$2.1 Million Laura Small Case

1993 – LAURA SMALL CASE

In one of the firm’s first landmark cases, Wylie Aitken zealously represented five-year-old Laura Small who was violently mauled by a mountain lion at a county park.

At only five-years old, Laura was blinded in her right eye, suffered brain damage and was left partially paralyzed after a cougar seized Laura’s head in its mouth and viciously shook her body in front of her horrified mother.

After a five-week trial, a jury awarded the child $2.1 million in damages determining that the county was negligent in failing to protect her. The Board of Supervisors voted to appeal the verdict a month later, but after two years, the county board finally dropped the opposition.

RESULT: A jury verdict of $2.1 million.