Susan M. Holden

Our clients' 18-year-old son was leaning on the driver's side door of his 20-year-old friend's pick-up truck outside a bar where they had been drinking. The 18 year old was trying to convince his friend not to drive because he was drunk. However, the friend drove ahead, knocked down the 18-year-old and ran over his head, causing fatal injuries.

Our client's husband, a 33 year old plumber, died as a result of injuries sustained at a residential job site. An employee of one of the subcontractors was operating a back hoe digging a trench for the plumbing to be installed to the street. One wall of the trench collapsed covering the plumber while he was working in the trench. Workers on site were able to dig him out and he was rushed to the hospital and died three days later due to the effects of oxygen deprivation. He was survived by a spouse and young children and his death was an enormous loss for his family. Susan Holden settled this case with the excavation company for $960,000.

Our client, an eleven year old boy, was seriously injured while riding up an escalator at a department store. The boy was riding up the escalator with his mother when his foot became caught between two steps near the top. He was unable to pull his foot free before it was forced under the comb plate at the top platform. The escalator continued running causing crush injuries to three toes and other crush damage and lacerations to his foot.

This case arose out of an automobile collision that occurred at an intersection when a driver ran a stop sign and broadsided a vehicle operated by our 38 year old client. She suffered serious injuries, pelvic fractures and a femur fracture that required surgery. Her facial injuries were repaired and reconstructed by a plastic surgeon but at the time of trial she still had facial disfigurement and needed further surgery.

This fatal automobile/bicycle collision occurred at an intersection in Plymouth, MN. Our client, an active 88 year old, was riding his bicycle westbound in the crosswalk when he was struck broadside by a vehicle traveling south.  The driver apparently did not see our client crossing at the intersection, though our client, in fact, crossed several lanes of traffic before being hit. An eye witness, who was traveling directly behind the at-fault driver indicated he could clearly see our client riding slowly across the intersection and observed that the at-fault driver did not slow down, apply her brakes, or take any evasive action before striking the bicyclist. Our client died as a result of his injuries.

After heavy drinking at a downtown St. Paul bar, a man stumbled to his car (.32 blood alcohol level) and roared out of his parking spot along a city street. He ran a red light at the end of the block and hit an MTC bus driven by our client, forcing the bus to crash into a building. The MTC driver suffered severe injuries that left her with permanent disabilities. Ironically, the entire accident was caught on film by the bus stop security camera nearby.

A wrongful death action arose out of a two vehicle collision at the intersection of two highways in rural Minnesota. Our client's son, a 17 year old rear seat passenger in one of the vehicles, was fatally injured. Susan Holden represented the surviving father and three surviving younger brothers.

Our client's 28 year old husband was tragically killed when his vehicle collided with a train at a crossing in suburban Twin Cities. He was survived by his young wife and children, and his death was an enormous loss for his family.

A 49 year old woman fell at a retail store and suffered back injuries that necessitated surgery on her low back. Our client had undergone three prior fusion surgeries to her low back before this incident. She was recovering from the third surgery when she fell at the store and aggravated the healing fusion. She lost 15 months of work, incurred substantial medical treatment expenses for a fourth surgery, and suffered permanent disability which her treating surgeon related to the aggravation of her prior condition caused in this incident.

Our clients’ family members were both killed when their motorcycle was struck head-on by a distracted teen driver whose pickup truck crossed the center line while the truck driver was texting.