Amputation Injuries

A Kitsap County jury awarded a $30,176,905 gross verdict against Clallam County, assigning the county 95% of the fault for a firearms-qualification accident that cost a sheriff’s deputy his right leg.

On September 17, 2026, a Kitsap County jury awarded $30,176,905 to Matthew Murphy, a Clallam County Sheriff’s deputy who lost his right leg below the knee after his AR-15 unintentionally discharged during a mandatory firearms qualification. The jury found Clallam County negligent, found that its negligence was a proximate cause of his injuries, and assigned the county 95% of the fault. Davis Law Group founder Christopher M. Davis and Senior Trial Attorney David M. Reeve tried the case on behalf of Deputy Murphy and his wife, Margaret Conway.

“Matt’s injury never should have happened had Clallam County followed its own safety policies. The jurors looked beyond the moment the rifle discharged and considered the County’s lack of training and unsafe equipment decisions over a 24-year period that put him in that position. Matt wants his case to be an example to the 300+ law enforcement agencies in Washington State of what can happen when our police officers are not properly trained or outfitted with safe modern equipment.”  — Christopher M. Davis, founder, Davis Law Group

What Happened at the Firearms Qualification

On March 27, 2020, Deputy Murphy reported to the Port Angeles Firearms Training Facility to complete the annual firearms qualification that Clallam County required of every deputy authorized to carry a weapon. For the rifle portion of the course, the Sheriff’s Office issued him a county-owned AR-15 rifle fitted with a three-point sling — Murphy was not permitted to use a sling of his own choosing. The only hearing protection the county made available that day was a set of bulky over-the-head earmuffs.

One of the required drills forced deputies to transfer the rifle from the dominant side of the body to the support side — a support-side shoulder transition. To perform that maneuver with a three-point sling, a deputy has to lift the sling up and over his head, and over the county’s over-the-head hearing protection. As Deputy Murphy carried out the drill exactly as instructed, the sling caught on his earmuffs, he lost control of the rifle, and the weapon discharged. A live round was fired directly into the top of his right foot.

How Clallam County’s Negligence Caused the Injury

The case was never about one unlucky moment on the range. The evidence showed that Clallam County created the danger and then failed to stop it. Davis Law Group established that the county:

• Required an unsafe combination of equipment. The county mandated a three-point sling and issued bulky over-the-head hearing protection — for years deputies had used foam earplugs that posed no entanglement risk — creating exactly the snag hazard that injured Deputy Murphy.
• Ignored industry best practices. No other county sheriff’s office in Washington was using the three-point sling or teaching the over-the-head unslinging maneuver. Other agencies use a two-point sling and never ask deputies to perform that maneuver at all.
• Violated its own safety policies. The county’s own rules required it to regularly evaluate its policies, procedures, equipment, and training against current best practices. It had no documentation that it had ever done so — a failure that, had it been corrected, would have revealed the danger long before Deputy Murphy was hurt.
• Failed to intervene as the danger unfolded. A rangemaster and an instructor were the only two people observing Deputy Murphy, and they were positioned right beside him. As he visibly struggled with the entangled weapon, they gave him no warning and never stopped the exercise — they expected him to “work through” it, increasing the risk of exactly the discharge that occurred.

Deputy Murphy, by contrast, did nothing wrong except follow the training his employer required. The jury agreed, assigning Clallam County 95% of the responsibility for what happened.

Ten Surgeries and a Below-the-Knee Amputation

The gunshot wound to the top of Deputy Murphy’s right foot began a four-year medical ordeal. He underwent ten separate surgical procedures in an effort to save the limb before doctors were ultimately forced to perform a below-the-knee amputation of his right leg in 2024. What began as a training exercise ended with a career law-enforcement officer facing the rest of his life as an amputee — with all of the medical treatment, prosthetic care, chronic pain, and lost independence that comes with it.

The Toll on Matthew and His Family

A catastrophic injury is never suffered by one person alone. The injury also carried a quieter cruelty: some of Deputy Murphy’s own co-workers testified that he was ridiculed and humiliated by other deputies for “shooting himself” — compounding the emotional harm he was already enduring. And his wife, Margaret Conway, brought her own claim for loss of consortium — the loss of the companionship, support, and shared life she and Matthew had before the injury. The jury awarded her $5 million, a measure of how profoundly the county’s negligence reshaped the entire family’s future.

The Trial and the Verdict

The case was filed in 2023 and tried in Kitsap County Superior Court before the Honorable Jeffrey P. Bassett (Cause No. 23-2-00428-18). Clallam County had every chance to resolve the matter and refused. The parties spent a full day in mediation in October 2024, but the county declined to offer anything to settle. During the trial itself, Deputy Murphy offered to settle for $10 million; the county ignored the offer and asked the jury to award nothing at all.

Over roughly three weeks and twelve days of testimony — after an earlier trial ended in a mistrial — the plaintiffs called seven witnesses and the defense called three. Davis Law Group asked the jury for $26 million. After deliberating for only about three hours, the jury returned a verdict that exceeded even that request:

• Past and future economic damages: $5,176,905
• Past and future non-economic damages: $20,000,000
• Loss of consortium (Margaret Conway): $5,000,000

Together, the jury’s award totals a gross verdict of $30,176,905. After the jury’s 5% fault allocation to Deputy Murphy — and before any other court-ordered adjustments — the award is reduced to approximately $28.67 million, believed to be the largest personal injury verdict in Kitsap County history.

Why This Verdict Matters

Government agencies are not above the law. When a county writes safety policies and then ignores them, buys equipment it knows is riskier than what the rest of the state uses, refuses every opportunity to be fair, and then asks a jury to award an injured deputy nothing at all, it can be held fully accountable. This result reflects Davis Law Group’s decades of experience taking difficult catastrophic-injury and government-negligence cases all the way through trial — and winning — when insurers and public entities refuse to do the right thing.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much was the verdict in Matthew Murphy v. Clallam County?

On September 17, 2026, a Kitsap County jury returned a gross verdict of $30,176,905. The jury assigned 95% of the fault to Clallam County and 5% to Deputy Murphy; after that allocation and before other court-ordered adjustments, the award is approximately $28.67 million.

What caused Deputy Murphy’s injuries?

During a mandatory firearms qualification, a county-mandated three-point rifle sling became entangled with county-issued over-the-head hearing protection while Deputy Murphy performed a required support-side maneuver. His AR-15 discharged into his foot, and after ten surgeries over four years he underwent a below-the-knee amputation in 2024.

Can you sue a Washington county or government agency for negligence?

Yes. Washington has largely waived governmental immunity, which means counties, cities, and state agencies can generally be held liable for negligence the same way a private party would be. There are special procedural rules, however — including a requirement to file a formal tort claim and wait 60 days before filing suit — so it is important to speak with an attorney promptly.

Why was the case tried in Kitsap County instead of Clallam County?

Under Washington law, a lawsuit against a county may be filed in that county or in one of the two nearest judicial districts. The case against Clallam County was properly venued and tried in neighboring Kitsap County Superior Court before Judge Jeffrey P. Bassett.

What is loss of consortium?

Loss of consortium is a claim brought by the spouse of an injured person for the loss of companionship, affection, comfort, and the shared partnership of married life caused by the injury. In this case, the jury awarded Deputy Murphy’s wife $5 million for her loss of consortium.

How long do I have to file an injury claim against a government entity in Washington?

Personal injury claims in Washington are generally subject to a three-year statute of limitations, and claims against government entities require a tort claim to be filed first with a 60-day waiting period before suit. Deadlines can be shorter or more complicated depending on the facts, so you should not wait to get legal advice.