Equihua v. Chausse

Personal Injury

Los Angeles County

Superior Court Judge Wendy Chang

$141.189 Million

Plaintiffs Attorneys: Parris Law Firm, R. Rex Parris, Khail A. Parris, Eric N. Wilson; Accident Attorneys, Brittney M. Baca; Grant, Genovese & Baratta, Llp, James M. Baratta

Defense Attorneys: Kinkle, Rodiger & Spriggs Apc, Scott B. Spriggs

R. Rex Parris

Jesse Equihua suffered frontal lobe brain damage plus spine injuries and will require medical care for the rest of his life after a distracted driver T-boned his car, causing it to flip over twice. When the Parris Law Firm took driver Shayna Nash to court, the proceeding devolved into a discovery battle that resulted in terminating sanctions against the defense and a prove-up hearing at which jurors in August 2021 awarded Equihua $126.7 million.

"They just stopped responding to discovery," said lead plaintiff's counsel Khail A. Parris. "The court issued sanction after sanction."

Added firm founder R. Rex Parris, Khail's father, "We've been doing this for forty years, and I always assess the likelihood of prevailing and this one was near a 99 percent. But it was really strange. I think somebody decided it wasn't a big case."

Nash's cellphone records, once disclosed, showed she had been talking to her boyfriend on the phone as she crashed into Equihua's car. The named defendant was the owner of the vehicle Nash was driving, Marilyn Chausse. Equihua v. Chausse, 19AVCV00071 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed Jan. 24, 2019).

"The court reprimanded the insurance company lawyers multiple times for obstruction and suppressing key evidence," Rex Parris said. "It's now clear that they intentionally withheld evidence because they were afraid of what would happen if they turned over their client's phone records."

The court struck the defendants' answer to the complaint and precluded the defense from introducing evidence.

Lead defense lawyer Scott B. Spriggs of Kinkle, Rodiger & Spriggs APC said he has substituted out of the case and that Allstate Northbrook Indemnity Co. lawyers at WBM LLP now represent the defendants. Horvitz & Levy LLP attorneys will act as co-counsel for the appeal.

Spriggs said "client difficulties," which he declined to spell out, lay behind the default judgment, which he called an abuse of discretion by the judge. "I've had difficult clients before, but this has been a difficult experience for me. I was disappointed to see what happened. The case should have gone to trial on causation and damages after we stipulated to liability. I've never had a case like this."

Khail Parris said that Allstate has bonded the appeal. "Once we win, the money is ours."

- John Roemer

Khail A. Parris

Eric N. Wilson