AREAS OF PRACTICE
Dave has represented numerous governmental entities, including water districts, cities, fire departments, road departments, and police officers. He has handled a variety of cases for governmental entities, such as water disputes, development disputes, employment cases, civil rights litigation, and flooding cases. In 2023, Dave was recognized as a Mountain States “Super Lawyer” in the area of State, Local and Municipal Law.
Dave has represented scores of canal and irrigation companies, water conservancy districts, and public water entities. Such cases include issues such as water rights disputes, water delivery systems, forfeiture claims, interference claims, condemnation proceedings, contracts, and liability cases based on flooding or personal injury. He also handles many cases involving canal safety issues.
Dave represented The Utah Newspaper Project/Citizens for Two Voices in an antitrust lawsuit over the future of the Salt Lake Tribune. Dave has also represented one of the country’s largest environmental assessment companies. Most recently, Dave obtained a jury verdict for his client in a shareholder derivative suit.
About 30 years ago, and quite by accident, Dave was asked by a partner in his firm to represent the parents of a baby who died within hours of receiving standard childhood vaccinations. He successfully obtained a large award of compensation and over the following years slowly began receiving more calls from others who had suffered vaccine-related injuries. Dave is now handling dozens of vaccine injury claims, which are litigated in the United States Court of Federal Claims, which administers the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. Dave is the only Utah attorney listed on that court’s website as handling vaccine injury claims.
Dave very much enjoys handling these complex cases, which frequently involve hearings featuring prominent competing experts in fields such as neurology, immunology and genetics. Dave loves how this area of his practice is unlike any other area of law and how it provides a strange balance to his successful practice representing governmental and water-related clients. “It’s a weird blend of practice areas but I like the spicey variety of my cases. I never feel like my practice is boring and that means a lot after 30 plus years of practice.”
People injured by certain vaccines have a legal right to seek compensation for their injuries. In 1987, Congress created the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (“VICP”). The VICP provides compensation for a variety of adverse reactions, such as certain auto-immune responses or shoulder injuries resulting from vaccine injections that unexpectedly cause an inflammatory response that often results in the need for shoulder surgery. The program is funded by a surcharge paid by the person or insurer who pays for the vaccination. Importantly, clients pay no attorney’s fees or costs for Dave’s representation because the program reimburses attorneys for such fees and costs as long as the claim is brought with a good faith and reasonable basis.
https://www.chrisjen.com/Practice-Vaccine
