The Wall Came Tumbling Down: $15 Million Wrongful Death Verdict

“Walking into Ozaukee County and telling the jury that it was worth $40 million was completely unheard of. I mean, people thought I was crazy.” In this conversation with host Dan Ambrose, Al Foeckler sets the stage for his wrongful death case on behalf of the family of a woman who was buried alive when a retaining wall collapsed on her. In addition to the conservative nature of the jurisdiction, Al also faced Wisconsin’s rules on damages in wrongful death cases: They are capped at $350,000 for adults and $500,000 for children, so value comes through showing pain and suffering. The case turned on a counterintuitive pre-trial decision: dropping the adult children's wrongful death claims after Big Data studies predicted doing so would nearly double the pain and suffering damages. Tune in to hear how Al won $15 million.Train and Connect with the Titans☑️ Al Foeckler | LinkedIn☑️ Cannon & Dunphy S.C | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | X☑️ Trial Lawyers University☑️ TLU On Demand Instant access to live lectures, case analysis, and skills training videos☑️ TLU on X | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn☑️ Subscribe Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube2026 Programming☑️ TLU Beach, June 3-6, Huntington Beach, CAEpisode SnapshotIn Wisconsin, wrongful death damages for adults are capped at $350,000 and for children at $500,000, so case value is built on establishing non-economic pain and suffering damages.Al’s wrongful death case centered on a woman who died from injuries sustained after a retaining wall at the senior community where she lived collapsed on her.Six weeks before trial, the defense offered $176,000 each to the decedent’s two adult children — just over the $350,000 wrongful death cap. But if accepted, the children couldn’t testify about their loss. Rejecting it meant risking paying the defense's costs if the jury didn't beat the offer.A Big Data study showed that dropping the children's wrongful death claims would nearly double the predicted pain and suffering verdict, so Al restructured the case.When the judge barred Al's large-scale recreation of the retaining wall as a demonstrative exhibit, he relied on building the scene spatially in the courtroom instead.Al is launching lawyersinthearena.com, a plaintiffs-only newsletter featuring trial skills and war stories, and will present three workshops at TLU Beach – including a deep dive into this wall collapse case.Produced and Powered by LawPods