Deborah Chang

Deborah Chang, president of the Los Angeles Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates, built two law firms during the pandemic dedicated to advancing and inspiring women in the legal profession: Athea Trial Lawyers LLP, a national firm consisting of six of the most prominent and successful women trial lawyers in the country, and Chang Klein LLP, which obtained $25 million in settlements its first quarter.

In the last six months of the pandemic, Chang tried three trials in three different jurisdictions, all of which were settled after closing arguments, but the case she's preparing to fight for now is a tragic tale of the untimely death of a trailblazing young woman who fought for women's rights around the world.

Chang, along with Randi McGinn and Zoe Littlpage of Athea Trial Lawyers, is currently representing the family of a Esther Nakajjigo, who was decapitated by a gate at Utah's Arches National Park, in a case against the U.S. Park Service.

According to the lawsuit filed in Denver, the gate had been left unlocked and unlatched for two weeks before it struck Nakajjigo in June 2020. Michaud et al v. USA, Colo. 1:21-cv-01547-KLM (D. Colo., filed June 8, 2021).

On June 13, 2020, newlyweds Esther Nakajjigo and Ludovic Michaud were exiting Arches National Park when suddenly and without warning, an unsecured metal gate swung into their path of travel, piercing through their vehicle, beheading Nakajjigo.

"At that very moment when the couple were leaving the park, the gate, which is unlocked whenever the park is open, which is most of the time, was unsecured," Chang said. "It was also installed incorrectly, so it swung right into the stream of traffic instead of outward."

Chang described Nakajjigo who made significant sacrifices to better the lives of others.

"This was a woman who, at the time of the incident, was Uganda's Ambassador for women and girls. She was 25 years old and she came to the United States as an invited scholar to the Watkins Institute in Boulder, Colorado," Chang said. " ... At the age of 17 she gave up her school tuition money to start the Princess Diana Health Centre in Kampala because there was no hospital in her area. And she saw all the unwed mothers and children with no medical care and she used to meet them under a tree on her property to give them pamphlets and things from the healthcare center and then the healthcare center closed."

The case was recently transferred to the U.S. District Court of Utah and will be heard by a legend in the legal community, Senior Judge Bruce S. Jenkins, Chang said.

"We filed in Denver, in federal court, but the United States filed a motion to transfer, andthe transferred it to Utah," Chang said. "We were assigned to have Senior Judge Bruce Jenkins hear the case.

Due to the fact that this case is against the United States, it will be heard and decided by the bench rather than a jury.

Chang is the immediate Past President of the Consumer Attorneys of California, and was recently selected by Best Lawyers as the 2022 "Lawyer of the year" for Personal Injury Litigation Plaintiffs for the Los Angeles area.

- Douglas Saunders