Top Plaintiffs' Verdicts by Impact - Rivas v. J.B. Hunt Transport, Inc.

In 2008, Jeffrey Gaines, a truck driver for J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc., ran a red light in Los Angeles and struck 47-year-old Marina Rivas. Rivas' vehicle was hit so hard that it was pushed through the intersection, off the street and into a pole. Gaines fled the scene.

According to Rivas' attorneys, Brian J. Panish and Spencer R. Lucas, their client suffered a subarachnoid hemorrhage, or bleeding in the area surrounding the brain, as well as a concussion and retrograde amnesia.

Panish said the transporation company initially tried to dodge liability by contending both that Gaines had blacked out and that Rivas was at fault.

Pretrial discovery, however, showed that Gaines had been fired twice by J.B. Hunt and held 15 different jobs in the trucking industry in the nine years prior to the accident, with many of his past terminations relating to safety violations.

As a result, the parties were able to agree that J.B. Hunt was liable. According to William T. DelHagen, a partner at Murchison & Cumming LLP and part of the defense team, the plaintiffs dismissed their case against Gaines halfway through the trial.

According to the plaintiff's attorneys, J.B. Hunt offered $2 million to settle during trial. The plaintiffs said the defense didn't think Rivas' injuries were as serious as had been reported and at the time called the proposed settlement amount a "pittance."

In August, a jury awarded Rivas roughly $20 million, an amount not including punitive damages or attorney fees. But Rivas still suffers from cognitive impairment and depression and hasn't been able to return to work since the accident, according to Panish. As such, he said he wasn't enamored with the verdict.

"We didn't get any punitive damages," he said. "We were looking for a little more than what we got. We got all the economic damages but didn't get much for pain and suffering."

Still, Panish said the verdict was significant because it changed the way J.B. Hunt conducted background checks and screened potential hires. Panish said the award was a testament to the U.S. judicial system.

"The plaintiff was a Spanish-speaking immigrant going against a large U.S. trucking company, and the jury was able to recognize the losses she suffered and not discriminate against her despite her being Spanish-speaking," he said. "It shows that it may take years, but eventually things turn to the side of justice."

- RYNE HODKOWSKI

<!-- Top Plaintiffs' Verdicts by Impact - Rivas v. J.B. Hunt Transport, Inc. -->