Brumback & Ottem Injury Law

Meet Our Team

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  Scott Brumback

  Owner & Founder

  M. Scott Brumback was born in Michigan. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1979 as an armored crewman and did basic training at Fort Knox, Kentucky. After basic, Scott was assigned as a tanker with an armor company in the 3rd Infantry Division, Augsburg, Germany. After nearly three years in Germany, Scott was reassigned to Fort Carson, Colorado. Scott came off his first four years of active duty with the Army in 1983 at the rank of Sergeant. Scott enrolled at Michigan State University and earned 2 degrees in four years. Scott studied for one year in Freiburg, Germany. After graduation, Scott enrolled at Case Western Reserve University School of Law in Cleveland, Ohio and graduated from law school in 1991. Scott moved first to Seattle and then to Yakima in 1994 to take a position as a deputy prosecutor with the Yakima County Prosecuting Attorney’s office. Scott spent a lot of time in court and tried many cases before juries and the bench. In 1995, Scott went to work for the City of Yakima as an assistant city attorney/prosecutor. Scott joined Wiley Hurst in 1998 at the personal injury law firm of Wiley Hurst & Associates. In 2000, Scott became Wiley’s law partner and they remained partners and close friends until Wiley’s death in 2013. For 13 years, Scott partnered with Wiley Hurst and Joe Brusic in the firm known as Hurst, Brumback & Brusic. Joe Brusic was elected county prosecutor, and Scott continues on with Wiley’s legacy of helping injured people with his law partner, Sid Ottem. In addition to private law practice, Scott kept active in the military for many years. Scott re-enlisted in the Washington Army National Guard in 1992 and rose to the rank of Staff Sergeant while serving as a tank commander. In 1997, Scott was a commissioned as a US Army (Reserves) JAG officer. Scott retired from the military in 2017 with about 30 years of combined enlisted and commissioned military service. Scott now spends time with his family when not working at this law firm. Scott has served as a Judge pro tempore in Yakima County District Court. Scott is a member of the Washington State Bar Association, The Washington State Trial Lawyers Association, the Yakima County Bar Association, the National Rifle Association, the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 379 and the American Legion, Post 36. Scott is admitted to practice law in Washington State and the United States District Court, Eastern and Western Districts of Washington. Scott is committed to helping people who need help.

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  Link: Scott Brumback

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  Sidney Ottem

  Owner

  Born and raised in Western Nebraska, Sid worked on family-owned farms while growing up. This experience was formative in many ways including an appreciation for the area’s natural resources and the value of hard work. Sid attended Brown University in 1984 in Providence, R.I. after his recruitment to play football there and several other schools. He graduated Brown in 1988. He selected the University of Oregon to take advantage of its dual degree in Law along with a Master’s program in Environmental Science. Sid graduated from the University of Oregon School of Law in 1992 and obtained a position working in Yakima County Superior Court for the Honorable Walter Stauffacher and F. James Gavin as a Staff Attorney on the stream adjudication of the Yakima Basin shortly thereafter. Sid would eventually manage that litigation (the largest and longest running case in the history of Washington State) as a judicial officer beginning in 1999 until its near completion in 2008. Sid joined the United States Department of the Interior as a managing attorney in Albuquerque, NM and Washington D.C. from 2008 until 2015 working on Natural Resource law issues, personal injury claims against the government and numerous other areas. Sid has published numerous articles and lectured at law schools, universities and legal education seminars. While in Yakima, Sid married a local girl (Kimberly Zerr) and enjoyed raising a son and two daughters. However, because of an injury to his wife and the impact on his family along with Sid’s legacy working on farms and ranches, he decided to return to Yakima to work with injured people. Brumback & Ottem Injury Law presented a great opportunity in light of shared Midwestern values, Scott’s outstanding ethics and the firm’s philosophy of assisting the hardworking people of the Yakima Valley. Sid is a member of the Washington State Bar, the Washington State Trial Lawyers Association, and admitted to practice in United States District Court in the Eastern District of Washington. He is a serious fisherman and spends much of his free time on the Columbia and other water ways in the beautiful Northwest pursuing many species. Sid is committed to helping injured people and obtaining resources to assist them in restoring their lives. He works in a variety of areas and is interested in all injury cases.

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  Link: Sidney Ottem

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  Mo The Bulldog

  Mascot

  Mo joined the firm with Sid in 2015. He is an English Bulldog born in 2012 in Florida as a part of a breeding program to restore the original colors of bulldogs such as chocolate, lilac and blue. He is an incredibly friendly dog and loves the attention from staff and clients. Mo represents the values of Brumback & Ottem very nicely as he is completely loyal and kind to his team and very stubborn when he is dissatisfied with an outcome. He participates in animal adoption programs and fundraisers for the Humane Society. We invite you to come down and meet Mo and you can see advertisements featuring him at the following link.

  Link: Mo The Bulldog