Personal Injury Verdicts and Settlements in Los Angeles

Verdicts and Settlements - Premises Liability

ABC v. XYZ* -- $3,270,000.00 settlement not including an additional $2,000,000.00 structured settlement in a wrongful death action arising out of a construction site accident. Plaintiffs' decedent, an independent business owner and trucking contractor, was killed when he was physically run over by his own dump truck which was rammed from the rear by one of the defendants who was operating a bulldozer. At that time, plaintiff's decedent was underneath his truck inspecting lose wires. The decedents wife and two children sued a number of contractors and sub-contractors, whose defense was that the decedent had been instructed to not exit his truck while in the construction zone. Binder & Associates meticulously reviewed thousands of pages of documents and found the smoking gun which led to the settlement.

ABC v. XYZ* -- $562,500.00 settlement. Plaintiff was a 72 year old unmarried man of Vietnamese descent. Prior to, and at the time of, the subject accident, plaintiff was employed full time for over 20 years as an accountant and bookkeeper for an upscale eatery, located in South Pasadena, California. One day while plaintiff was working at his desk in his office at the restaurant, a 500 pound transformer belonging to defendant became dislodged from a utility pole which was holding it and then crashed through the roof of plaintiff's office. Although the transformer itself did not directly land on plaintiff, (it ultimately came to rest about 2 feet from plaintiff), plaintiff's office roof and ceiling did fall on plaintiff and cause plaintiff to sustain a very serious head injury and 1

ABC v. XYZ* -- $500,000.00 settlement of a premises liability case arising from an apartment fire which occurred in the City of San Bernardino. Plaintiffs and her now 5 year old son, had come home from working a double shift (about 15 hrs) as a nursing assistant. When plaintiff arrived home about 7:00 a.m. she picked up her son from the upstairs apartment of a child care provider. Plaintiff carried her son downstairs to her apartment and put him to bed as he was still sleeping. Plaintiff then laid down to rest herself. The next thing plaintiff remembers is waking up to the yells of her 3 year old son. Plaintiff got out of bed, the apartment was black with smoke so she could not see were she was going. Plaintiff walked out of her room and bumped into her son in the hallway. Plaintiff then went back to her bedroom grabbed a sheet/blanket off her bed and wrapped it around her son and proceeded through the burning living room to the front window in the kitchen. Plaintiff did not even attempt to exit either of the bedroom windows because she knew the security bars could not be opened. Plaintiff did not try to open the front door because the flames were half way across the front door. In addition, the front door could not be opened because the deadbolt could only be opened from the inside with a key, which was not in the lock. Plaintiff had to break the kitchen window to escape the fire with her son. Plaintiff suffered 2nd and 3rd degree burns on about 30% of her body. She spent 20 days in the hospital and underwent two extremely painful skin graft surgeries. Plaintiff had no health insurance. The minor-plaintiff suffered from smoke inhalation and minor 1st degree burns to his feet. He was treated and released in less than one day. Plaintiff did not dispute the fact that her 3 year old son started the fire. Plaintiffs contended that their injuries were proximately caused by the lack of Aescape releases@ on the security bars in the bedroom windows. In order to escape the fire plaintiffs had to traverse the living room where the fire was raging in order to get to the unbarred kitchen window. Plaintiffs= apartment unit was the only unit in the complex that had security bars on the bedroom windows. Plaintiff had complained to the owner about the illegal security bars when the illegal nature of the bars was brought to plaintiff's attention by a police officer who was investigating a burglary. The security bars were never brought into compliance before the fire. Binder & Associates retained a former California State Fire Marshall as its expert on fire safety, and the case settled shortly before trial.

ABC v. XYZ* -- $350,000.00 settlement in a negligence/wrongful death case against an apartment building for the death of a young boy in a swimming pool.

ABC v. HDI* -- $250,000.00 settlement in a negligence action for injuries sustained to a shopper who was hit on the head from a box that fell from above. Plaintiff was a 34 year old married man with an infant daughter and was shopping at defendant=s store. While plaintiff was looking for a item in the 'tool corral' a 40 pound box containing staplers fell 10 feet from an upper store shelf and struck plaintiff on his head. Plaintiff never saw the box before it fell and was not involved in any way in causing the box to fall on him. As a result, plaintiff lost consciousness for several minutes. Plaintiff was transported to a hospital where he was examined and later discharged.

ABC v. XYZ* -- $199,000.00 settlement against warehouse type store. While plaintiff was shopping a trash-can fell from above and knocked him unconscious. Store denied trash-can ever struck plaintiff, but eventually a store worker, specifically safety manager, came forward at deposition and testified he happened to be walking by and saw the can hit plaintiff.

ABC v. XYZ* -- $150,000.00 settlement against homeowner for plaintiff who fell off roof and broke arm.

ABC v. XYZ* -- $150,001.00 settlement in a negligence case of a young boy who was injured on a playground at school. Plaintiff was seriously and permanently injured on a playground apparatus on the property of his school. At that time, plaintiff was approximately eight, (8), years of age and a student. He and his friends were left alone, unattended, and unsupervised in a playground which is designated for younger children attending the school. The subject injury occurred on a playground apparatus known as 'monkey bars.' On one afternoon, the school's lunch delivery from McDonalds was running late. The teachers therefore, directed plaintiff and his fellow students to wait and play at or near the lunch area, specifically in the younger children=s playground. However, the playground=s equipment was designed and intended for much smaller children. Once at the playground plaintiff and his friends began to play, and specifically jump, on the monkey bars. At that time , because a particular horizontal bar was already so close to him, plaintiff was unable to grasp it, and his face and mouth slammed into the apparatus. In addition to more complicated injuries, several of plaintiff's front teeth became completely dislodged and fell from his mouth. Moreover, the manner in which plaintiff's avulsed teeth were handled by the teachers is evidence of further negligence. In fact, many reliable sources specifically recommend that containers of H.B.S.S., (Hank's Balanced Salt Solution), should be kept at all schools and playgrounds at all times where dental accidents are likely to occur. This is the best and most ideal method of transportation for avulsed teeth recommended. The next most suitable solution in which to transport the teeth would have been milk, followed by saline, and then saliva. In this case, the teeth were not handled properly and were placed under running water which permanently damaged the periodontal ligament cells, (PDL cells). The teachers could have easily contacted any local dentist and/or hospital and received proper instructions. Instead, they did the very worst thing they could have done and caused more harm than good. In the final analysis, it is clear that the actions of the school staff added significantly to plaintiff's injury because his natural teeth could not be reinserted.

ABC v. XYZ* -- $99,999.00 settlement of case involving highschool student who was negligently instructed to bounce on trampoline at the same time as another student during gymnastics class. Only one person is supposed to bounce at a time due to 'double bounce' energy. Plaintiff fell off trampoline and broke both ankles requiring surgery.

ABC v. XYZ* -- $95,000.00 settlement for plaintiff who had toe run-over by bulldozer while on jobsite.

Darnice Brown v. City of Glendale -- $85,322.00 jury verdict + interest and costs. This action involves a trip and fall accident which was caused by an uneven public sidewalk (sidewalk was raised over 1.5"). On March 16, 2004, at about 12 noon, plaintiff Darnice Brown was leaving the DMV in Glendale. She was walking westbound on the south sidewalk in front of a condominium complex at 1344 Fifth Street, when she stepped on an uneven portion of the sidewalk that was settled in some parts and was raised in others. This caused Ms. Brown to twist, dislocate, and fracture her ankle. Ms. Brown had never walked on this sidewalk before. The dangerous condition was a sunken sidewalk that was directly next to a 'Pull Box' (type of electrical vault) which was in the center of the sidewalk. It is believed that the sidewalk was installed approximately in 1980 when the 'Pull Box' was placed in the sidewalk. Over the years, part of the sidewalk next to the 'Pull Box' settled and sunk.

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