Facts

On July 10, 2014 Mason Zisette, 16, was attending a sweet sixteen birthday party atop a double-decker bus. Zisette hit his head as the bus passed underneath an overpass and died two days later from a traumatic brain injury. His parents sued the bus's owner, Starline Tours of Hollywood Inc. and related entities, as well as various individuals, including the chaperone Jolie Schlossberg.

PLAINTIFFS' CONTENTIONS:
Defendant Jolie Schlossberg arranged for the Starline Tours charter bus trip to celebrate her son's 16th birthday. Defendant's son Tatum Schlossberg invited Mason and 35 other friends. The teenagers met at the Schlossbergs' home to take a five-hour open top double decker "party bus" trip. At the Hollywood stop, Jolie Schlossberg purchased six flasks of Smirnoff Vodka. Jolie then gave the six bottles to her daughter texting her to "spread them around." After sightseeing, eventually the tour began the bus ride home. After traveling only "surface" streets from 3:00 p.m. until after 7:00 p.m., the double decker bus suddenly entered the 405 south freeway. Mason and many kids were standing on top of the double decker bus while on the freeway. Beyond standing on the top deck, Mason and five other boys were additionally standing on an inviting yellow 18" riser at the very front of the bus. The yellow 18" riser was the same height as the chairs on the bus.

This was Starline bus driver Jose Curiel's first time ever driving a double decker bus on the 405 freeway. Curiel had begun working for Starline three months prior to Mason's death. Pre Starline, Curiel had never before driven a double decker bus. Curiel had a tour guide with him on this trip, Starline employee Mike Sonksen. Curiel testified it was the tour guide's responsibility to direct patrons regarding safety on the upper deck, put on their seat belts, etc. Curiel was never informed by Starline that it was his responsibility to give safety instructions. Despite Curiel's reliance on the tour guide, Sonken testified safety was the bus driver's issue not his. Sonksen had never received any safety training from Starline, not even learning the upper deck had seat belts until after Mason's injury.

During the trip, Jolie Schlossberg, her husband, Curiel, and Sonksen were the only adults on the bus. The kids were standing and dancing on top of the double decker bus, to music playing through the Starline bus speakers. This music canceled out the ability to use any microphones. All four adults were aware that the kids on top of the bus were standing while on the 405 freeway. None of the four adults went upstairs to tell the kids to sit down, use seat belts, or be careful because they were now on the freeway.

A witness driving next to the Starline bus on the 405 freeway testified she saw the kids standing and dancing on the upper deck for 15 minutes before the accident. The kids were so loud that she could hear them yelling and singing two lanes away with her car windows rolled up. The open top double decker bus stood at 13.3 feet tall. Some of the 405 Freeway overpasses in the bus route home were as low as 15 feet 1 inch. Mason stood 5'11". Unfortunately, by standing on the 18" riser, Mason was above the "safety envelope" of the bus. Mason was facing northbound as the bus traveled in the opposite southbound direction on the 405 south freeway. At 7:47 p.m., the back of Mason's head impacted the 15' 1" 405 South Spruce overpass in Inglewood near LAX.

Plaintiffs contended Starline's "lack of safety culture" that caused decedent's death, not plaintiff's consumption of alcohol.

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS:
Mason was a drunk 16-year-old with a history of drinking alcohol previously. Therefore, it was his own bad judgment that caused him to stand up and additionally to stand on an 18" riser. Further, both of his parents already knew about his prior events of alcohol consumption, previous events of intoxication and plaintiffs had previously disciplined Mason for such alcohol usage. Defendants' contended Mason's own recklessness, risk taking and bad behavior brought about his death.

Starline argued that Jolie Schlossberg purchased flasks of Vodka for teenagers and then failed to watch them on a moving, exposed freeway vehicle.

Injuries

Mason instantly suffered a traumatic brain injury. He remained on life support long enough to allow donation and harvesting of most of his vital organs and died two days later. After Mason's injury, he tested well above the legal limit (for adults) as he was legally drunk with a .107 blood alcohol content.

Result

The jury returned a verdict for plaintiffs, finding that Starline was 75 percent liable, Schlossberg was 20 percent liable, and Zisette was 5 percent liable. The jury awarded plaintiffs $26 million in non-economic damages, consisting of $10 million in "loss of love" past non-economic, and $16 million in "loss of love" future non-economic damages.

Other Information

There was initially a Phase I bench trial in which alter-ego liability was tried in a 6-day bench trial. The court ruled in favor of plaintiff, holding that the four "separate" Starline corporations and three individual defendant / owners were each and all the "alter-ego" of one another. FILING DATE: Jan. 20, 2015.

Deliberation

2.5 days

Length

six weeks