Greene et al. v. Driz et al.

Assault, Battery, Intentional Emotional Distress

Los Angeles County

Superior Court Judge Susan Bryant-Deason

$72.6 Million

Plaintiffs Attorneys: Dordick Law Corporation, Christopher V. Bulone, Terry J. Cole

Defense Attorneys: Pro Per

Christopher V. Bulone

The challenge for lawyers representing a brother and sister hurt in a beating after they came to a stranger's aid was that their most serious injuries were invisible.

Even so, plaintiffs' attorneys Christopher V. Bulone and Terry J. Cole persuaded jurors that the post-traumatic stress disorder suffered by their clients was not only real but, along with physical trauma, worthy of $38 million in compensatory damages and $34 million in punitives against the men who beat them. Greene et al. v. Driz et al., BC643270 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed Dec. 8, 2016).

"You can't tell by looking at or interacting with a person that they're suffering from a crippling and disabling injury," said Bulone in describing how PTSD is veiled from view and hard to convey to a jury. The big judgment at the end of a three-week trial in July 2021 is "probably the largest PTSD award in history," he added.

"A person can look healthy and can act normally, so it is very difficult, I think, for strangers, even close family and friends, to interact with the person and understand that they're deeply affected, changed and disabled. But ultimately, this jury was able to see it."

Bulone and Cole brought on experts in psychology, psychiatry and neurology and medical doctors to explain the physical and mental trauma that twins Anne Greene and Matthew Green underwent when they were beaten unconscious outside The Nice Guy restaurant on La Cienega Boulevard in 2015. The Greenes acted as Good Samaritans, seeking to aid a photographer under attack by four men who turned their ire on them.

The four defendants--Maurice Driz, Alberto Driz, Shawn Driz and William Joelson--claimed self-defense. "We had overwhelming evidence they were lying, and that made a big damages award easier," Cole said. "Our PTSD experts explained that you can't see it, but it's there." The jury deliberated for a day and a half.

Maria E. Hall, a sole practitioner who originally represented the Driz defendants, withdrew from the case in 2019 as did co-counsel Lewis B. Adelson. Hall, citing the Rules of Professional Conduct, declined to comment on her withdrawal. Adelson did not return a message seeking comment.

Bulone and Cole said the next step is a debtors' exam to seek the defendants' assets. "They're hiding millions of dollars in various ways," Bulone said. "One of them filed for bankruptcy the day before trial, but intentional torts are not dischargeable. They're not judgment proof."

- John Roemer

Terry J. Cole