Facts

Plaintiff Sierra Charles was 3 1/2 years old and a resident of the defendants' mobile home park. On July 9, 2006, she rode her bike off a 16-foot drop-off which was at the edge of defendants' property. It was proven that the standard of care required a fence in this area and that a fence would have prevented the fall. Sierra was taken to the emergency room and received two stitches above her left eye. The emergency room did not diagnose a concussion or any other injuries and discharged Sierra home the same day. A year later, Sierra was diagnosed as having suffered a mild traumatic brain injury.

Plaintiff brought this action based on premises liability, Mobile Home Residency Act, and punitive damages.

The Mobile Home Residency Law and punitive damages causes of action were dismissed pursuant to a confidential agreement after four weeks of trial.

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS:
Defendant disputed liability. Defendant claimed that in over 55 years of the park being in existence, there had never been any incident involving the wash area where Sierra fell. The area where Sierra fell was not a children's play area and there was a 25-foot buffer zone. The drop off was actually not steep, it was a slow degrade and was a natural condition of the land of Yucaipa. Sierra was not supervised by her parents and was 3 1/2 years old, and had a history of riding her bike without training wheels around the trailer park. Moreover, defendant contended that Sierra never wore a helmet and was not wearing a helmet at the time of her injury.

Defendant claimed that any of Sierra's economic damages were covered by public health and public education benefits (the court allowed the defense to present evidence and argue that Sierra had no economic damages because she had public benefits, and that all her future damages would be covered by public benefits).

Injuries

Plaintiff claimed to have suffered a brain injury.

Result

Plaintiff's verdict for $1 million ($925,000 for future non-economic damages and $75,000 for past non-economic damages). 20% fault was assessed to the plaintiff's mother.

Other Information

INSURER: Chartis.

Deliberation

four days

Length

eight weeks