About Laura Thompson
Laura was born and raised right in beautiful Northeast Iowa. She earned her bachelor of arts degree at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, with a major in English with a Writing Emphasis and a minor in Classical Studies. In 2016, Laura moved from Iowa out to Los Angeles, California, where she began to work on Nick Rowley’s Special Ops Team while also attending Pepperdine School of Law in Malibu, California. Laura received her Juris Doctorate from Pepperdine in 2019, passed the California Bar, and continued to practice on the Special Ops Team. In Summer 2020, Laura returned home to Northeast Iowa, became an Iowa attorney, and has enjoyed every moment being back.
Over the past five years, Laura has honed her practice by getting countless cases worked up and ready for trial. From the initial client meeting to the reading of the jury verdict and beyond, there is an incredible amount of effort that goes into building a rock-solid case, and Laura is prepared for every step of the way. She has been fighting for injured plaintiffs since day one and her experience lies in personal injury and medical malpractice. Presently, Laura is licensed to practice in California and Iowa in both state and federal court.
When not in the office, Laura enjoys spending time with her family and hiking the many bluffs of Decorah with her papillon, Bella.
Proven verdicts and settlements at Trial Lawyers for Justice
These results are credited to Trial Lawyers for Justice. A result appears under an attorney's own name only when a published source names them as counsel on the case.
Carrie DeJongh, 40, of Hull, Iowa, died on June 9, 2015 after receiving iodinated contrast dye for a CT scan at Sioux Center Health, when the physician treating her gave her an antihistamine but did not immediately check her vital signs or give epinephrine. Her family sued Sioux Center Health and Dr. Roy T. Slice for negligence, and both defendants denied the allegations. A Sioux County jury in Orange City returned a $29.5 million verdict on June 13, 2018, covering DeJongh's pain and suffering before her death and loss of consortium for her husband and four children. No appeal, remittitur or reduction has turned up since.
In February 2017, a physician assistant at a UnityPoint urgent care clinic in Des Moines diagnosed Joseph Dudley with the flu despite a negative flu test, sent him home on Tamiflu, and never ordered a complete blood count. Two days later Dudley was hospitalized with bacterial meningitis caused by an undetected heart valve infection, spent eight days in a medically induced coma, and suffered a series of strokes that left him with permanent brain damage, hearing loss, vertigo and nerve damage. A Polk County jury tried the malpractice claim against physician assistant Melanie Choos and Central Iowa Hospital Corp, doing business as UnityPoint Clinic, over a week in November 2022 and returned a $27,000,000 verdict, all of it noneconomic damages. The defense moved for a new trial afterward and UnityPoint said it was weighing an appeal.
Richard J. Pellock, 80, had surgery to remove bladder cancer at UnityPoint Health Finley Hospital in Dubuque, Iowa in January 2015, and the operation succeeded. Days later he needed a second procedure for a post-surgical complication, and the nurse anesthetist handling that procedure induced anesthesia without first emptying his stomach despite signs he had a full one. Pellock aspirated, developed aspiration pneumonia and respiratory failure, and died. His widow and son sued the anesthesia group and a Dubuque County jury returned a $10 million verdict against it in September 2017, awarded entirely as loss-of-consortium damages. Defense lawyers were reported as saying they would challenge the verdict, but no Iowa appellate decision in the case has ever been published.
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case is unique and depends on its own facts.
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