Confidential
Settlement – $999,000Judge
Court
L.A. Superior Central West
Attorneys
Plaintiff
Marla A. Brown
(Law Office of Marla A. Brown)
Terry M. Goldberg
(Goldberg & Gage)
Defendant
Experts
Plaintiff
Allan Keith Miller
(technical)
Defendant
Stanley H. Meyers
(technical)
Facts
In the early morning of Feb. 6, 1993, the plaintiffs, a 29-year-old deputy sherriff and a 28-year old deputy sherriff, were on duty, traveling eastbound on Imperial Highway in Los Angeles. The plaintiffs claimed that while they were in the No. 1 lane, traveling at approximately 40 mph, the defendant truck driver, also traveling eastbound, in a double tractor-trailer that was moving very slowly and hauling sludge from a sewage treatment plant, straddled the No. 1 lane and the unraised center divider (not a traffic lane), protruding about two feet into the No. 1 lane. The accident occurred when the plaintiffs' patrol car's left front corner collided with the right rear corner of the rear trailer of the truck. The collision occurred about 40 feet before the intersection with Hindry Ave. The lighting was poor and traffic was light. There was construction immediately ahead in the center divider, between Hindry and La Cienega Blvd. There were no traffic signals at Hindry. The plaintiffs claimed that the collision destroyed the patrol car, causing it to spin out; and that it caused the driver's side door to crush the plaintiff driver's leg. The plaintiffs brought this action against the truck driver and the owners based on based on negligence and respondeat superior theories of recovery.
Settlement Discussions
The plaintiffs made a settlement demand for $750,000, raised to $1 million (policy limits). The defendants made a C.C.P. º998 offer of compromise for $75,000 to the plaintiff driver, $10,000 to the plaintiff passenger and $25,000 to the intervenor.
Specials in Evidence
$5,122.36 and $41,471.90 (plaintiff driver) $2,379.84 and $121,933.30 (plaintiff driver) $___________ $___________
Injuries
The plaintiff driver alleged he sustained a fractured left femur and femur head, requiring four surgeries, with likely multiple future hip replacement surgeries and allegedly causing permanent disability, loss of job and disability retirement.
Other Information
The settlement was reached approximately three years and eight months after the case was filed, and after a jury verdict in the plaintiffs' favor on liability. SETTLEMENT CONFERENCE: A settlement conference was held on before Douglas McKee. It did not resolve the matter.
Deliberation
2+ days
Length
5 days
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