Cortney LeNeave, of Hunegs, LeNeave & Kvas, P.A., has been named by Minnesota Lawyer magazine as one of the Attorneys of the Year for his outstanding work in connection with several recent cases.
In October of 2017 LeNeave obtained one of the largest verdicts in the history of the state of Minnesota with a $12.6 million dollar verdict for a 32 year old Duluth man who suffered a serious brain injury when a construction company was found overloading dump trucks leaving their construction site. The defendant, Viet Corporation from Rogers Minnesota was held accountable for their reckless and negligent acts and will be paying for the damages they caused to the young man.
In January of 2017 LeNeave and his team of lawyers, including Thomas Fuller, were affirmed by the Minnesota Court of Appeals in a case involving a railroad conductor who suffered a serious back injury that disabled him from his job at BNSF railroad. The jury awarded the employee $4.49 million dollars because of the neglect of the railroad in failing to maintain its equipment and the devastating injuries suffered by the former Minnesota National Guard soldier. This is one of the largest verdicts obtained for a railroad worker. LeNeave notes the amount was more than justified by the nature of the injury and the lifetime losses the employee had suffered.
Just recently, LeNeave obtained a confidential settlement for a conductor who suffered serious injuries when he was required to get off a locomotive in a dark unlit area in the middle of Wisconsin to perform an inspection of a train passing at high speeds. LeNeave hired a top notch group of experts to prove the railroad failed to follow reasonable safety measures to minimize the risk of injury, including failing to allow the employee to conduct the inspection from the safety of the locomotive, as other railroads allow, and failing to have safe ground conditions if the railroad chooses to force the employees out of the safety of the cab.
Cortney LeNeave served as co-counsel in a record setting verdict of $27.6 million dollars in a recent products liability claim against Lycoming Engines, a division of Textron corporation. The case involved a defect in a fuel pump from the manufacturing process, as a result the engine lost power no crashed. The pilot was paralyzed on the left side of his body as a result of a serious brain injury. He has been unable to work in his job as the president of a startup tech company that was performing very well prior to his injury. The pilot will require a lifetime of medical care.
