Confidential
Settlement – $1,800,000Judge
Court
San Francisco Superior
Attorneys
Plaintiff
Defendant
David A. Hirshik
(Gomes, Hirshik & Hummel)
Robert A. Clifford
(Clifford Law Offices PC)
Experts
Plaintiff
Arthur E. Lyons
(medical)
Defendant
John J. Lavorgna
(medical)
Facts
On Dec. 20, 2000, the plaintiff, a 57-year-old female, was driving her 1995 Honda northbound on Highway 80 in San Francisco. The defendant, while in the course and scope of his employment, was driving a truck behind the plaintiff. The plaintiff's vehicle was rear-ended by the defendant's truck near the 54th Street exit. The plaintiff sued the defendant and his employer for vehicular negligence and maintained that the defendant was speaking on a cellular telephone at the time of the incident and that he failed to brake. The defendants denied the plaintiff's allegations and asserted that the plaintiff caused the accident by making a sudden stop.
Settlement Discussions
The plaintiff made C.C.P. Section 998 demand of $950,000 each from the defendant driver and his employer. The defendants offered initially $25,000 and this was raised first to $1.2 million and then to $1.8 million, at which sum the parties settled.
Injuries
The plaintiff claimed that her injuries consisted of spinal injury at the C4-7 level (bulging discs, impingement canal stenosis). The defendants contended that the impact was too low to have caused the alleged injuries.
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