Peter Erik Meyers

I am a partner in the Swanson Gardner Meyers Cohon, PLLC law firm in Renton, Washington. We exclusively represent individuals who have been injured by the negligence or intentional conduct of others. We handle all types of personal injury, automobile accident, wrongful death, medical negligence, products liability, and assault cases.

I grew up in western Washington and graduated from the University of Washington with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science in 1989. I earned my J.D. from Willamette University College of Law in 1993.

After law school I clerked for a trial judge in Pierce County and then served as a Deputy Prosecutor in the Criminal Division of the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s office from 1993 – 2000, where I tried numerous cases before King County juries, argued multiple cases before the the Washington State Court of Appeals, and arguedseveral times before the Washington State Supreme Court.

I entered private practice in 2000, worked for several years as an insurance defense lawyer with a large Seattle firm, and then opened my own practice in 2005 representing clients with personal injury claims.

I joined my friend and colleague Todd Gardner and the Swanson Gardner firm in 2008 ( initially while also running my own practice) and have worked full time with Todd since 2010. I became a named partner in the firm (Swanson Gardner Meyers)in 2015. We added partner Dylan Cohon in 2021 (Swanson Gardner Meyers Cohon).

Our firm, Swanson Gardner Meyers Cohon, PLLC, (“SGMC”) is one of the most respected and successful plaintiff personal injury, wrongful death and medical negligence law firms in the State of Washington. We are a firm of trial lawyers, focusing entirely on obtaining fair compensation for clients who have been injured or who have lost loved ones due to the negligence of others. Our philosophy is simple: preparation and hard work win cases. The attorneys and staff at Swanson SGMC do their best to secure results for their clients because they tap their experience and professionalism to out-prepare and outwork the opposing insurance companies and the defense.

While the firm and its lawyers have earned many awards over the years, results matter. In 2021, we represented the family of Sarah Wong, a 19-year-old college student killed in the 2019 tower crane collapse at the Google Building in downtown Seattle. Our office was a leader in that litigation, which resulted in at total recovery in settlements and verdicts of over $110 million for our clients. In 2019, we obtained a $65 million settlement for a woman injured in a two-vehicle collision in Seattle. 2013, we achieved a $50 million verdict on behalf of our clients in a complex and lengthy medical negligence case involving negligence in genetic testing, which remains one of the largest personal injury verdicts in Washington history and one of the largest in U.S. history for a case of its type. In recent years, the firm has obtained jury verdicts in other cases of over $1,000,000 fourteen times and obtained multiple verdicts in excess of $10 million.

We prepare every case for trial, believing strongly that this always results in greater compensation for our clients, but the decision to try a case to verdict or settle before trial is always the client’s decision. Direct client communication and immediate response to client needs are core values at our firm. We are a small, efficient firm with a strong team of experienced trial lawyers, paralegals and staff who have worked together for many years. Client questions and concerns are answered quickly and directly, and clients are always kept well informed.

We believe the attorney-client relationship is important and that both the attorney and the client should enter into this relationship carefully. We are not a “high pressure” sales firm. We do not advertise and, instead, most of our clients come to us through referral from former clients, colleagues, and others in the community who know our reputation. We take all of our cases on a contingency fee basis, requiring no fee until our work is complete and the client has recovered compensation. We will, in most cases, advance costs to prevent clients from having to pay out-of-pocket expenses while we prepare the case. In every case we will communicate directly with the client’s personal injury protection (PIP) insurance carrier and health insurance carrier to secure all available insurance coverage while the case proceeds.

We are experienced in many types of personal injury and wrongful death claims, including claims involving medical negligence, traumatic brain injury, automobile collisions, pedestrian accidents, bicycle accidents, defective highway design, defective products, hazardous substances, dog bites and sexual assault. On behalf of injured clients, we also pursue insurance companies directly in Underinsured Motorist (UIM) claims and in claims for bad faith, breach of contract, for violations of the Washington Insurance Fair Conduct Act (IFCA) and the Washington Consumer Protection Act (CPA).