cartoon,” Wacker says, “however, because we were able to find that video, we were able to show the recklessness of the defendant.” The case settled for $8.5 million and with the help of Wacker’s firm, the client was able to set up a life care plan that will provide for the client’s future. The client remains in touch with members of the firm who helped him to this day.
In another case, the client was involved in a minor collision, but experienced significant soft tissue and spinal injuries from whiplash. The client had to have two spine surgeries and a wrist surgery. Listening to the client and understanding that even small incidents can have big impacts, Wacker analyzed the case and the medical records to present the evidence of causation that was critical. The case resolved in a $3.4 million settlement.
SERVING THE LEGAL COMMUNITY AND THE COMMUNITY AT LARGE
The attorneys at the Law Offices of Ted B. Wacker invest in the community at large as well as in the care of their clients. The firm is very active with Miracles for Kids, which is a local charity based in Tustin, California. In addition, the firm participated in the Adopt-A-Family program where they adopted a family for Christmas whose young daughter was diagnosed with cancer and had lost her arm as a result. They are active supporters of the Veterans Legal Institute having two military veterans (Vince Howard, U.S. Army Veteran and Douglas Wacker, U.S. Marine Corps Veteran) as attorneys in the firm.
Wacker counsels young people considering a career in law, and young lawyers seeking genuine commitment to a specific practice area to work with passion in a field that they truly love. Success will follow. He also encourages people to become involved and to stay involved in the legal community and to develop long-term, positive relationships both for themselves and the communities they serve.
Wacker is positive and enthusiastic about the future of the Law Offices of Ted B. Wacker. He says, “I think that we bring experience as well as sincere passion for our clients to each case. We invest a tremendous amount of time on each case, we hire investigators and undertake significant investigation for each case, our litigation skills including deposition taking are among the best. We have trained well in some of the toughest legal environments possible and we have won and won big for our clients. Like our growth in the past eight years, I see that trend continuing to expand.” n
Contact Ted B. Wacker Law Offices of Ted B. Wacker (TBW Law) 1000 Newport Center Drive Newport Beach, CA 92660 (949) 706-7100 www.tbwlawfirm.com
