2013 marks TAP&G’s 15th Anniversary. To kick-off the year, TAP&G attorneys have been busy attending loss site inspections throughout the upper Midwest. We hope that you continue to visit our website to stay tuned to what’s happening inside our doors.

Firm highlights from 2012:

• TAP&G received a favorable decision from the Minnesota Supreme Court in November, 2012 when it denied further review of the Minnesota Court of Appeals’ decision in a negligence and product liability action. TAP&G defended a compressor service company after a fire caused thirty million dollars in damage to a butter manufacturing plant in southern Minnesota. The court of appeals affirmed the district court’s decision that granted TAP&G’s client summary judgment. The court of appeals agreed with the district court’s decision that the plaintiff failed to produce sufficient evidence that TAP&G’s client’s negligence was the proximate cause of the fire’s origin and/or the fire’s unreasonable spread.
• 2012 was a positive year for TAP&G’s subrogation practice. Steve Pfefferle and his subrogation teams obtained several six figure settlements for losses that occurred in Minnesota and Iowa. These recoveries involved an unwarranted sprinkler discharge in a northern Minnesota hospital, a fire at an Iowa educational facility caused by a radiant heater in which the defendant later accepted 100 percent liability, and a fire that started in an underground utility in Iowa sending smoke into a neighboring building. Steve Pfefferle also reached a seven figure settlement as a result of a fire at an Iowa animal facility. Congratulations to Steve and his subrogation teams in these recoveries!
• On November 13, 2012 Ryan Johannsen and Steve Pfefferle of TAP&G, and Scott Futrell of Futrell Fire Consulting and Design, gave a lecture at the National Association of Subrogation Professionals (“NASP”) annual conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. Their lecture was entitled “Investigating Sprinkler Losses: Gathering the Right Evidence.” The lecture focused on the unique characteristics of subrogation cases involving fire sprinkler systems, and specifically on what evidence is crucial to your case. The lecture was also loosely based off of a 2009 article they drafted for the NASP Subrogator magazine, as well as a sprinkler subrogation checklist they developed.
• Lisa Griebel has broadened her practice to include an ever growing ADR practice. She served as a mediator and arbitrator in a large number of cases that resulted in the resolution of personal injury, professional negligence, property damage/construction defect, and health care facility contractual disputes.