Top Plaintiffs' Verdict by Dollar: Briones v. Zink, $85 million

One year after persuading a Ventura County jury to award $125 million to a 24-year-old client rendered quadriplegic by a drunk driver, Gary A. Dordick has succeeded in defending most of that verdict, even after a judge stripped the award down to $85 million post-trial.

"As I explained to the other side, the court of appeal can throw this out for whatever reason they see fit, but when we go back to trial it's always going to result in an eight- or nine-figure award and there's nothing they can do about it," Dordick said. "The system can be slow and the system can be frustrating, but at the end of the day justice is going to dictate that size verdict for a catastrophically injured young man."

Plaintiff Francisco Briones had borrowed his mother's car, which was uninsured at the time, to drive to a 5 a.m. work shift. While Briones was waiting to turn left at an intersection, defendant Christopher L. Zink ran a red light and T-boned Briones' car, severing the young man's spine.

Evidence at trial would later show Zink had the equivalent of 17 alcoholic drinks in his system , and that he had not slept for 24 hours.

The jury awarded $2 million in past and future lost earnings, calculated using minimum wage. Past medical treatment totaled about $740,000 — but an expert physician's life care plan estimated Briones would have to pay nearly $18 million in medical costs by the time he reached retirement age in 2058.

Jurors alloted an additional $42.5 million for past and future pain and suffering. That total was matched by punitive damages, bringing the award to $125 million.

Whether the general damages remain stricken on appeal will depend on the application a 1996 voter initiative, Proposition 213, which bars uninsured car owners from recovering noneconomic losses in the event of an accident.

There are exceptions for accidents involving drunk drivers and for incidents where the uninsured car owner establishes financial responsibility by depositing $35,000 with the Department of Motor Vehicles before filing a lawsuit.

Briones satisfies both exceptions, but case law has not decided how to treat the driver of an uninsured car who is not the owner.

Defense counsel Bruce A. Finck conceded that the $18 million in medical costs would likely remain, but opined that the punitive damages might not have been so high had his client Zink, who is currently in prison, been allowed to attend the civil trial and address the jury about the criminal price he was paying for the crash.

"I did get declarations from my client about what he would have testified to had he been allowed to attend, but I've never been hired to be the client at trial," Finck said. "When you have a drunk driver, a very injured client and a very effective plaintiff's attorney, there's not much you can do other than cross your T's and dot your I's" on mitigation and procedural defenses, Finck added.

— America Hernandez