On September 1, 1999, Gregory Gumm was riding his motorcycle in Palm Springs, California on Alejo Avenue, approaching the intersection of Farrell Avenue. When he was about 100 feet from the intersection the light changed from red to green. Gumm stopped slowing down and began accelerating. He observed a white SUV that was proceeding on Alejo Avenue through the intersection of Farrell Avenue in the opposite direction from him. Once the SUV was into the intersection, Gumm saw another vehicle coming into the intersection against the light. Le Kim Phung, the defendant in this case, was driving south on Farrell Avenue and approached the intersection of Alejo Avenue, where she ran the red light. Due to the close proximity of Gumm and his motorcycle to the intersection, and in an effort to avoid the accident, he downshifted and put on his brakes. The motorcycle started to go down on the right and then uprighted and went down on the left and slid some 53 feet to the intersection. Gumm suffered a fracture of his left femur close to the area of his prosthetic left hip. He was hospitalized for 33 days and in traction immediately after the accident in an effort to heal the fracture. He was hospitalized a second time for five days for fever and pain in his left leg. On December 24, 1999, plaintiff was re­admitted to Desert Hospital with pain and fever, diagnosed as an infection in his left hip. His hip was removed, and he remained hospitalized until February 2000. He went on to have seven other surgeries in 2000 for infection of the hip, including several irrigations and debridements of the bone and tissue. For a period of more than eight months, he suffered with a large open wound in the hip that had to be cleaned and dressed several times a day. At present, Gumm has lost his left hip and is unable to bear weight on his left leg. Due to his debilitating injuries, Gumm filed a peronal injury lawsuit against Phung. In addition, both parties filed a separate suit against his doctor based on the failure to treat the hip infection in a timely fashion. The two people in the white SUV witnessed the accident. The driver was Rob Parkins, City Manager for the City of Palm Springs. Mr. Parkins testified under oath, and also reported to the police at the accident site, that he observed the motorcycle skidding and observed that the light for the motorcycle was green in Gumm's direction of traffic at the time he was trying to avoid the accident with Phung's car. The passenger in the SUV, City Attorney David Aleshire, testified that he saw the motorcyclist do everything he could to avoid colliding with defendant’s car. The accident scene was investigated by Civilian Safety Officer, Jerry Poss. Officer Poss had more than 20 years of traffic investigation experience at the time of the accident. Officer Poss interviewed both parties, and witness Parkins at the scene of the accident. He also measured the gouge marks and made a diagram of the scene. Officer Poss believed that Phung had run the red light and Gumm had attempted to stop his motorcycle to avoid broadsiding the Phung car by braking, resulting in the motorcycle laying down. Several attempts were made to settle the case against Phung out of court. Her insurance provider, however, refused to settle within the policy limits in a timely fashion. There were three mediations, however Phung and her insurance carrier only offered her policy limits of $100,000. In the end, the jury sided with Gumm and his attorneys, awarding him $650,000. He was, however, found to be 30% liable in the accident.