Personal Injury Verdicts and Settlements in Los Angeles

Verdicts and Settlements - Vehicular Accidents

ABC v. XYZ * -- $1,800,000.00 settlement in a wrongful death automobile accident case, which stems from the wrongful death of plaintiffs' teenage daughter. At the time of her death, the daughter lived with her parents. She was seventeen, (17), years old and preparing to enter her senior year of high school. Prior to her death, the decedent was riding as a passenger in defendants vehicle while their daughter and a co-defendant was driving. While on their way to a friend=s house, the co-defendant struck a parked moving van, which was owned by other defendants and illegally parked on a highway overpass. As a result of the impact with the moving van, decedent suffered a traumatic injury which knocked her unconscious. She never regained consciousness. She was in a coma with life support which was thereafter discontinued.

Diekmann v. State of California -- $1,366,923.00 settlement for a solo vehicular accident resulting in wrongful death. Case was based upon highway design defect. On May 25, 1999, plaintiffs' decedent, Kenneth Diekmann, Sr., drove an armored van southbound on the Antelope Valley 14 Freeway to deliver money to AATMs@ in the area. En route to his last stop of the day, Mr. Diekmann entered a construction area where defendant Caltrans was adding carpool lanes just south of the Escondido Canyon on-ramp, in the rural area of Agua Dulce. Mr. Diekmann's van failed to negotiate a curve and left the freeway at a place where the State had failed to place guard rails. Guard rails were sorely needed B Mr. Diekmann=s van went over the lip of a steep slope, sailed through the air for about 75 feet, and hit a dirt embankment head-on. The front of Mr. Diekmann's van crushed to about 11 inches wide; of course, he died at impact.

ABC v. v. XYZ * -- $1,075,000.00 settlement for a solo accident on an All Terrain Vehicle resulting in serious personal injuries. The plaintiff was a firefighter, and was participating in a non-company sponsored off-road event between firemen and policemen. Plaintiff's ATV crashed, and even though plaintiff was wearing a helmet, he sustained serious brain injury and paraplegia. Plaintiff sued, among other defendants, the helmet manufacturer located in Italy.

Apodaca v. Rouhana -- $1,000,000.00 settlement for wrongful death of 17 year old girl who was struck by bakery truck on highway. Plaintiff, WENDY APODACA, and her 3 daughters, Cassandra age 17, Carissa age 10, and Callista age 3, were all involved in this terrible accident. On the night of August 16, 2003, the Apodaca family and their friends were traveling on Interstate 15 from their homes in Las Vegas, to San Diego. The purpose of the trip was vacation. Among other vehicles within the caravan, was a Dodge Ram truck with an attached 5th wheel trailer. When noticing that the trailer had sustained a flat tire, the friend driving the trailer pulled to the shoulder of the interstate and out of the lane of travel. Callista was seated in the Dodge, and Wendy and Cassandra were standing to the right of the trailer talking with the friend while he was fixing the flat, and checking on the other kids. Suddenly, and without warning, a bakery truck driven by the defendant veered off of the highway and slammed into the rear of the trailer causing it to lunge and strike Cassandra. Regretfully, Cassandra suffered fatal injuries and died at the scene. This case settled for policy limits.

ABC v. XYZ * -- $1,000,000.00 settlement for a truck vs. auto accident resulting in closed head injury to a neonatal nurse. Plaintiff was traveling on westbound I-10 freeway about 55 MPH in the slow lane preparing to exit at next off ramp, which was Tippecanoe when her vehicle was hit on the driver's side, then hit again, causing her vehicle to flip over. landing and staying upside down. This case settled for policy limits.

Arlt v. State Farm Ins. Co. -- $600,000.00 arbitration award in an auto vs. auto accident in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, resulting in serious leg injuries to an elderly woman.

ABC v. XYZ * -- $500,000.00 This case arises from a triple impact motor vehicle accident in which the defendants= big-rig truck slammed into plaintiffs' compact car forcing it to roll-over 360 on the freeway. The jaws of life were needed to extract the plaintiffs from their car. The accident occurred on the westbound 10 Freeway in the City of Ontario. At approximately 10:30 that Sunday morning, plaintiffs were coasting along at approximately 60 mph in the #4 lane of the freeway, when suddenly, and without warning, the defendants= big-rig, a 2003 Freightliner, clipped the driver's side of their vehicle causing it to spin out of control counter-clockwise. As their vehicle ricocheted in front of the truck, the big-rig slammed into the driver=s side door causing it to roll-over 360 and collide with a 3rd vehicle. When rescue personnel arrived, they used the jaws of life to remove the plaintiffs from the wreckage.

Gandall v. XYZ * -- $235,000.00 settlement for a pedestrian who was struck by an automobile. The defendant only had minimal insurance policy limits, but Binder & Associates discovered that unbeknownst to plaintiff, she had a significant uninsured/underinsured motorist policy of her own. This case settled for policy limits.

ABC v. XYZ * -- $216,000.00 settlement in a negligence action for a woman who was struck by an unoccupied moving pick-up truck. Plaintiff was forty-three, (43), years old and had a husband and two children. Plaintiff had been a school teacher for many years, and taught at the school where the accident took place. Plaintiff specifically taught the school's 'Write to Read' computer class, which is an experimental program that helps children learn to read by teaching them to write stories on computers. As part of Plaintiff's further dedication to the school, she also helped run the after school pick-up program. Her job was to call out the names of the children as their parents arrived to pick them up. In previous years, the school did not have a program for picking up children at the school. Most children simply waited in front of the school or at a nearby gate. Shortly thereafter, a plan was placed into operation which called for parents to enter the southeast end of the parking lot, and drive in a line to the pick-up area. A parent or teacher then escorts each child to his or her parent's car. To prevent traffic from backing up on the street, the parents first line up their cars in the parking lot across the street from the school. The 'pick-up' runs with precision, and generally takes no more than 15 minutes. A volunteer with a clip-board takes down the parents' names in the order they arrive at the parking lot. Another volunteer radios the names, by walkie talkie, to plaintiff in the lot across the street. Plaintiff then calls out the childrens' names, and adults then escort the children to one, (1), of the five, (5), pick-up areas, marked by orange cones which are roped together. When the five, (5), cars pull up to the cones, the volunteers open the passenger doors, help the children into their seat-belts, and close the doors. As those five, (5), cars pull away toward the southeast exit, another five, (5), cars drive in from the northeast entrance. The accident occurred one day at 3:00 p.m. At that time, plaintiff heard someone shouting that 'a vehicle was moving,' while she was assisting with the 'pick-up' program. Plaintiff looked to see where the vehicle was coming from, and spotted the 1986 Blue Ford pick-up truck, without a driver, headed right for her. Plaintiff turned to see that nobody was behind her, hoping to dash out of the way. To her surprise however, forty, (40), or so children were sitting on the asphalt, using their backpacks as cushions, directly in the path of the moving vehicle. In an effort to at least slow the vehicle, plaintiff lunged at it. The truck dragged plaintiff the length of the parking stall before coming to rest against the curb, pinning her and several of the children. A triage unit and multi-victim incident command system was placed into operation, and paramedics began transporting the injured to local area hospitals. Plaintiff was hailed as a 'hero' by parents, teachers, members of the community, and local newspapers, but she suffered severe injuries for her efforts to protect and save the school-children. She sued the owner of the truck who left the truck on a slope, in neutral and unattended. This case settled for policy limits.

ABC v. XYZ * -- $150,000.00 settlement of car accident case in which plaintiff required knee surgery, and in the future possibly knee replacement. Case was initially settled for policy limits of third party, and then proceeded to under-insured motorist claim.

ABC v. XYZ * -- $115,000.00 settlement for auto versus pedestrian. This case settled following a jury trial and hung jury.

ABC v. XYZ * -- $115,000.00 settlement of auto versus auto case where mom and daughter's vehicle was struck on freeway and rolled over. This case was settled for policy limits, and settled shortly before trial.

ABC v. XYZ * -- $100,000.00 settlement for auto v. auto resulting in back injury to teacher. This case settled for policy limits.

ABC v. XYZ * -- $100,000.00 settlement of a case where motorist struck CalTrans workers as she was working on side of freeway. This case settled for policy limits.

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