Facts

On the afternoon of June 12, 2010, while walking down a public alley near the Hermosa Beach pier, plaintiff Gila Katz, age 64, saw a penny on the ground and squatted down to pick it up. While in the squatted position, an Acura car being driven by defendant Walter Holt, 79, came up from behind and allegedly bumped her in the back. Holt had three passengers over age 80 with him in the car.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS:
Plaintiff contended that she was walking straight ahead in the alley, and that she was at all times visible such that defendant should have and could have easily stopped without hitting her.

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS:
Defendant contended that he saw plaintiff walking ahead of him in the alley but she was off to the right side. She suddenly moved to the left, in front of his car, and then stopped and bent over. He stopped immediately and claimed that his car either did not hit plaintiff, or, just touched her without possibly causing any injury.

Defendant disputed whether the car hit plaintiff hard enough to injure her, or, if she really had pain immediately or soon afterward. Defendant also disputed that his driving was negligent.

Settlement Discussions

No clear demand after a $250,000 policy demand years earlier. Defendant made a CCP 998 offer of $100,000.

Specials in Evidence

$92,000

Injuries

At the time of the accident, plaintiff had already undergone two surgeries to her lumbar spine, that last one being a three-level fusion from L2-L5. The incident allegedly made her L1 disc level vulnerable and rendered her an "eggshell" plaintiff. She claimed immediate injury, which was subsequently found to be collapse of the L1 disc, requiring surgery consisting of a revision of the fusion so as to now fuse four levels of the spine instead of just three. After the surgery, skin wound complications occurred, followed by development of a large hematoma, each of which required a separate hospitalization. Plaintiff is a chaplain and a Rabbi, who spends all of her time doing that work and related counseling work for the Red Cross and related entities. While she did not lose income because she did this on a volunteer basis, she claimed to be unable to continue doing such work as much as before. Defendant claimed that the subsequent surgery was in no way the result of any trauma from the car. Rather, it was the inevitable result of her degenerative scoliosis condition.

Result

Defense verdict.

Other Information

EXPERT TESTIMONY: Plaintiff expert, Dr. Landman claimed that the first CT scan done post-accident clearly showed disc collapse far advanced from the prior scan 13 months earlier, thus it had to have been caused by the accident trauma. Defense expert, Dr. Bhatia claimed there wasn't much additional collapse and that the collapse process was already ongoing well before the accident date. Also, a bump in the back could not possibly cause injury of this type.

Deliberation

30 minutes

Poll

10-2 (defendant not negligent)

Length

five days