About
Pete Summerill used to be a machinist. An automotive machinist. He spent countless hours grinding, filing, surfacing and generally getting greasy on the insides of engine parts. Then, one day, he went to the library. He read. A lot. That led to studying philosophy and generally pondering the inequality between himself and the large, corporate entities that seem to control most of American policy. What to do? Go to law school. Determined to fight against whatever large, faceless and greedy corporate structure wherever it could be found, law school seemed like the best option. Well, better than abandoning all hope and living in a cave somewhere. So, off to law school he went. During his second year, Pete fortuitously did some contract work for a personal injury lawyer. Up to that point, Pete viewed personal injury lawyers as the stereotypical ambulance chasing, dog bite, slip and fall lawyer. After working on a case against an insurance company, and seeing the way in which insurance companies defend personal injury and wrongful death claims, Pete was determined to make representing personal injury and wrongful death heirs his career. So, for the past 20+ years, Pete has represented people, one-on-one, who suffered some of the worst tragedies, against insurance companies who want to throw salt on the wound and deny compensation.
Pete Summerill used to be a machinist. An automotive machinist. He spent countless hours grinding, filing, surfacing and generally getting greasy on the insides of engine parts. Then, one day, he went to the library. He read. A lot. That led to studying philosophy and generally pondering the inequality between himself and the large, corporate entities that seem to control most of American policy. What to do? Go to law school. Determined to fight against whatever large, faceless and greedy corporate structure wherever it could be found, law school seemed like the best option. Well, better than abandoning all hope and living in a cave somewhere. So, off to law school he went. During his second year, Pete fortuitously did some contract work for a personal injury lawyer. Up to that point, Pete viewed personal injury lawyers as the stereotypical ambulance chasing, dog bite, slip and fall lawyer. After working on a case against an insurance company, and seeing the way in which insurance companies defend personal injury and wrongful death claims, Pete was determined to make representing personal injury and wrongful death heirs his career. So, for the past 20+ years, Pete has represented people, one-on-one, who suffered some of the worst tragedies, against insurance companies who want to throw salt on the wound and deny compensation.
Peter Summerill has dedicated his entire career to helping the families and victims of carelessness and shoddy products. Straight out of law school, Pete hoisted his own shingle and started a solo personal injury and wrongful death law practice. Twenty-one years later, he still takes on cases involving wrongful death and catastrophic injuries against some of the nation's largest insurance companies and manufacturers. No matter how rich, famous, poor or down-and-out, victims of negligence find themselves at the mercy of large corporations. Insurance companies, hospitals and corporations always dig in and deny, dispute and defend any claim where victims seek compensation for the negligence, carelessness, incompetence or outright stupidity that caused so much loss to people. Pete works for people first. Pete handles cases involving: wrongful death, products liability, birth injury, trucking accidents and medical malpractice. His goal is, always and first, to help families and individuals gain an understanding of what happened, why it happened, and, how can our court system can help try to make things right.
Experienced Attorney for Wrongful Death and Injury Cases.
Pete has extensive trial, arbitration, mediation and appellate experience representing the personal injury victims and the heirs in wrongful death cases. In trial, mediation and arbitration, Pete obtained multi-million dollar+ verdicts and awards driven by a relentless pursuit of the individuals at fault. He has obtained multi-million dollar verdicts and awards for product liability, trucking accidents, medical malpractice and death cases. As an appellate attorney, he has handled several landmark decisions including Spackman v. Board of Education (constitutional right to free and public education), Bybee v. Abdulla (medical malpractice arbitration agreement was struck down as binding on wrongful death heirs), and Dexter v. Bosko (recognizing self-executing civil rights of inmates as specified in Utah Constitutional Article 1, sec. 9). Other lawyers regularly employ his assistance as co-counsel in cases at both the trial court and appellate court levels.Pete leverages technology at every opportunity during the litigation process. He was the first lawyer in the United States to use an iPad for presentation of evidence during a jury trial, obtaining a $370,000 verdict in a case with a low-ball $5,000 settlement offer. After more than a decade in the Ogden, Utah based law firm, Pete is now of-counsel at the law firm Lowrance Lundell Lofgren located in Salt Lake City where he handles cases throughout the State of Utah.
Multiple Awards and Recognitions
Now more than 20 years in practice, Pete has gained the respect of his professional peers and the larger legal community. He is regularly named to Utah Business Magazine’s Legal Elite; was honored as a Utah Association for Justice Rising Star; named one of the National Trial Lawyers Top 100; is recognized as one of America's Top 100 High Stakes Litigators, and, recognized by the American Registry as one of the Most Honored Lawyers; and tapped for the peer reviewed Super Lawyer list. He has served on the Utah Jury Instruction Committee; the board of directors for the Utah Association for Justice, and was a member of the Utah Supreme Court’s ethics screening panels for six years. In his personal life, Pete is the overly proud father of one daughter, a snowboarder without apology, a mountain biker when the snow melts, and, an occasional potter.
