Law Firm Overview

The goal of Jeffrey A. Haas has been to help victims of traumatic, catastrophic events. Since 1975, he has been committed to obtaining outstanding results for his clients, which have included hundreds of successful settlements and verdicts.

Mr. Haas has represented victims of personal injury including those injured by medical malpractice. Failure to diagnose, birth injuries, prescription errors, and other serious medical Injuries and wrongful death are more prevalent in our society than the medical institutions admit. Victims of medical errors and neglect deserve an attorney who is capable and loyal, one willing to take on the entrenched medical and insurance defense industry.

Mr. Haas has represented victims of motor vehicle accidents including those injured or killed in auto, bus, truck, scooter, recreational vehicle and train wrecks caused by negligence or a defect in the vehicle. He has represented victims of industrial accidents and premises liability, employment discrimination, civil rights violations and legal malpractice.

Litigation has taken Mr. Haas to many of the United States, England and Guyana. He has tried cases in the federal courts of California, Washington and Alaska and the state courts of California and Alaska.

Jeff Haas was born in Portland, Oregon in 1946. He grew up in North Bend, a small lumber town on the Oregon coast. During the summers, Mr. Haas worked as a logger and truck driver for a small gypo logging outfit and as a cowboy on a remote cattle ranch.

In 1964, Mr. Haas received a congressional nomination for an appointment to the United States Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, New York. Mr. Haas graduated from Kings Point in 1968 where he was commissioned as an. Ensign in the United States Navy and awarded a Third Officer's maritime license by the United Stales Coast Guard. As a first class midshipman, he was elected co-captain of the collegiately ranked Kings Point swimming team. Mr. Haas completed his military obligation going to sea as a Second Officer and Third Officer sailing aboard merchant ships around the world. Mr. Haas was honorably discharged as a Lieutenant from the United States Naval Reserve in 1985.

Mr. Haas received his Juris Doctorate degree from Golden Gate University in June 1974 and was thereafter admitted to the State Bar of California in November 1974. During his third year of law school, Mr. Haas had the good fortune to meet and clerk for Patrick "Butch" Hallinan, Esq., who unselfishly taught him about the courtroom and convinced him to stay in California. His first jury trial experience was during law school assisting the venerable, Vincent Hallinan, Esq.

Mr. Haas began as a sole practitioner in March 1975 before joining his longtime friend, John Hansen, Esq., in a partnership-Hansen and Haas. It was during this time that Mr. Haas became involved in a legal custody fight with Jim Jones and the People's Temple. The case took him on. two occasions to Jonestown in Guyana where he sought to gain legal custody of a small boy and to help provide safe passage for those who wanted away from the widespread abuse going on in the Guyanese jungle compound. Despite repeated warnings to Congress and the Guyanese government, including a sworn affidavit obtained from, a People's Temple defector which would prove to be a blue print for the Jonestown Massacre, the Guyanese authorities chained the courtroom doors shut and the United States did nothing. It was during a visit to Jonestown that Mr. Haas was accused of attempting to assassinate Jones and briefly detained. Mr. Hass had been excluded by Jones from joining Congressman Leo Ryan on the fateful trip in 1978. Fortunately, his prior efforts had helped many People’s Temple members to escape before the murder. Afterward, Mr. Hass was warned by San Francisco law enforcement that he was on a hit list, which had been obtained from People’s Temple headquarters in San Francisco.
Temple Leader Accused in Custody Case – News Article
Congressional Investigation
Books
SuicideCult – The inside Story of the Peoples Temple Sect and the Massacre in Guyana Raven – The Untold Story of the Rev. Jim Jones

After Mr. Hansen moved to Alaska, Mr. Haas incorporated his practice in 1981. Although no longer formal partners, the Hansen and Haas association continued on, producing some notable results. In 1987, the friends tried a difficult medical malpractice case in Alaska entitled Justice v. Humana Hospital. Mr. Justice had a brain aneurysm, which had been misdiagnosed, at Humana Hospital and later at the USC Medical Center in Los Angeles. Before suit was filed, I3SC Medical Center settled the case in California. The Alaska defendants decided to go to trial. After a lengthy, contentious trial and extended deliberation, the jury came back, shortly before midnight on the day before Christmas, with a record verdict for plaintiff. It had been reported that, prior to Justice, Alaska juries had returned few verdicts for victims of medical malpractice. Justice was reported at the lime lube line largest. After the $1.8 million judgment in Alaska, the case was settled.
Timothy Justice v. Humana Hospital - Verdict Report
News Article
Published Article

In 1989, Mr. Haas and Mr. Hansen successfully litigated Bykers, Inc. v. Municipality of Anchorage resulting in, a record settlement. Notably, the case was against the Anchorage Fire Department for failing to extinguish a fire at a warehouse owned by Bykers, Inc. which permitted the fire to rekindle and destroy the building. While investigating for the cause of the fire, the arson inspectors had moved smoldering material away from the firefighters, who were fighting the blaze, into another area of the building. Inexplicably, the inspectors abruptly departed without first extinguishing the embers. After the buanuerismilding was destroyed, there was an effort to cover up the misconduct including trying to implicate the plaintiff. In an interview with the Anchorage Daily News, Chief Larry Langston reported the settlement as the largest in history.
1985 Fire Nets $1.5 Million City Settles Claim - News Article

In January 1994, Mr. Haas tried another significant medical malpractice case in Alaska, this time in federal court. The case of Katchatag v. United States of America concerned the death of Elena Katchatag from a misdiagnosed cervical cancer. Mrs. Katchatag died leaving three young children who lived in the village of Shaktoolik located about 123 miles southeast of Nome, Alaska. At the settlement conference, the deputy assistant trial attorney from the United States Attorney's office told Mr. Haas that "a dead Eskimo was worth no more than $300,000." Unconvinced, angry and inspired, Mr. Haa3 flew out to moot these people. He flew to Nome. There, he transferred to a small plane, fitted with skis, for the flight to Shaktoolik. After landing on an austere, icy runway below a dark winter sky, he was met by villagers with a dog sled pulled by a snowmobile for the trip into town. He was introduced to many of the 180 or so inhabitants and learned about their culture and Elena Katchatag. They told him about whaling in small boats and of the great Bowhead hunt and how they preserved salmon to get through the winter months. By day's end, they were hopeful that the trial would end well and wanted to be sure that Mr. Haas knew he was welcome to hunt whales with them next season. As Mr. Haas boarded his return flight, he was steeped with a strong sense of these soulful people. So when they arrived in foil colorful dress to testify in court about Elena Katehatag and the value of a sun dried fish, the court had no choice but to listen. And when the government attorney put up a small number, Judge Holland rejected it and awarded over $1 million dollars to the family.
News Articles
Cervical Cancer The Million Dollar Message - Editorial

The Pierce County, Washington civil racketeering cases started with a phone call from boyhood friend, Norm Anderson, who owned a tavern called the Back Forty. Mr. Anderson complained to Mr. Haas that various officials of Pierce County including Sheriff George Janovich, deputies of the Pierce County Sheriffs Department and fire inspectors were harassing him. As it turned out, Mr. Anderson was being harassed because he had declined to sell the Back Forty to the Carbons mob family who controlled the rackets and wanted the business for its criminal enterprise. Ultimately, the crime family arranged for an arsonist to torch the Back Forty, Mr. Haas assembled a team of lawyers including Joe McCray and, William G. Lewis of San Francisco and Carl Teitge of Tacoma who were willing to take on the widespread corruption in Pierce County. By the time the Back Forty case went to trial in federal court in Seattle in 1,983, the lawyers represented several tavern owners who had also been victimized and a Washington State Liquor Enforcement Officer named Mel Journey, and his family. Mr. Journey had been gunned down while backing out of his driveway while his wife Phyllis and daughter Amy looked on. A contract had been put on Mr. Journey's life because he had refused to cooperate with the crime organization. Shot multiple times, Mr. Journey survived, the ordeal and testified at the trial.

Following a two-month trial of the liability phase including the RICO and civil rights cases against Pierce County, the jury returned verdicts in favor of all plaintiffs. The trial continued in the damage phase of the Back Forty case where the jury awarded $1.9 million. After trebling the economic loss under RICO, the court entered judgment and was to consider attorney fees tinder the civil rights statutes. In the meantime, the trial proceeded in the damage phase of the Journey case. After the jury retired to begin its deliberations for the Journey family, the defendants capitulated. As the jury deliberated, a marathon negotiation with Pierce County Manager, Booth Gardner, who would later become Governor, resulted in a settlement of all cases. The amount of the settlement is confidential.
Back Forty Legal Fi0it "Worth It" in the end - News Article

In October 2001, Mr. Haas and Cliff Weingus of McTernan, Stender and Weingus tried Lathrop v. Healthcare Partners Medical Group Lo a San Francisco jury. Terry Lathrop, who had a misdiagnosed breast cancer, and her husband were awarded nearly S2.7 million. Under the Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act (MICRA), the trial judge is required to reduce the noneconomic damages awarded by the jury to 8250,000 as to all licensed health care providers. In Lathrop, the trial court determined that Healthcare Partners was not a licensed health care provider and refused to reduce the verdict as to Healthcare Partners. After the court's decision, the other defendants settled and Healthcare Partners appealed. In January, 2004, the 1st District Court of Appeal held that an unlicensed medical group, such as Healthcare Partners, was not entitled to the protections of MICRA for the consequences of its direct actions. For the first time since MICRA became the law in 1975, the court held that plaintiffs who have been victimized by the direct negligence of an unlicensed medical group in the context of the delivery of medical care have the right to claim full damages, thus potentially expanding the recovery for some victims.
Couple Awarded $2.7Mfor Failure To Diagnose Cancer - Verdict Report Published Article

The Lathrop case has benefited many other clients. For example, after discovering that an unlicensed business agent of an east bay medical group had been directly negligent, Mr. Haas and Mr. Weingus were able to negotiate a much better settlement for a client and members of the family. The client had misdiagnoses of thyroid cancer. The settlement amount is confidential. In another case, Mr. Haas and Mr. Weingus represented a client who had been injured by the improper application of compression stockings, which had caused severe ischemia. One defendant was entitled to MICRA protection: the other was not. The case was settled before trial for $1,4 million.
Store Manager Improperly Applied Lee Ulcer Treatment - Verdict Report

Another recent example is a medical malpractice, wrongful death lawsuit in which Mr. Haas and Mr. Weingus had commenced trial. In that case, the decedent had died from the complications of strep throat after being misdiagnosed by a physician's assistant at an Urgent Care facilility. There was no doctor present at the Urgent Care facility to supervise the physician's assistant. The physician's assistant was employed by a medical group, and the Urgent Care facility was owned by a subsidiary of a healthcare corporation. Mr. Haas and Mr. Weingus argued that the corporate subsidiary and the medical group were directly liable for the death because they had approved of the decision, to operate the Urgent Care facility without a doctor being present. They further argued that because the medical group and corporate subsidiary were not licensed health care providers, based on Lathrop, MICRA did not apply. At the beginning of the trial, the defendants filed multiple motions trying to persuade the court that MICRA did apply. After the court deferred ruling on these motions, the defendants sought an intra-trial mediation, at which the case settled for $2.0 million.

Mr. Haas continues in his efforts to obtain a just result for each and every one of his clients.

Articles/Publications

• Couple Awarded S2.7M for Failure To Diagnose Cancer
• Store Manager Improperly Applied Leg Ulcer Treatment
• Cervical Cancer, The Million-Dollar Message
• Back 40 Legal Fight "Worth It" in the End
• People's Temple - Jones Town Massacre
• 1985 Fire Nets $1.5 Million City Settles Claim
• Timothy Justice vs. Humana Hospital Alaska

Areas of Practice

• Medical Malpractice
• Civil Rights
• Employment
• Bodily Injury

West Practice Categories

Civil Rights, Employment Law -- Employee, Employment Law -- Employer, Personal Injury -- Defense, Personal Injury -- Plaintiff, Medical Malpractice