Our Defense Practice

Yunker & Schneider has successfully defended major companies faced with frequent lawsuits, local businesses threatened by a significant claim, competent professionals sued for malpractice, and many other individuals caught up in litigation against their will. We understand and work hard to reduce the immense burdens put on our clients - financially, administratively, and personally - by a prolonged lawsuit.

We vigorously defend our clients, but we never lose sight of the costs and risks involved. Our goal is to resolve each case as quickly and efficiently as possible, and on terms welcomed by our clients. However, if a case cannot be settled favorably, we will confidently go to trial with an approach carefully designed to minimize exposure and maximize every chance of a defense verdict.


Representative Defense Cases:
Premises liability cases involving hotels, restaurants, resorts, nightclubs, and apartment buildings.
Professional malpractice cases involving attorneys, engineers, nursing home staff, and escrow officers.
Product liability cases involving automobiles, exercise equipment, engine hoses, and paint containers.
Warranty cases involving vehicles, tract housing, computer software, livestock, and property boundaries.
Business cases involving contracts, franchises, distributorships, maquiladoras, insurance coverage disputes, and wrongful terminations.
Construction Defect cases involving large tract developments, single family custom homes, condominium units, and parking structures.

Significant Defense Cases Handled By Our Partners:
A management consulting company was kept out of a nationwide lawsuit that ultimately settled for over $600 million based on the mismanagement and closure of a nuclear power plant.
A pipe manufacturer was dismissed on summary judgment from a massive construction defect case seeking $50 million to repair leaking city water pipes.
A ship owner won a defense jury verdict against two crewmen claiming over $2 million because they were forced off the ship onto a remote island after refusing to do extra work.
A criminal defense lawyer won a defense jury verdict against a former client seeking $2 million for legal malpractice. The client had been convicted and imprisoned two years for rape, but the conviction was reversed on appeal due to "ineffective assistance" by the lawyer.
A lawyer and her non-profit agency were dismissed on demurrer from a lawsuit seeking over $1 million for allegedly organizing an illegal farmworker strike. The dismissal was upheld on appeal.
A hotel builder settled a wrongful death case seeking over $1 million by purchasing an annuity worth only about $80,000 for the family of a skilled worker killed by an elevator.
A truck owner won a defense jury verdict against three seriously injured pedestrians struck by the truck after it was loaned to an unlicensed and underage driver.
A health club owner settled a patron's personal injury case for only $5,000 after the patron broke his neck and claimed over $200,000 in medical expenses due to a defective exercise machine.
A hotel won a defense jury verdict against a woman claiming $150,000 for injuries sustained when she fell from an elevator that was stuck between two floors.
A gas station owner won an insurance coverage dispute by forcing his insurers to defend him in a costly water pollution case. The insurers first denied coverage, but later paid the cost of defense, the settlement, and $230,000 to the owner.
A motorhome dealer won a bench trial against customers claiming that the dealer had fraudulently misrepresented the condition and history of a $60,000 coach.
A hotel settled out of a mass tort case by paying only $60,000 despite being the original "target defendant." The case involved a hepatitis outbreak infecting twenty-five hotel guests, and later settled for over $600,000 paid by other defendants.
An apartment building owner settled a tenant's personal injury case seeking over $100,000 by paying only $7,500, even though the tenant claimed permanent brain damage caused by a leaky gas stove.
A civil engineering firm settled out of a major construction defect case after three weeks of trial by paying only $25,000, which was less than the remaining cost of defense. That same firm has been dismissed out of three other similar cases without any payment.
Two hotels were dismissed on summary judgment from two different lawsuits alleging exposure to AIDS. Once case involved a child who claimed he sat on a syringe left in his room, and the other case involved a woman who claimed she ate food contaminated by human blood.
A hotel settled a crooked supplier's claim for over $125,000 by paying only $18,000, even though the supplier had receipts signed by the hotel's chief engineer for the full amount claimed.