A horse-drawn carriage crash marred her wedding day four years ago, and Jaclyn Stevenson still doesn't want to talk about it.
"It's emotionally troubling for her to relive the events of the day of her wedding," Albany attorney James Nelson said last week, in explaining why Stevenson -- who was ejected from the carriage and injured shortly before she exchanged marriage vows with her husband, Brandon -- declined an interview request for this story.
Nelson now represents the Stevensons in a $155,450 lawsuit filed last week in Lane County Circuit Court.
The suit revolves around the bizarre incident that tarnished the Linn County couple's nuptials, but it doesn't take aim at the company they hired to provide a horse-drawn carriage for their Sept. 21, 2013, wedding in Corvallis.
Instead, the complaint names as the defendant the Eugene lawyer who initially took the Stevensons' personal injury case but then allegedly failed to file a settlement demand or lawsuit for them before a two-year statute of limitations expired.
That failure, the suit asserts, left the couple with no shot at seeking damages from the carriage company in court and amounts to legal malpractice.
Now, the Stevensons are using longtime Eugene attorney Donald E. Johnson's own words against him -- seeking from him the exact amount in noneconomic damages that he allegedly told them they could expect to receive in a settlement with the company.
Johnson, a member of the Oregon State Bar since 1986, did not return telephone and email messages seeking comment on the suit. He has not yet filed a formal response in court.
The lawsuit penned by Nelson includes several excerpts from a claim-settlement letter that Johnson allegedly drafted for the Stevensons in June 2015.
One section of the letter asserts that after Jaclyn Stevenson and others "boarded the carriage, the horses bolted and ran out of control. The carriage driver was unable to control the horses or the carriage. The carriage hit several objects over a course of a significant distance and ultimately turned over. The passengers were ejected ... As a result, Mrs. Stevenson and her other passengers and guests were injured. Her wedding dress was damaged."
Another excerpt states that the pre-wedding crash "ruined the day in every way." The Stevensons went ahead with the ceremony but "were unable to enjoy the festivities," the suit says, again quoting Johnson's letter.
Under Oregon law, a person has two years from the date of an injury to file a lawsuit.
The Stevensons, according to their suit, didn't consult Johnson until November 2014, some 14 months after the carriage wreck.
Johnson drafted the ultimately unsent claim-settlement letter in June 2015, but he never sent it to the law firm representing the carriage company, the suit says. It does not identify the company.
The lawsuit says Jaclyn Stevenson made "frequent calls" to Johnson's office regarding the status of the claim, and she finally learned in late December 2015 that Johnson had not filed suit on their behalf.
By then, it was too late for the Stevensons to take legal action against the carriage company.
The Stevensons are suing Johnson for $150,000 in noneconomic damages, to cover Jaclyn Stevenson's unspecified physical injuries, the "emotional trauma of having her 'dream wedding' ruined" by the crash and "ongoing post-traumatic stress disorder that ruined (the couple's) honeymoon" and also led her to seek counseling, the suit says.
The suit also seeks $1,800 in reimbursement for counseling expenses, $1,500 for the damaged wedding dress, $2,000 for the wedding photos that "are diminished in value to (Jaclyn Stevenson) as a result of the trauma of the runaway carriage crash" and $150 for the deposit paid to the carriage company.
--Jack Moran, The Register Guard/Associated Press