Turner et al. v. Parachute Center Inc. et al.

Negligence

San Joaquin County

Superior Court Judge Barbara A. Kronlund

$40 Million

Plaintiffs Attorneys: Caputo & Van Der Walde Llp, Paul D. Van Der Walde

Defense Attorneys: Pro Per

Paul Van Der Walde

More than twenty people have died in parachuting accidents while jumping at the Parachute Center in Lodi, attorney Paul D. Van Der Walde said, but no one had successfully sued the company or its owner. That is, until last May, when Van Der Walde won $40 million for the parents of an 18-year-old new high school graduate whose chute didn't open during a tandem jump in 2016.

And Van Der Walde, of Caputo & Van Der Walde, landed the verdict not after a long jury trial, but with a default prove-up to a judge lasting less than a day. Turner v. Parachute Center Inc., STK-CV-UPI-2018-0002192 (San Joaquin Super. Ct., filed Feb. 23, 2018)

Tyler Turner's parents bought their son the jump as a birthday present. He was paired with a young man from South Korea, Yong Kwon, who only recently had begun working as a tandem instructor. Video taken by a cameraman jumping with them appears to show Kwon struggling to deploy the emergency chute without first opening or jettisoning the main chute. The pair plunged 13,000 feet as Tyler's family watched.

Although the trial was short, Van Der Walde spent four years advocating for the parents. The parachute center has been operating in Lodi under various names for several decades, the lawyer said. When there is an accident, the owner, William Dause, simply "litigates and obfuscates," he said.

"All they do is go out of business under one [name] and open up, without stopping business, under a new name."

Van Der Walde said he litigated the case until mid-2019 when the corporation that owned the center changed its name and its attorney, Kurt H. Siebert, moved to be relieved as counsel. Since a corporation cannot litigate without an attorney, Van Der Walde could no longer conduct discovery.

"That was their strategy, but it fully backfired," he said. Instead, Van Der Walde filed for a default against the corporation and allege that Dause was the company's alter ego under all its names.

At the trial, "all I did was prove up that he was the alter ego of [the corporation] and what the damages were," he said. "So I kind of outflanked him."

In an order, Judge Barbara A. Kronlund declared Dause is responsible for their entire judgment.

In an email asking about the verdict, Dause said that all of Van Der Walde's accusations "are misleading, untrue, totally false and misinformation." He noted that young Turner had signed a release, that allegations that Kwon was poorly trained were never proven and that after an FBI raid, a federal grand jury "found no fault with the Center or myself."

But after several years "of watching the Attorney for the Turner Family tap dance around the Courtroom, the Corporation as well as I myself simply ran out of money," Dause wrote.

Van Der Walde said he has engaged a collection agency to pursue Dause and his center's assets.

- Don DeBenedictis