16 Wednesday, August 12, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon ATTORNEY: Pilot was hit by toxic fumes in plane cockpit Continued from page 1 that ended his flying career and left him with significant debility. After years of workers9 compensation litigation with JetBlue9s insurer, AIG 4 Chartis Claims, Inc., Sisters attorney Glen Lasken pre- vailed on behalf of his cli- ent. Administrative Law judge Darren Otto ordered on July 31 that claim deni- als and closures be set aside or overturned, and awarded attorney9s fees and costs to Lasken. Lasken summed up the immediate result for his client: <It means he has a via- ble workers9 compensation claim,= Lasken said. That will translate into hundreds of thousands of dollars in benefits over a period of years. Lasken sees the outcome as a modicum of justice for a man whose career and active way of life were derailed due to the workplace incident. <He9s permanently dis- abled; he9ll never fly again,= Lasken said. <He was a gonzo athlete 4 he can9t do any of that now. His quality of life has been taken from him.= In his arguments before the court, Lasken starkly laid out the stakes for his client: <Once again, this is not a back strain. This is a career-ending, brain dam- age injury to somebody who had an extremely high salary and a valuable career. Short of a death case, it is hard to imagine that there could be a higher value of inter- est than in the present mat- ter. Everything is at stake for Captain Myers. His claim is denied, his financial and medical benefits are cut off and all of his actual condi- tions are denied.= According to Lasken, AIG had initially offered a settlement of $70,000, which Myers declined to accept. He $ 10 OFF parted with his attorney in Portland and sought Lasken out to litigate the case. It was a big decision for the Sisters attorney. He knew it was the biggest case he had ever taken, and that he would be going up against an adversary with tremendous legal and financial resources at their disposal. <I had to make the deci- sion whether I was willing to go all in or not,= Lasken told The Nugget. <And I was. This was such a good man and such a grave injustice to be righted.= The case was enormously complex, which Judge Otto acknowledged in his July 31 orders: <There is little doubt that the medical and legal posture of this case made it extraordinarily complex. The evidentiary record was enormous. The scientific explanations regarding air- plane toxic fume exposures were highly technical and frequently not in agreement. The expert medical opinions were lengthy and, at times, diametrically opposed. In addition, the case has been in litigation for three years and part of the record included more than seventy years and thousands of pages of research articles.= Lasken brought in scien- tific experts from across the PHOTO PROVIDED Andrew K. Myers was an airline pilot until exposure to toxic fumes in an airplane left him with serious, ongoing medical problems. DOT & FAA PHYSICALS country 4 and from across the Atlantic. Dr. Susan Michaelis, a global aviation accident investigator, was flown in from the UK for a hearing in March 4 just before the coronavirus pan- demic shut down travel. A full grasp of the science of the means and effects of toxic exposure was key to Lasken9s case. <I thought the science was on our side, and it was evolving,= Lasken said. The demands of the case were tremendous, particu- larly since this complex matter was only one among many cases Lasken9s prac- tice had to manage at the same time. <A lot of people told me I was crazy to take the indus- try on by myself,= he said. <It9s a validation, if you will, of my ability to try a case this complex. And, I have to say, I couldn9t have done it without (assistant) Wendy Rullman.= The Nugget reached out for comment to JetBlue and AIG9s attorney Matthey M. Fisher, but did not hear back by press time. Lasken said, <I have praise for him and his law firm. It was an ethical fight. Basically, it was a clean fight.= Lasken takes great satis- faction in prevailing in that battle. <There was this feeling of trying to achieve a just cause that will affect Captain Myers and hundreds of other people across the world,= he said. The Sisters attorney believes that the case 4 and the science upon which it was based 4 will have a broad effect on the airline industry and the safety of airplane design around man- aging the risk from toxic chemical fumes. That is the biggest hope for Myers9 wife Wendy as well. <Something has to be done; something has to change,= she told The PHOTO BY JIM CORNELIUS Sisters attorney Glen Lasken, with assistant Wendy Rullman, part-time assistant Karissa Hester, and Lasken’s papillon Mariposa, sat down in Lasken’s COVID-safe “outdoor office” for an interview last week. Nugget. She noted that the work- ers9 comp case will help with medical bills going forward, but said the main reason for the hard fight for the out- come was to help others. <The biggest impact is a ruling that supports this problem,= she said. <Maybe it will start to shed light on this problem so that it can be fixed.= That9s a significant mark for a small workers9 compen- sation practice based in Bend and Sisters. And Lasken acknowledges that he paid a price in making it. <It took a toll on me to manage this,= he said. The attorney doesn9t have time to rest on his laurels just yet. He9s got other cases to work, and, he said, <I9ve got a couple of years till I retire.= He does plan to reward himself for a job well done, though. <I9m going to get a kayak,= he said. <I9ve been wanting to do that.= & S ONS E K A L B CLEANING SERVICES Windows • Screens • Gu ers Residential, Rentals & Commercial Cleaning Free Estimates! Call or text Jeff Blake at 541-420-3020 •I﹐L&B Hope for a child. Change for a nation. Conie Miracle is an 8-year-old girl whose father passed away, leaving her mother to care for the children on her own. Conie dreams of becoming a nurse. Sponsor Conie today at HopeAfricaKids.com WALK IN OR SCHEDULE YOUR APPT. TODAY! Your monthly gift of $39 will provide Conie with school fees, uniforms, shoes, food, medical care, and the hope that is found only in Jesus Christ. 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