Case results

DRZ represented a business owner who had an office built in Overland Park, Kansas. The construction did not go as planned. From the beginning, water leaked into the building. DRZ’s client needed the space to be dry so he could build out the interior and expand his business. Finally, an engineering company inspected the building and promised it could make the building dry. It did not. Water continued to come in to the building. But the engineering company gave up on the project. It took a jury only 45 minutes to award every penny DRZ’s client asked for to repair the building and recover years of lost income.

DRZ represented a mother whose son had died by suicide. The young man began to express himself by wearing customary symbols or items of clothing representing his Jewish religion. The young man’s religious identity and beliefs did not match those of the other students or administrators in this smaller, rural community. Other students began to constantly harass the young man, including painting anti-Semitic symbols on the school building and sidewalks. School administrators did little to assist the young man or stop the harassment, which continued over a long period of time. His mother repeatedly went to the school to ask for help because she could not be at the school to protect him. Ultimately, his mother decided to file suit in order to tell his story. She obtained a settlement that will enable her to start an organization to educate people that such harassment has very real consequences for children.

DRZ represented a brave whistleblower who reported incidents of sexual assault by adults against children being held in a juvenile detention facility. The boys were in the juvenile justice system, and they also received schooling inside the facility. Our client was a detention officer who began to observe that certain female officers were acting inappropriately around the boys, such as resting their hands on a thigh or pushing up against them. She began to ask questions and found that some of the boys confided that the behavior went beyond the inappropriate touching that she had observed. After reporting her observations and asking questions, she began to experience harassment from the involved individuals and suddenly began receiving discipline write-ups. Despite being accused of being a liar, her deposition performance and information obtained through discovery, resulted in a significant settlement for her.

DRZ represented a young woman sexually assaulted by an older, male student on a school bus. The students were on a school-sponsored trip. The young woman was an exceptional student and athlete at her school. The male student had a known history of inappropriate physical and verbal behavior toward other female students. The young woman and her parents had no idea that he was a potential danger. The school district left the male student unsupervised. He attacked and assaulted her on a school bus while she was sleeping. Her presence and her parents tenacity to support her resulted in an early resolution of her case.

DRZ represented a young woman who was sexually assaulted in the bathroom at her school in a rural area of Kansas. Throughout her life this young woman was a victor against the odds. Her parents struggled with their own issues, leaving her to effectively raise herself. After a male student trapped and sexually assaulted her, she found herself an outcast at school. She was subjected to ridicule and open gossip by the male student’s friends. Ultimately, she withdrew from the school and moved herself out of town, before completing her high school education outside the district. She did not allow the trauma to destroy her. After finishing high school, she took jobs taking care of a critically injured person and then children at a daycare. She worked through her fear and doubt to tell her own story.

DRZ represented the mother of a young man who died of exertional heatstroke during a football practice. The promising young athlete was at his first day of college football practice. This young athlete was eager to prove his desire to play to the coaching staff. But practice started on a hot day, and the coaching staff put the players through a rigorous conditioning regimen. The young man’s body temperature spiked, and he began to suffer from exertional heatstroke. Tragically, there were no people responsible for the health of the young athlete who recognized and helped him recover from this treatable condition. His mother would not give up on her son. She brought national attention to the preventable tragedy of exertional heatstroke. She also preserved and told her son’s story beautifully.

A father and his son approached DRZ Law to represent student them against a private military school. Another student at the military school has sexually assaulted our client in his dorm at night. The perpetrator had a history of incidents prior to enrolling at the school and as a student at the school. Following a week-long trial, the arbitrator ruled that the school was liable for intentional failure to supervise and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The arbitrator further ruled that the school’s foundation fund was equally responsible to compensate the child for his emotional injuries suffered at the school.

Amother and her daughter contacted DRZ because a teacher physically assaulted the child. The assault occurred in a public elementary school classroom. DRZ filed suit against the public school and teacher for violation of the child’s Constitutional rights and for infliction of emotional distress. After extensive briefing to the court regarding Constitutional and immunity issues, the child received a confidential settlement.

A family reached out to DRZ because a student at a private school had been sexually assaulted by other students. The perpetrators physically held down the student and sexually assaulted him with a physical device. The school initially declined to answer the family’s questions about what occurred and how it could have happened. DRZ became involved and then the school indicated it wanted to settle the case. Following a mediation, the child received a confidential settlement.

Several minority college students contacted DRZ after suffering discrimination on the basis of their race. The students enrolled at a private college on basketball scholarships. Nearly immediately they began to be subject to discriminatory comments and mistreatment on the basis of their race, including being punished for actions when white students were not. DRZ filed suit for violation of federal civil rights laws. The case quickly settled to the benefit of the students.

DRZ represented a family against a private day care facility. A teaching aide at the day care center had sexually assaulted the young boy by taking him to rooms without other supervision. DRZ brought suit against the worker and against the day care center for failing to supervise the worker, particularly following prior behavior that put the center on notice. Following a week-long trial, the child received a confidential settlement.

Male students and their parents approached DRZ to help them get a school district to respond to repeated attacks. A larger student was repeatedly sexually assaulting other male students in the locker room and hallways. The school district claimed to be unaware, despite warnings from other students about the perpetrator. DRZ filed suit against the school district for violation of the students’ constitutional rights and infliction of emotional distress. The school district quickly agreed to compensate the students to settle the lawsuit.

DRZ represented a mother and her daughter after the student was sexually assaulted in a school bathroom. School employees and security failed to adequately monitor school grounds and even failed to take immediate action when noticing signs that the assault was occurring. The school waited a lengthy time before contacting the student’s mother and even suspended the student. Ultimately the school reached a confidential settlement with the student.

DRZ represented a local business in an international arbitration against a company located in the United Arab Emirates. The UAE company hired our client to custom build a fleet of vehicles in the UAE. The UAE company then refused to pay, threatened the safety of our client while working in the country, and attempted to disassemble the vehicles to reverse engineer the design. DRZ tried the case before an arbitrator appointed by the International Chamber of Commerce and prevailed on behalf of our client. Chalmers Automotive v. SafeCage Armour Works FZ (International Chamber of Commerce).

DRZ represented a Kansas family in a lawsuit against business partner in a joint venture to farm a large tract of cropland. DRZ’s client agreed to invest and share the profits in an enterprise to farm land located in Montana. Instead, income to the business was not being shared and was being concealed. After a week-long trial, DRZ’s client obtained a jury verdict for fraud against his former business partner. The business partner then attempted to appeal the jury verdict, but the appellate court agreed with the jury’s verdict.

DRZ represent homeowners against a builder who constructed home in soil heavily saturated with water. The soil saturation led to heaving and differential settlement of the foundation. The shifting foundation damaged the interior and exterior of home, including extensive drywall cracking, uneven floors, broken façade, and warped roof. The home requires foundation piering and extensive repairs. DRZ filed suit for violation of consumer laws and claims related to the defective construction.

Condominium owners sued the general contractor and subcontractors involved in the construction of a multi-building condominium complex. There were multiple issues with water infiltrating the external decking resulting in wood rot, and other issues. The case involved numerous parties involved in the construction along with numerous owners of the condominiums. After an extended litigation and numerous site visits, the case settled.

A Kansas school district agreed to settle a case involving a then 16 year-old student. Following the student’s graduation, a federal lawsuit was filed in 2020 for the district’s “deliberate indifference” in handling the sexual abuse from a high school teacher. With DRZ’s representation, the school district agreed to pay $800,000 to the victim – $300,000 more than the cap for a tort claim against the government.