PAST SUCCESSES / HONORS 
February 2011: Of Counsel Ann McCormick defended the Puyallup Tribe in two related tribal court lawsuits involving allegations of wrongful termination. Ann successfully obtained dismissal of each lawsuit on the grounds that the plaintiff/employees had failed to exhaust their exclusive administrative remedies.
February 2011: Shareholder Marty Pujolar briefed, argued and won summary judgment dismissal of plaintiff's negligence and breach of contract/duty to defend claims in a third-party insurance bad faith/coverage case in Whatcom County Superior Court. The court granted Mr. Pujolar's summary judgment motion on the grounds that there was no evidence of any recoverable damages in the form of defense fees and costs from Forsberg & Umlauf's client.
February 2011: Shareholder Grant Lingg and Associate Maggie Bruya Kirschner obtained summary judgment dismissal for a subcontractor in a construction site injury case based on a statute of limitations argument. The plaintiff had secured an executed stipulation from the co-defendant which would have allowed the plaintiff to amend his complaint and add the subcontractor as a defendant before the applicable statute of limitations was set to run. The plaintiff had also served the subcontractor with a copy of the proposed amended complaint within the applicable statute of limitations. However, the plaintiff did not file the stipulation and obtain Court approval of the proposed amendment before the expiration of the statute of limitations. On summary judgment, the Snohomish County Superior Court ruled that leave of Court is always required to add a new party after a responsive pleading has been filed, regardless of whether the amendment is sought by stipulation or by motion. Because the plaintiff failed to obtain leave of the Court to add the subcontractor as a party within the applicable statute of limitations, the plaintiff's claims against the subcontractor were time barred.
December 2010: Shareholders John Hayes and Marty Pujolar obtained summary judgment dismissal of plaintiff's coverage, bad faith, Consumer Protection Act, and Insurance Fair Conduct Act ("IFCA") claims in a thid-party insurance bad faith/coverage case in King County Superior Court. The court found that there was no coverage under the insurance policy issued by Forsberg & Umlauf's client, and that there was no basis for plaintiff's extra-contractual claims.
November 2010: Shareholder John Hayes and Senior Associate Paul Smith successfully appealed an order vacating the trial court's dismissal of an action for plaintiff's failure to participate in arbitration required by contract. After dismissing plaintiff's case originally, the trial court granted a subsequent motion by the plaintiff to vacate and set aside the dismissal order on the basis that the court no longer had subject matter jurisdiction once the case was stayed pending arbitration. The Washington State Court of Appeals held that the trial court retained jurisdiction at all times and affirmed the original dismissal, the first reported case to directly address this issue.
October 2010: The Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal of all claims against a framing subcontractor represented by Forsberg & Umlauf Shareholder Ray Cox and Attorney Christopher Matheson. The framer was one of a group of subcontractors sued by a developer of single-family homes for various construction defects. Mr. Matheson argued that the parties’ contract was partly oral in nature, triggering a shorter statute of limitations that barred the developer’s claims. The trial court agreed, dismissing all claims, and the developer appealed. After hearing, the Court of Appeals upheld the trial court’s decision. See Harbour Homes, Inc. v. America 1st Roofing & Builders, Inc. et al., 2010 WL 4159347 (Div. 1, 2010).
October 2010: Shareholder Carl Forsberg was named the WDTL (Washington Defense Trial Lawyers) "Defense Trial Lawyer of the Year" for 2010. Carl was in NY for an important client meeting that could not be rescheduled. Carl's wife Nancy and son Jack were in attendance and accepted on his behalf. Branden Stanley and Laura Mack (and others) helped make the Carl "stand-in figure." This is a huge honor and we are very proud of Carl's recognition!
October 2010: Shareholder Marty Pujolar briefed, argued and won summary judgment dismissal of plaintiff's bad faith and Consumer Protection Act claims in a third-party insurance bad faith/coverage case in King County Superior Court. The court granted Mr. Pujolar's summary judgment motion on the grounds that plaintiff's claims were precluded by plaintiff's misrepresentations in tendering and seeking coverage from Forsberg & Umlauf's client.
August 2010: Prior to arbitration, homeowners of a residential project demanded $1.4M from a siding subcontractor for alleged construction defects. Associate Christopher Matheson successfully negotiated settlement of their complex claims for $75,000. This case was complicated by the fact that it involved 14 separate homes and that construction occurred almost a decade ago. Mr. Matheson emphasized expert testimony concerning the reasonable construction practices for the time in question. By focusing on this issue and dispositive contract provisions, Mr. Matheson cast serious doubt on homeowners' chance of recovery and obtained a very favorable settlement outcome.
July 2010: Of Counsel William C. "Chris" Gibson obtained summary judgment dismissal of a plaintiff psychiatrist's suit against a private school for its staff members' comments on his parenting behavior to a court-appointed parental evaluator. Defamation, outrage, emotional distress and tortious interference claims were dismissed with prejudice.
July 2010: Shareholder James B. Meade achieved a defense verdict for his physician-client after a 7-day jury trial in Yakima County Superior Court in July 2010. The jury found the doctor was not negligent in prescribing propoxyphene to treat plaintiff’s chronic pain and that the plaintiff’s death resulted from an accidental overdose. The plaintiff's estate claimed that propoxyphene was contraindicated to treat the plaintiff's chronic pain where she had numerous pre-existing health/mental health problems. The jury concluded that the physician met the standard of care and rejected the estate's request for $1,000,000.
July 2010: Of Counsel William C. "Chris" Gibson successfully defeated a Summary Judgment Motion brought by an insurer in a declaratory judgment action against his client's employee wherein the insurer sought to terminate the defense of the client's employee in an underlying motor vehicle accident case and obtain a ruling that there was no coverage for damages sought in that action for the employee's alleged negligence. The court agreed with Mr. Gibson that a policy exclusion was ambiguous (and did not apply) and there had been no proof shown of any intent by the employee to deceive her insurer to negate coverage.
June 2010: Of Counsel William C. "Chris" Gibson obtained summary judgment dismissal of a neighbors' suit against his client asserting claims of malicious harassment, civil harassment, outrage and negligent infliction of emotional distress for the client's calls to a police department to complain about the behavior of one of the neighbors. The case was dismissed on the basis of the application of the Washington Anti-SLAPP statute (RCW 4.24.510) and a motion for attorneys' fees and statutory damages recoverable by the client is pending.
March 2010: Shareholder Roy Umlauf and associate Jeff Kestle won a defense verdict in a bankruptcy adversary trial. They defended an attorney against allegations of breach of fiduciary duty and Washington Consumer Protection Act violations in connection with the attorney's conduct as a deed of trust trustee.
March 2010: Shareholder Marty Pujolar obtained summary judgment dismissal of a condominium unit owner's claims against our clients for breach of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, alleged violations of the Washington Consumer Protection Act, and a claim for emotional distress allegedly arising from the collection of unpaid assessments.
January 2010: Carl Forsberg and Charles Albertson, in conjunction with their co-counsel, Hogan & Hartson, were granted summary judgment on three separate motions in a mining entrepreneur's claim for defense and indemnity coverage. (Robert M. Friedland v. Hartford Accident and Indemnity Co., No. 2008cv3509, Denver District Court, Colorado). The plaintiff had sought defense and indemnity coverage under excess CGL policies for approximately $20.5 million in indemnity costs and $28 million in defense costs related to his liability for the construction, operation and eventual abandonment of the Summitville Mine in southern Colorado. The trial court granted complete summary judgment dismissal of the case while adopting Hartford's arguments that (1) the plaintiff had already been made whole for the indemnity claim by settlements with other parties and insurers; (2) that Hartford had no duty under its policies to provide a defense to the plaintiff, or to reimburse him for his defense costs; and (3) that the plaintiff's claims were excluded by the pollution exclusions to the Hartford policies.
January 2010: Attorney Marty Pujolar became a Shareholder with Forsberg & Umlauf. Congratulations Marty!
December 2009: Ann McCormick obtained dismissal in Tribal Court of plaintiff’s wrongful termination and breach of contract claims against a local Indian tribe. The Tribe had not expressly waived Sovereign Immunity in the employment contract at issue. Therefore, there was no subject matter jurisdiction. The court agreed that, by the terms of the employment contract, plaintiff's sole remedy was to submit a written request to Tribal Council.
Roy Umlauf was awarded the Jack P. Scholfield Outstanding Achievement Award (a lifetime achievement award) by the Washington Defense Trial Lawyers (WDTL) in recognition of his loyalty, leadership and commitment to the civil defense trial bar.
October 2009: Roy Umlauf was awarded Target Corporation's Barrister of the Quarter.
