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Date:
Tuesday, October 20, 2009Area:
Central TexasDate:
Thursday, September 17, 2009Area:
Lafayette, INMotorcyclist awarded damages for serious injuries after accident with a truck and a car
Accident Type:
Motorcycle AccidentIncident Date:
Wednesday, May 28, 2008Result Date:
Friday, July 9, 2010Monetary Result:
$1,162,022Topics:
Court:
King County Superior CourtOn May 28, 2008 Eddie Trujillo was operating his motorcycle south in the high occupancy vehicle lane on Interstate 405 in Bellevue, WA. At the same time, Martin Vasquez was driving a 1999 Century Freightliner Truck owned by his employer Esparza Truck Inc. in the fast lane adjacent to Trujillo. Vasquez then collided with a Kia to his right operated by Dakoda Rooney. The impact of the collision resulted in the Kia to spinning out of control. Vasquez then broadsided the Kia a second time, propelling it into Trujillo's lane. His motorcycle then crashed into Rooney’s Kia. Trujillo’s motorcycle was totaled in the collision. Vasquez was cited for an unsafe lane change, failure to keep right, and defective brake adjustment.
Trujillo claimed he sustained a flail chest, fractured clavicle, post-traumatic stress disorder, and brain injury as a result of the collision.
Trujillo and his wife, Yolanda Trujillo, filed a vehicle negligence lawsuit against Esparza Truck, Vasquez and his wife, Constantina Mandujano, and Rooney and her husband, Bryant Rooney in the King County Superior Court. In their first amended complaint, the plaintiff alleged Vasquez and Dakoda caused the accident by negligently changing lanes. The Trujillos claimed Vasquez was negligent because he failed to drive his truck in the right hand lane.
The Trujillos claimed Vasquez acted within the scope of his employment, rendering Esparza Truck liable under the doctrine of respondeat superior.
The plaintiffs sought damages for Eddie’s injuries, almost $50,000 in medical expenses, pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, over $440,000 in lost wages and employment benefits, impairment of earning capacity, transportation expenses, housekeeping expenses, and over $7,200 in property damage. Yolanda also sought damages for loss of Eddie’s consortium.
The Rooneys denied the allegations of negligence and claimed the plaintiffs’ own negligence, failure to mitigate their damages, and the negligence of Esparza Truck and Vasquez, as defenses. The defendants sought entitlement to indemnity and contribution from Esparza Truck and Vasquez. They also questioned the nature and extent of the plaintiffs’ claimed injuries and damages.
The Rooneys filed a crossclaim against Esparza Truck and Vasquez, allegating that Vasquez’s negligence resulted in the incident. They sought damages for Dakoda’s injuries, medical expenses, and property damage.
Esparza Truck and Vasquez denied the allegations of negligence and asserted the plaintiffs’ failure to mitigate their damages as an affirmative defense. They claimed Vasquez was driving in his lane of travel and did not attempt to change lanes at the time of the accident. The defendants also disputed the nature and extent of the plaintiffs’ claimed injuries and damages.
Esparza Truck and Vasquez filed a crossclaim against the Rooneys, alleging Dakoda’s negligence proximately caused the incident.
Esparza Truck and Vasquez reportedly accepted liability and agreed to settle the Rooneys’ crossclaim against them.
The court granted the plaintiffs’ partial motions for summary judgment finding Eddie fault free and the negligence of either or both Vasquez and Dakoda caused the collision. The plaintiffs were awarded $49,946.56 in medical expenses. The defendants’ affirmative defenses were also dismissed.
Jurors returned a verdict July 9, 2010, finding Esparza Truck and Vasquez were negligent and their negligence was a proximate cause of the injury and damages to the plaintiffs. The panel determined Dakoda was not negligent. Eddie was awarded $1,080,772 and Yolanda was awarded $81,250.
Judge Carol Schapira entered judgment in accordance with the verdict July 29. Judge Schapira ordered Esparza Truck, Vasquez, and Mandujano to pay $556.78 for attorney fees and court costs.
Deceased motorcyclist's family and their lawyers win their case after their family member died in a motorcycle accident, striking a left-turning vehicle in Los Olivos, California
Accident Type:
Motorcycle AccidentIncident Date:
Tuesday, March 18, 2008Result Date:
Monday, April 27, 2009Monetary Result:
$814,055Topics:
On March 18, 2008, Lawrence Lovejoy, 74, was riding his motorcycle on Highway 154 in Los Olivos, California when a car operated by Harriet Ann Visscher turned left in front of him as it was entering the road. Lovejoy crashed into the side of the car. He died from injuries sustained in the accident, while Visscher died of a heart attack six hours later.
Lovejoy's surviving family sued Visscher's estate for motor vehicle negligence. The family and their lawyers argued that Visscher's negligent driving was the sole cause cause of the accidetnt.
At the time of his death, Lovejoy, a former California Highway Patrol officer, was a part-time employee with an auto parts company, earning 9$ per hour. His family claimed that Lovejoy could have been expected to live for another 10 years, during which time he would have continued working and also collecting his retirement funds from his career as an officer. They therefore sought lost wages due to his death.
In the end, the jury sided with Lovejoy's family, awarding them $814,055, of which $138,000 was for the economic support he would have provided the family, had he lived.
Motorcyclist's lawyers win his case after being injured in a head-on accident with a pickup truck
Accident Type:
Motorcycle AccidentIncident Date:
Saturday, July 21, 2007Result Date:
Thursday, October 28, 2010Monetary Result:
$850,100Topics:
On July 21, 2007, at 10:40 a.m., Len Briese was riding his motorcycle west on Scotts Valley Road, east of Laurel Dell in an unincorporated Lake County, California. William James Tilley, a resident of Oklahoma, was driving his pickup truck with a trailer east on Scotts Valley Road and collided with plaintiff’s motorcycle. Tilley said he crossed over the center line in a curve and sideswiped Briese on his motorcycle.
As a result of the accident, Briese suffered a leg fracture, a degloving injury to knee and had to receive knee replacement surgery.
Briese sued Tilley for his negligence in causing the accident. Tilley did not contend that Briese had any fault in the accident. There were two attempts to mediate a settlement to the accident, however an agreement over the damages was not reached, and therefore the case went to court. In the end, Briese and his attorneys won, receiving an award of $850,100.
Motorcyclist's lawyers win his case after being involved in an accident with a pickup truck in San Bernardino, California, sustaining a brain injury
Accident Type:
Motorcycle AccidentIncident Date:
Friday, July 20, 2007Result Date:
Tuesday, June 16, 2009Monetary Result:
$556,371Topics:
On July 20, 2007, Kiven Dawson, a 46-year-old truck driver, was riding his motorcycle north on Meridian Avenue in San Bernardino, California when he struck a pickup truck driven by Norma Ortiz. Although he does not have memory of the accident due to a brain injury he sustained as a result, based on his police report, he claims that Ortiz was driving southbound when she made a left hand turn in his ath, resulting in the accident.
Dawson decided to sue Ortiz, and the owner of her vehicle, Alfonso Torres for negligent driving.
Ortiz and Torres argued that Dawson was inattentive. A biomechanics expert brought fourth by their lawyers testified that he believed Dawson was speeding and could have avoided the accident had he been operating the bike at an appropriate speed.
Dawson claimed that he sustained permanent disability, rendering him unable to work in his profession, which was a claim disputed by Ortiz and Torres' lawyers.
The jury ultimately ruled in favor of Dawson, finding Ortiz and Torres 100% liable. He was awarded $556,371.
Motorcyclist awarded damages after hitting a car that failed to yield
Accident Type:
Motorcycle AccidentIncident Date:
Thursday, December 14, 2006Result Date:
Wednesday, February 10, 2010Monetary Result:
$1,156,640Court:
San BernardinoOn Nov. 14, 2006, plaintiff Carlos Llamas, 34, a substitute teacher, was driving a motorcycle east on Lugonia Avenue in Redlands, on his way home from school. The plaintiff crashed into a vehicle operated by Thomas Chung, who was coming from the opposite direction and was making a left turn into his driveway. Llamas’s motorcycle hit the front of Chung’s car, and he was thrown approximately 150 feet.
An ambulance sent Llamas to an emergency room with a fracture to his left, non-dominant forearm. He underwent several surgeries, including open reduction-internal fixation with plating and skin grafting from his thigh. He also sustained a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee for which he received arthroscopic surgery. Llamas also sustained lacerations to his bowel and colon, leading to a partial removal of both, and the insertion of a colostomy.
Llamas sued Chung for motor vehicle negligence. He claimed that Chung failed to yield to his oncoming motorcycle, which was going straight on Lugonia, as opposed to the defendant’s left-turning vehicle. Llamas claimed that he tried to avoid hitting Chung’s vehicle, but couldn’t, and collided with the car’s front end.
Chung contended that Llamas was speeding, and presented two eyewitnesses who stated that the plaintiff was driving between 70 mph and 80 mph in a zone where the speed limit was 50 mph. Chung claimed that, had Llamas been going slower, the accident could have been avoided because the plaintiff would have had enough distance to stop before the crash.
The plaintiff had a successful takedown of the colostomy after seven months and had no residual intestinal problems. He claimed residual weakness in his left arm with permanent disfigurement. He also claimed that he’d require future surgery on his injured left knee.
Llamas missed 1.5 years of work after the accident, but by trial he had returned to an active, working lifestyle. He sought damages for past and future pain and suffering, past and future medical costs and past lost earnings. The defense contended that the plaintiff’s knee injury was the result of a pre-existing condition relating to a compound fracture he had sustained in a car accident two years prior to the subject accident.
Chung did not contest the cause or severity of the plaintiff’s arm and intestinal injuries.
The jury found that Chung was 75-percent liable and Llamas was 25-percent at fault. Thus the damages awarded to Llamas were reduced to $867,480.