Jeffrey M. Montpetit

United States District Court Judge Richard H. Kyle approved a landmark settlement in a class action stemming from a TB outbreak at the Ramsey County Correctional Facility.

A construction laborer was working in an elevator shaft doing asbestos remediation.  A co-worker cut a hydraulic line, which was not properly labeled, causing the elevator to descend and crush the laborer working in the shaft. The young man was married with four children. With the use of expert testimony, we were able to establish that the general contractor's negligence caused the laborer's death. The general contractor failed to secure the elevator prior to the work being performed as well as label the hydraulic lines.  Jeffrey Montpetit settled the claim just prior to trial for $1.5 million.

Our client left her daughter with a trusted daycare provider. While in the facility, one of the providers touched our client inappropriately. Jeffrey Montpetit pursued the daycare provider and the assailant, successfully obtaining a $1,000,000 judgment against them both.

Our client was working on a construction site performing electrical work. While on the third floor of the construction site, he fell from an unguarded opening and broke his back.

A teenage girl was a passenger in a vehicle driven by her mother. The vehicle was traveling northbound on Highway 13 when it was rear-ended by another vehicle. The impact forced the mother and daughter into the southbound lane where it was struck again by a well-drilling truck transporting metal well drilling pipes. Seven or eight pipes extended above and beyond the forward plate of the trough and were secured with only a piece of electrical wire. One of the pipes struck the teenage girl through the windshield and killed her.

We represented the family of a female detainee for various claims against the Waseca County Jail.  The female detainee was taken into custody following a probation violation whereupon she was taken to the jail.  She was placed in a “holding room” and simply held there until she could be transferred to a female facility.  She was not booked, screened or evaluated by jail staff or jail medical staff at any time, nor did they take her shoe laces. 

Our client was out for a nice Sunday drive on his motorcycle when an elderly gentleman made an illegal u-turn, striking the motorcycle and knocking the rider to the ground. Our client suffered a broken hip, knee and ankle that resulted in two orthopedic surgeries, a week in the hospital and a lifetime of pain and disability.

Our client was 18 years old and went hunting with a friend in northern Minnesota. While walking through the woods, the friend shot our client with a .20 gauge shot gun in the left lower extremity, causing a severe wound to the foot and ankle that ultimately required multiple surgeries. The friend claimed the weapon accidentally discharged, but through the use of ballistics experts and firearm safety experts, Jeffrey Montpetit proved that the friend used the weapon improperly and not according to accepted safe hunting standards.

Our client sustained a broken heel while at work. During the initial surgery to repair the heel, which was very successful, a drain was placed in the client’s foot to minimize the possibility of infection. The drain should have been removed in two to three days. However, our client was told to come back for a follow up in 14 days and leave the dressing undisturbed on his written discharge instructions. The client’s doctor admitted that his original discharge orders were wrong but argued that he told the nurses and our client that a two- to three-day follow-up was needed. Yet, none of the doctor’s records reflected this alleged verbal order. A nurse also testified that if something had changed, she would have amended the patient’s chart.

Our client was riding his motorcycle on a nice sunny day south of the Twin Cities when an elderly woman failed to yield right-of-way striking the motorcycle. Our client suffered a broken hip, wrist and head injuries. The hip and wrist required surgery and a lengthy hospital stay. The client made an excellent recovery. Jeffrey Montpetit settled the case pre-litigation for $325,000.

Our client was the victim of a double car accident. A father and son were traveling on Interstate 35 when a woman coming the opposite direction went off onto the shoulder, over-corrected and slammed into our client's vehicle. A witness reported that the woman had been driving over 100 mph and was talking on her cell phone prior to the collision. Our client's vehicle came to rest in the traffic lane of Interstate 35 and the woman's vehicle went into the ditch.

Our clients were the mother, wife and two sons of a man killed in a snowmobile accident after being over served at a sports bar. Even though the man was intoxicated when he ordered drinks, the bar staff continued to serve him. The man, after being allowed to leave the bar obviously intoxicated, sustained fatal injuries when he hit a fire hydrant with his snowmobile on the way home.

Our client's husband was driving home from work and was within blocks from their home in Richfield when another vehicle failed to yield the right of way at an intersection and caused a collision. The collision was the result of negligence and carelessness on the part of the other driver. At the time of the collision, he was legally intoxicated, with a blood alcohol content of .16, was traveling 44 mph in a 30 mph zone, and failed to yield the right of way at the intersection.  The result, two young boys, ages 8 and 9, lost their father.

Our client was wrongfully denied no-fault benefits from her insurance company. She was the passenger in a vehicle involved in a head-on collision when the driver attempted to pass a slower vehicle. The driver of her vehicle was killed as a result of the accident and our client sustained significant injuries.

Our client went to a Twin Cities mall with her husband to see a movie. Upon returning to their vehicle, at night and in the dark, our client stepped in a water valve shut off that was missing its cap in the parking lot. This resulted in a severely fractured ankle, necessitating multiple surgeries and ultimately an ankle fusion.

Our client's son was a 19-year-old man who was arrested for DWI. After he was booked, given an alcohol breath test at the county jail and placed in his holding cell, he was left alone and unobserved for nearly two hours.

Dogs are great companions and friends...a part of the family. But every year, thousands of people are killed or injured in dog attacks-and the most common victims are children, who often suffer significant facial disfigurement.