A Ramos Law billboard just south of Empower Field on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (Justin Wingerter/BusinessDen)
A local injury law firm claims it is owed nearly $1.5 million for “the tremendous results it obtained” following the death of two tech entrepreneurs in a plane crash.
On March 27, Liron Petrushka and his wife Naomi flew from the Lake Tahoe area to Denver to see their son David. The couple had founded a web auction company in the 1990s, reportedly sold it for more than $200 million in 1999, and later worked as angel investors.
Three hours after heading home out of Centennial Airport on March 30, in a plane piloted by Liron Petrushka, the couple encountered snow and poor visibility at the Nevada-California border. At 6:37 p.m., they crashed into thick, snow-covered brush a few thousand feet from an airport runway, according to a National Transportation Safety Board report.
David Petrushka, the late couple’s eldest son, hired Joe LoRusso at Ramos Law to handle insurance claims after the crash, that firm says now. LoRusso, a pilot and aviation industry veteran, is the law firm’s director of aviation and specializes in crash cases.
According to Ramos, Petrushka agreed to pay the firm 30 percent of any court judgment or settlement under $10 million and a higher percentage of awards above that. An insurance company later paid $9.6 million — $4.9 million for Naomi Petrushka’s death and $4.7 million for damage to the plane, according to a lawsuit that Ramos Law filed Dec. 9.
“Joe has been a god-send to us,” David Petrushka once said of LoRusso, Ramos wrote.
The firm said that it “graciously agreed to forego any attorney fee” on the $4.7 million plane damage settlement and sought only 30 percent of $4.9 million, or $1.48 million.
“Unfortunately, Mr. Petrushka has now objected to paying Ramos Law anything for the extensive legal services it provided and the tremendous results it obtained,” its lawsuit alleges.
David Petrushka is the managing director of Petrushka Investments. (LinkedIn)
“Mr. Petrushka…now claims that Ramos Law was not engaged to pursue the insurance claims on behalf of Mr. Petrushka and his siblings, and that the fee agreement does not encompass work on the insurance claim,” according to the lawsuit in Denver District Court.
Reached by email, David Petrushka declined to comment on the lawsuit against him. He now manages Petrushka Investments, his parents’ firm, according to his LinkedIn.
His case is one of two disputes over legal fees that Ramos Law is involved in. Two months ago, it was sued by the rival Wilhite firm, which accuses it of keeping too much of a $1.5 million court judgment in a case both firms worked on. Ramos is asking a judge to dismiss that lawsuit on procedural grounds because it was filed as a motion rather than a complaint.
A Ramos Law billboard just south of Empower Field on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (Justin Wingerter/BusinessDen)
A local injury law firm claims it is owed nearly $1.5 million for “the tremendous results it obtained” following the death of two tech entrepreneurs in a plane crash.
On March 27, Liron Petrushka and his wife Naomi flew from the Lake Tahoe area to Denver to see their son David. The couple had founded a web auction company in the 1990s, reportedly sold it for more than $200 million in 1999, and later worked as angel investors.
Three hours after heading home out of Centennial Airport on March 30, in a plane piloted by Liron Petrushka, the couple encountered snow and poor visibility at the Nevada-California border. At 6:37 p.m., they crashed into thick, snow-covered brush a few thousand feet from an airport runway, according to a National Transportation Safety Board report.
David Petrushka, the late couple’s eldest son, hired Joe LoRusso at Ramos Law to handle insurance claims after the crash, that firm says now. LoRusso, a pilot and aviation industry veteran, is the law firm’s director of aviation and specializes in crash cases.
According to Ramos, Petrushka agreed to pay the firm 30 percent of any court judgment or settlement under $10 million and a higher percentage of awards above that. An insurance company later paid $9.6 million — $4.9 million for Naomi Petrushka’s death and $4.7 million for damage to the plane, according to a lawsuit that Ramos Law filed Dec. 9.
“Joe has been a god-send to us,” David Petrushka once said of LoRusso, Ramos wrote.
The firm said that it “graciously agreed to forego any attorney fee” on the $4.7 million plane damage settlement and sought only 30 percent of $4.9 million, or $1.48 million.
“Unfortunately, Mr. Petrushka has now objected to paying Ramos Law anything for the extensive legal services it provided and the tremendous results it obtained,” its lawsuit alleges.
David Petrushka is the managing director of Petrushka Investments. (LinkedIn)
“Mr. Petrushka…now claims that Ramos Law was not engaged to pursue the insurance claims on behalf of Mr. Petrushka and his siblings, and that the fee agreement does not encompass work on the insurance claim,” according to the lawsuit in Denver District Court.
Reached by email, David Petrushka declined to comment on the lawsuit against him. He now manages Petrushka Investments, his parents’ firm, according to his LinkedIn.
His case is one of two disputes over legal fees that Ramos Law is involved in. Two months ago, it was sued by the rival Wilhite firm, which accuses it of keeping too much of a $1.5 million court judgment in a case both firms worked on. Ramos is asking a judge to dismiss that lawsuit on procedural grounds because it was filed as a motion rather than a complaint.
