{"id":67680,"date":"2025-02-20T15:20:58","date_gmt":"2025-02-20T21:20:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/?p=67680"},"modified":"2025-02-20T15:20:58","modified_gmt":"2025-02-20T21:20:58","slug":"student-makes-valuable-contributions-to-wrongful-death-settlement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/2025\/02\/20\/student-makes-valuable-contributions-to-wrongful-death-settlement\/","title":{"rendered":"Student makes valuable contributions to wrongful death settlement"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Current 2L student John Gauger (left) with Jeff Sieben ’01<\/p><\/div>\n

Not every law student can say they\u2019ve made major contributions to a legal case, but current 2L John Gauger is gaining practice-ready experience while making a difference in the community. In addition to attending Mitchell Hamline, Gauger works nearly full-time under alum Jeff Sieben \u201901, partner at SiebenCarey Personal Injury Law. The two recently saw the completion of a wrongful death settlement, a case that had a resolution a long time coming.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was too important to pass up the settlement,\u201d Sieben said about the case\u2019s conclusion. \u201cIt provides life-changing stability for Peter Davis\u2019s family, both now and in the next generation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Davis, a construction worker from Stillwater, was killed after being crushed by a dump truck in downtown St. Paul in 2022, and his widow, Kristy, was recently awarded an $8.5 million settlement. More importantly, the settlement also included non-monetary aspects to help improve safety for the construction field: the defendant company agreed to hire a new safety director and incorporate the video of the incident leading to Davis\u2019s death into their training process for new drivers.<\/p>\n

During the year and a half of litigation, Gauger got exposed to all aspects of the Davis case, which included hours-long depositions and inspections, filing 40-plus subpoenas, coordinating with over a dozen experts, client meetings, and mediations. On top of that, it proved to be a true learning experience as several novel issues played out throughout the case.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt showcased the new changes in this style of case\u2014it\u2019s becoming more data-driven than it used to be,\u201d Sieben remarked. The two sifted through thousands of pages of data from phones, police body cameras, and surveillance footage, figuring out how to make the data usable and persuasive. \u201cJohn was instrumental. He\u2019s had an interest in fitting technology into law, and that\u2019s helped me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gauger also played a critical role when a summary judgment motion was brought against them. He prepared a 16-page memo integrating facts, discovery, and caselaw analysis for the legal writer on the case, Scott Wilson, to prepare a brief for the court. About this work, Wilson said, \u201cI have never seen a non-lawyer make as big a contribution in a case as John did in this one.\u201d<\/p>\n

This was also one of the first cases since legislation passed in Minnesota recognizing damages for conscious pain and suffering for a decedent. \u201cWe haven\u2019t heard of too many cases showcasing what the value of that could be,\u201d said Gauger. He and Sieben had to rely on experts outside the state to figure out how to forge a path and implement the new statute for Davis\u2019s case.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe contacted lawyers from Texas, we contacted lawyers from Wisconsin, we contacted lawyers who had done these things before\u2014but really, that\u2019s all people and relationships,\u201d said Sieben. \u201cYou could be the best reader and writer, but you\u2019re very limited unless you reach out and multiply the force you have through these other connections.\u201d<\/p>\n

Developing a professional network is something Sieben has enjoyed seeing Gauger already do as a law student, because it mimics his own experience. \u201cThose networks of people, they started here at Mitchell Hamline, and they just keep growing,\u201d Sieben said.<\/p>\n

One of those crucial connections is that of a mentor. Gauger said about his experience, \u201cI\u2019ve only been able to do what I\u2019ve done because Jeff gives me those opportunities. You don\u2019t get that everywhere. I\u2019ve loved my mentorship with Jeff and want to be a mentor to as many people as I can too.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is a legacy that Sieben is passing down, having been given similar mentorship opportunities from his uncle and godfather Bill Sieben \u201977 when he himself was a new attorney. And as to mentoring a current student from his alma mater, he said, \u201cThat\u2019s to my benefit. I would say I\u2019ve had a co-counsel on the case, and in our conversations, I see that energy of wanting to learn more. It\u2019s fun to see.\u201d<\/p>\n

For both Gauger and Sieben, this case highlighted just how much the law is a human process.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the driving force for both of us was that collaboration piece,\u201d said Gauger. \u201cI felt the underlying push of wanting to do the right thing for our client and her family, and that really willed us through the times when things felt tough.\u201d<\/p>\n

It has been a long road coming for this case; almost as remarkable is the personal journey Gauger experienced along the way. After earning his bachelor\u2019s degree and paralegal certificate from Hamline University, Gauger started working under Sieben as a paralegal in 2022. At the time, he knew nothing about personal injury law but soaked in everything from understanding how cases move along to specialized vocabulary and medical knowledge of anatomy.<\/p>\n

Law school was always a thought at the back of his mind, but it wasn\u2019t until he saw what the work was really like at SiebenCarey that he actively pursued applying to law school at Sieben\u2019s encouragement.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a lot to handle both, but it\u2019s been extremely rewarding,\u201d Gauger said about the practical learning experience made possible by Mitchell Hamline. He cited crossover between classes like the first-year writing program, civil dispute resolution, or first-year torts and his work with personal injury law. \u201cIt really accelerated my growth and learning, both in the classroom and at the firm.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gauger has stayed on with Sieben throughout his 1L and 2L years so far, primarily working on the Davis case through its resolution. Since then, he has been certified as a student attorney.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t imagine doing anything else,\u201d Gauger said about his plans following graduation next year. \u201cI\u2019ve got a lot more to learn, but I\u2019ve absolutely fallen in love with what we do and helping people. You don\u2019t ever get burnt out from it because you know you\u2019re making a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Not every law student can say they\u2019ve made major contributions to a legal case, but current 2L John Gauger is gaining practice-ready experience while making a difference in the community. In addition to attending Mitchell Hamline, Gauger works nearly full-time under alum Jeff Sieben \u201901, partner at SiebenCarey Personal Injury Law. The two recently saw … <\/p>\n

Student makes valuable contributions to wrongful death settlement<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5772,"featured_media":67682,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5],"tags":[756,755,757,759,43,685,758],"class_list":{"0":"post-67680","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-features","8":"category-news","9":"tag-jeff-sieben","10":"tag-john-gauger","11":"tag-personal-injury-law","12":"tag-practical-experience","13":"tag-student","14":"tag-student-experience","15":"tag-wrongful-death-settlement","16":"entry"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5772"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67680\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}