About Daniel Smolen
Daniel Smolen is a founding partner of Smolen & Roytman. Since 2005, he has focused on the practice of law in the areas of Civil Rights, Employment Law litigation, as well as class action Oil and Gas Royalty and FLSA claims. Daniel exclusively represents plaintiffs in individual as well as class-based claims.
In early 2017, Smolen & Roytman lawyers led by Daniel Smolen secured a $10.25 million jury verdict against the Tulsa County Sheriff for the Estate of Elliott Williams in a 1983 case involving complex claims of systemic deliberate indifference to Mr. Williams' serious medical needs. The Williams verdict is the largest civil rights death claim verdict in Oklahoma history.
In March of 2018, Daniel Smolen led the firm in reaching a $6 million dollar settlement with the Tulsa County Sheriff on behalf of the Estate of Eric Harris. It was a nationally publicized case involving the tragic shooting death of Harris at the hands of Bob Bates, an undertrained and unqualified septuagenarian reserve deputy. The Harris settlement is the largest excessive force settlement in Oklahoma history.
Daniel Smolen received his Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from the University of Tulsa. Daniel went on to attend the University of Tulsa School of Law where he was a legal research and writing assistant to Professor Ray Yasser, focusing exclusively on Title IX discrimination claims. He graduated with highest honors in 2003. Upon graduation, Daniel was an associate attorney with the law firm of Norman Wohlgemuth Chandler & Dowdell, where his practice was focused primarily on employment-related issues.
Daniel Smolen is a native to the Tulsa community and has been named to the Oklahoma Super Lawyers and Rising Stars lists every year since 2013.
Proven verdicts and settlements
Terral Ellis II, 26, walked into the Ottawa County Jail voluntarily on an outstanding warrant. He developed bronchopneumonia and spent twelve days asking for medical care for seizures, sweating and pain. Jail video captured staff and the jail nurse mocking him. He died of septic shock on October 22, 2015.
Elliott Earl Williams, 37, was arrested in Owasso on an obstruction complaint in October 2011. Shortly after booking at the Tulsa County Jail he suffered a severe neck injury that paralysed him from the chest down. He was left on the floor of a medical-unit cell, unable to move, for days, and died of complications of the untreated injury and dehydration.
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case is unique and depends on its own facts.
