Marguerite Foote v. Estate of Stanley Smidt Jr.
Published: Feb. 24, 2004 | Result Date: Sep. 22, 2003 | Filing Date: Jan. 1, 1900 |Case number: 01AS04770 Verdict – $259,254
Judge
Court
Sacramento Superior
Attorneys
Plaintiff
Defendant
Experts
Plaintiff
Elvert Nelson
(medical)
Donna Jordan
(medical)
Defendant
Tom Shelton
(technical)
George Picetti
(medical)
Facts
The plaintiff Marguerite Foote was in the process of putting gas into her car at a Costco gas station located in Sacramento. The gas station was a one-way gas station, and the plaintiff was standing outside of her car attempting to place the gas nozzle into her gas tank. She took one step back to pull the hose over the trunk of her car. As she did so, a Lincoln Town Car driven by the defendant Stanley Smidt Jr., pulled behind her in order to access the pump in front of her. As the defendant drove by the plaintiff, the passenger side view mirror struck the plaintiff in her lower back.
Settlement Discussions
An arbitrator awarded the plaintiff $255,000. This was rejected by the defendant. The defendant then offered $25,000 to resolve the case.
Damages
The plaintiff missed six months from work while recovering from the surgery. Non-economic damages were approximately $566,000.
Injuries
The plaintiff suffered immediate pain in her lower back with radiation into her right leg. Approximately three and a half months after the collision, while the plaintiff was still recovering from her lower back injury, she bent down to pick up her 2-year-old daughter and heard a pop in her back. She received emergency room treatment. Her lower back pain intensified and returned to its previous level of pain. Her lower back pain and right leg radiation never went away. An MRI examination revealed a bulging disk at the L5-S1 level. She was diagnosed as suffering from discogenic pain at the L5-S1 level A single-level fusion was performed and a titanium cage placed at the site to hold the bone graft in place.
Deliberation
one day
Length
six days
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