Paul K. Downes

A 26-year-old man was out for a motorcycle ride when a commercial van took a left in front of him on a green light. Our client suffered multiple fractures to his lower leg, a shoulder injury, and “road rash.” The leg injury required several surgeries, but they were unsuccessful in healing the fractures. Unfortunately, one year later, the client underwent an amputation of his lower leg.

A former football player with the Nebraska Cornhuskers was awarded $2 million by a Hennepin County jury for injuries he suffered during an attack at a bar in the Minneapolis Warehouse District. Our client, 28, a high school all-American and a tight end with the national champion Cornhuskers from 1995 to 1998, lost the vision in his right eye after he and several friends were attacked outside of Banana Joe's.

A semi with two SUVs behind it were stopped for a red light at an intersection. A dump truck approached from behind and failed to stop, crashed into the vehicles, smashing the two SUVs into the back end of the semi. The driver of the dump truck claimed that the sun was in his eyes and he didn’t see the vehicles stopped ahead of him. Our client was in one of the two SUVs crushed between the two trucks.

Our client and her husband were out for their routine morning walk in early September. They took the same route almost every morning for the past six years. It was just before dawn and they were walking toward traffic as the law requires them to do. The shoulder was 8 feet wide and paved. At that same time, a young man was riding his bicycle as part of his morning workout routine and was traveling with traffic, as required by law. Unfortunately, the bicyclist did not see our client walking and he crashed head on into her. The force of the impact threw our client 10-15 feet backwards and the bicyclist ended up in the ditch. Our client was taken to Regions Hospital by ambulance and the bicyclist was cited for failure to yield to a pedestrian and for not having a light on his bicycle.

Our client was a 9 year old girl who was riding in a vehicle driven by her sister.  She lost control of the vehicle on a gravel road and the vehicle rolled over.  Our client was thrown from the vehicle.  She was airlifted from the scene to the hospital and was hospitalized for 8 days.  She received multiple fractures to her face, jaw, mouth, ribs and arm.  She underwent 3 separate surgical procedures and her doctors predict she will require future surgery.  She also has extensive scarring that will require plastic surgery.  Her medical bills exceeded $146,000.

Our client, a 7 year-old passenger, was in her father's vehicle when it was struck by a vehicle headed in the opposite direction driven by a teenager. The teenage driver and her two teenage passengers were killed as a result of the collision. Our client received a skull fracture, traumatic brain injury and other internal injuries. She was hospitalized for a month.

Our client was involved in a devastating automobile collision. Another driver crossed the center line into oncoming traffic, directly in front of our client's vehicle. Our client had no time to react and the two vehicles collided. The force of the impact also pushed our client's vehicle into the guardrail on the right hand side. The damage to our client's Ford Escape was horrific. He was struck in the driver's side door, directly where he was seated. He was pinned in his vehicle and had to be extracted by the fire department. Due to the severity of his injuries, the highway was closed and our client was airlifted from the scene.

Our client, 46 years old man, was seriously injured when he was thrown out of a 16' fishing boat being driven by his friend while they were on a fishing trip in Canada. Our client was then run over by the propeller and suffered serious injuries and scarring to his head, face, mouth, shoulder and hand. 

Our client was in Indiana on business traveling on a freeway when she was rear-ended and pushed into a concrete median by a semi. The semi continued down the highway and collided with another semi before stopping.

Our client was enjoying Mother's Day at a home with a self-built deck when the railing he was leaning on gave way. He fell 15-20 feet crashing to the ground. He landed on his back and was struck in the head by a 4x4 wooden post. Thankfully, he did not suffer paralysis due to the fall.

Paul Downes represented a man who had a longstanding degenerative hip condition so his doctor recommended a hip replacement. Our client had his first hip replacement on the left side done in May 2001. He continued to experience extreme pain through the hip and groin area. For the first few months, he thought he was just slowly healing but the pain continued for at least 1.5 years. His doctor continued to tell him that he would have to live with the ongoing pain.

Our client was a school bus driver who was involved in a very tragic accident. A 16 year old boy lost control of his vehicle and crossed into the bus's lane of traffic. After first hitting a pick-up truck, the boy's vehicle was directly in front of our client's school bus and he had no option to avoid the collision. As a result, the school bus broadsided the boy's vehicle. The 16 year old driver was killed in the accident and his 15 year old brother was severely injured.

Our client was working for the Ramsey County Construction Department driving a "peanut roller." It is a large machine, yellow in color, with two round drums that are driven over freshly laid asphalt to help flatten and smooth the asphalt. Our client was operating the peanut roller at an intersection in Roseville. In addition to the yellow peanut roller, our client was wearing a fluorescent yellow safety vest and there were numerous orange cones, other construction equipment and a flashing yellow sign in the area.

A vehicle was traveling the same direction as our client in the lane to her left. That vehicle suddenly attempted to make a right turn right in front of our client, causing a collision and pushing our client's vehicle into a third vehicle. As a result of the double collision, our client received injuries to her neck and back and re-injured her shoulder which she had received treatment for prior to the crash. She ultimately underwent surgery for a tear in her shoulder. Her medical expenses exceeded $55,000.

Many Minnesotans remember the sad news from downtown St. Cloud, Minnesota, when a gas line explosion in December 1998 leveled an entire city block and killed four people, injuring 15. According to federal investigators, construction workers drilling an anchor into the ground to brace a utility pole punctured a plastic natural-gas pipe, causing the leak that led to the explosion.

Our 12-year-old client was a passenger on a Jet Ski on that was struck by a boat driven by a minor. The impact was significant. The driver of the Jet Ski was killed instantly. During the collision, our client was thrown from the jet ski and knocked unconscious. Our client sustained serious and permanent injuries from this incident to her head, spleen, kidney, ribs and legs. In addition, she suffered from psychological trauma.

Our client, an 11 year-old girl, was hospitalized for over a month after becoming ill with E.coli poisoning from eating a contaminated hamburger. The hamburger was linked to an E.coli outbreak that led Cargill Meat Solutions to recall 845,000 pounds of frozen hamburger patties in 2007. The pre-formed hamburger patties were bought at Sam's Club and grilled at home. Within two days, our client became sick with stomach cramps, nausea and severe diarrhea. After she became sick, the meat was turned over to the Minnesota Department of Health, which found it contaminated with E.coli.