About Us

The lawyers of Sundahl, Powers, Kapp & Martin, LLC, and its predecessor firms have provided legal services to the people of Wyoming for almost ninety years. The late Harry Henderson founded the firm in the 1920s. Since that date the lawyers of Sundahl, Powers, Kapp & Martin, LLC, have represented and protected their clients’ interests before judges, juries, governmental entities and administrative bodies throughout the four corners of our state. Wyoming is a large state with a small population. A former governor likened Wyoming to a small town with a very long main street. People in Wyoming tend to size each other up on the basis of personal experience. Sundahl, Powers, Kapp & Martin, LLC, and its attorneys are well known and respected, wherever you may stop along that long main street.

The firm specializes in civil litigation. Our attorneys have developed expertise in a wide variety of areas, including personal injury, tort liability, professional malpractice, insurance defense, railroads and employment. In addition the firm has an active administrative practice, which includes representation of clients before the governmental boards, agencies and bodies. Our clients have ranged from Fortune 400 companies to family farms, all of which have received personal attention and counsel aimed at providing smart, cost-effective and timely services to meet the clients’ needs.

The lawyers at Sundahl, Powers, Kapp & Martin, LLC, have more than one hundred years of collective experience of working together as a team. Martindale Hubbell has given Sundahl, Powers, Kapp & Martin, LLC, its highest rating, “AV.” In addition, several individual members of the firm have also received professional recognition through organizations such as Best Lawyers in America and SuperLawyers. Please refer to the individual biographies of the lawyers for additional information.

Sundahl, Powers, Kapp & Martin, LLC, Selected Client List

Ahrenholtz Masonry, Inc.
Albertsons, Inc.
Allstate Insurance Company
BJ Services Company, U.S.A.
Black Hills Corporation
BNSF Railway Company
Cheyenne Light, Fuel & Power Company
Crown, Cork and Seal
CR England Inc.
The Doctors' Company (“TDC”)
Farmers Insurance Exchange
Federated Insurance Company
Fisher Sand & Gravel
Frontier Refining, Inc.
Grange Insurance Company
The Home Insurance Company
Horizon Wind Energy
Jeffco Construction Corp.
Merit Energy Company
Metropolitan Property & Casualty Insurance Company
Monument Builders
Mountain West Farm Bureau
Mutual of Enumclaw
Mutual Insurance Company
Northern Improvement Construction Company
ONEOK, Inc.
Ophthalmic Mutual Insurance Association (“OMIA”)
Otto & Son Painting, Inc.
Platte Valley Construction Company
Roberts Construction Company
Safeway Stores, Inc.
Spiegelberg Lumber and Building Company
State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company
State Farm Fire & Casualty Company
Sinclair Oil Corporation
Utah Medical Insurance Association (“UMIA”)
Union Pacific Railroad Company
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
Wyoming Contractors Association
Zurich

Selected Reported Cases

The following is a selected list of reported cases in which attorneys associated with Sundahl Powers, Kapp & Martin, LLC, appeared.  The list includes cases from the Wyoming Supreme Court, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals and the United States District Court for the District of Wyoming.  The list is not all inclusive or complete.  However, it may provide you with a sense of the types of cases that the firm has handled over the years.   Additional information has been provided for some of the more significant and/or recent cases together with a link to accessible data banks, if available. 

Ahrenholtz v. Time Insurance Company, 967 P.2d 946 (Wyo. 1998)

Allied Fidelity Insurance Company v. Environmental Quality Council, 753 P.2d 1038 (Wyo. 1988)

Allstate Insurance Company v. Wyoming Insurance Department, 672 P.2d 810 (Wyo. 1983)

Arnold v. Mountain West Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company, 707 P.2d 161 (Wyo. 1985)

Baker v. Pena, 36 P.3d 602 (Wyo. 2001)

Bintner v. Burlington Northern Railway Co., 857 F.Supp 1484 (D.Wyo. 1994)

Catamount Construction v. Timmis Enterprises, 193 P.3d 1153, 2008 WY 122 (Wyo. 2008)

Construction company took Chapter 7 bankruptcy.  Sundahl, Powers, Kapp & Martin represented a homeowner, who had taken assignment from construction company and sued the sub-contractors.  Subcontractors argued that homeowners stood in shoes of construction company, which was defunct and therefore did not have standing to maintain suit.  The supreme court reversed the trial court’s dismissal and held that the ability of a bankrupt corporation to sue or be sued is dependent upon state corporate law.  A corporation undergoing Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceedings may be deemed dissolved, but it retains its right to sue under state law.  Homeowner was permitted to proceed on claims against sub-contractors. 

http://courts.state.wy.us/Opinions/2008WY122.pdf

Darlow v. Farmers Insurance Exchange, 822 P.2d 820 (Wyo. 1991)

DeJulio v. Foster, 715 P.2d 182 (Wyo. 1986)

Department of Employment v. Roberts Construction, 841 P.2d 854 (Wyo. 1992)

Dinsmoore v. Board of Trustees of Memorial Hospital of Campbell County, 936 F.2d 505 (10th Cir. 1989)

Downen v. Sinclair Oil Corp., 887 P.2d 515, 1994 WY 147 (Wyo. 1994)

Dworkin v. LFP Inc., 839 P.2d 903 (Wyo. 1992)

Dynan v. Rocky Mountain Federal Savings & Loan, 792 P.2d 631 (Wyo. 1990)

Eastman v. Union Pacific Railroad Co., 493 F.3d 1151 (10th Cir. 2007)

Plaintiff filed bankruptcy without disclosing the existence of his pending personal injury claim.  When this fact came to light, Sundahl, Powers, Kapp & Martin secured a dismissal from the trial court, which held that plaintiff was judicially estopped by his prior fraud.  The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed. 

Evans v. Farmers Insurance Exchange, 34 P.3d 284, 2001 WY 38 (Wyo. 2001)

Farmers Insurance Exchange v. District Court of Ninth Judicial District, 844 P.2d 1099 (Wyo. 1993)

Farmers Insurance Exchange v. Shirley, 958 P.2d 1040 (Wyo. 1998)

Farmers was sued for bad faith and after a two week trial the jury awarded $1.5 million in punitive damages.  On appeal Sundahl, Powers, Kapp & Martin successfully secured a decision reversing not only the award of punitive damages but also the judgment of bad faith.  The Shirley decision established the necessary elements required to maintain a claim for first party bad faith and also imposed additional considerations, which must be addressed generally in any case involving a claim for punitive damages.

Farmers Insurance Exchange v. Dahlheimer, 3 P.3d 820 (Wyo. 2000)

Followwill v. Merit Energy Co., 371 F.Supp.2d 1305 (D.Wyo. 2005)

Gookin v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Company, 826 P.2d 229 (Wyo. 1992)

Haines v. Fisher, 82 F.3d 1503 (10th Cir, 1996)

Harmon v. Town of Afton, 745 P.2d 889 (Wyo. 1987)

Hendricks v. Hurley, 184 P.3d 680, 2008 WY 57 (Wyo. 2008)

Homeowners’ grandchild was killed due to faulty wiring of water pump.  Homeowners were not liable for wrongful death on theory of negligently allowing dangerous condition to exist in the absence of evidence that homeowners had actual or constructive knowledge of condition.

http://courts.state.wy.us/Opinions/2008WY57.pdf

Herrig v. Herrig, 844 P.2d 487 (Wyo. 1992)

Hiatt v. Union Pacific Railroad Co., 65 F.3d 838 (10th Cir. 1995)

Railroad workers filed suit against the railroad and others claiming that under the terms of the contract between the railroads and the unions they had been discriminated against on the basis of age.  The trial court granted summary judgment, holding that the workers could not apply a disparate impact analysis in support of their claim of age discrimination.  The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed.

Hozian v. Weathermon, 821 P.2d 1297 (Wyo. 1991)

Jarvis v. Farmers Insurance Exchange, 948 P.2d 898 (Wyo. 1997)

Jauregui v. Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County, 111 P.3d 914, 2005 WY 59 (Wyo. 2005)

Jones v. Schabron, 113 P.3d 34, 2005 WY 65 (Wyo. 2005)

Krier v. Safeway, 943 P.2d 405 (Wyo. 1997)

Mr. Krier was killed at his place of work by an intruder.  His heirs sued the owner of the premises on a claim that the premises was improperly secured and unsafe.  Sundahl, Powers, Kapp & Martin secured a summary judgment that was affirmed based on a finding of no duty. 

Lawrence v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Co., 133 P.3d 76, 2006 WY 56 (Wyo. 2006)

Plaintiff had taken a consent judgment and assignment from the insured.  Plaintiff then filed suit insisting that State Farm had breached its duty to defend, when it denied a claim for negligent entrustment of a car under the terms of a home-owners policy.   Sundahl, Powers, Kapp & Martin handled the case for State Farm.  First, we negotiated with plaintiff’s counsel to get the case postured for summary judgment without the need for extensive discovery and then we got that summary judgment affirmed. 

http://courts.state.wy.us/Opinions/2006WY56.pdf

Lohman v. Jefferson Standard Life Insurance Company, 525 P.2d 1 (Wyo. 1974)

Long v. Daly, 156 P.3d 994, 2007 WY 69 (Wyo. 2007)

The plaintiff was injured when cattle escaped through a fence, across the BNSF railroad right-of-way, and onto a highway.  The plaintiff sued the railroad and the owner of the cattle.  The district court granted summary judgment for BNSF, holding that BNSF had a duty to  livestock owners to maintain fence under Wyo. Stat. § 37-9-304, but that duty did not extend to the motoring public on the highways.  The Supreme Court affirmed.

McMackin v. Johnson County Healthcare Center, 73 P.3d 1094, 2003 WY 91 (Wyo. 2003), on rehearing 88 P.3d 491, 2004 WY 44 (Wyo. 2004)

Wyoming Supreme Court recognizes and adopts the “loss of chance doctrine” in medical malpractice cases.  While this case was not a victory for Sundahl, Powers, Kapp & Martin’s client, it adds a new page to Wyoming jurisprudence and Sundahl, Powers, Kapp & Martin is ready to address the next wave of cases, which will refine and define the extent of this new cause of action.

http://courts.state.wy.us/Opinions/2003WY91.pdf

Martin v. Farmers Insurance Exchange, 894 P.2d 618 (Wyo. 1995)

Ogle v. Caterpillar Tractor Co., 716 P.2d 334 (Wyo. 1986)

Opheim v. United Mobile Homes, Inc., 511 P.2d 1289 (Wyo. 1973)

Orosco v. Schabron, 9 P.3d 264 (Wyo. 2000)

Reese v. Memorial Hospital of Laramie County, 955 P.2d 425 (1998)

Plaintiff had sued the hospital claiming injury from being dropped during a transfer from a guerney to a bed.  At trial the jury found in favor of the hospital,  represented by Sundahl, Powers, Kapp & Martin.  On appeal the Supreme Court held that the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur could not be used by plaintiff, since the issue of medical negligence required expert testimony beyond the understanding of the average juror. 

Reichert v. Phipps, 84 P.3d 353 (Wyo. 2004)

Rural Electric Co. v. Cheyenne Light, Fuel, and Power, 762 F.2d 847 (10th Cir. 1985)

Sinclair Oil Corp. v. Wyoming Public Service Commission, 63 P.3d 887, 2003 WY 22 (Wyo. 2003)

Scott v. Sutphin, 109 P.3d 520, 2005 WY 38 (Wyo. 2005)

Plaintiff’s failure to give proper notice of appeal from judgment leads to dismissal of appeal and preserves trial court defense verdict for Sundahl, Powers, Kapp & Martin’s client in wrongful death case.

http://courts.state.wy.us/Opinions/2005WY38.pdf

Security State Bank v. Basin Petroleum Services Inc., 713 P.2d 1170 (Wyo. 1986)

Spence v. Flynt, 816 P.2d 771 (Wyo. 1991)

State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. v. Paulsen, 756 P.2d 764 (Wyo. 1988)

Strube Construction Co. v. Hot Springs School District, 715 P.2d 540 (Wyo. 1986)

Sunderman v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Co.,  978 P.2d 1167 (Wyo. 1999)

Sykes v. Lincoln County School District No. 1 & 2, 763 P.2d 1263 (Wyo. 1988)

Terry v. Sweeny, 10 P.3d 554 (Wyo. 2000)

Vandehei Developers v. Public Service Commission of Wyoming, 790 P.2d 1282 (Wyo. 1990)

Vasquez by and through Vasquez v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 913 P.2d 441 (Wyo. 1996)

Verschoor v. Mountain West Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Co., 907 P.2d 1293 (Wyo. 1995)

Wyoming Insurance Department v. Avemco Insurance Company, 726 P.2d 507 (Wyo. 1986)