Facts

On July 21, 2017, plaintiff Bhupinder Singh, 37, a truck driver, arrived at a warehouse to pick up produce. The warehouse was located in Capay (near Sacramento), California and owned by Capay Inc. As Singh was inside the warehouse watching a forklift load pallets of tomatoes into his trailer, he walked across the warehouse. He said he was concerned about the weight distribution inside the trailer and wanted to get a better view of how the trailer was being loaded. At that moment, Capay's forklift operator, Jose Perez, ran over Singh's right leg, crushing it. Singh ultimately required a below the knee amputation as a result of the collision.
Singh sued Capay for the alleged negligence of the forklift operator, and Singh's wife, Reena Rani, brought a claim for loss of consortium.

PLAINTIFFS' CONTENTIONS: Plaintiffs contended that Perez was negligent because he did not look back in the direction of travel when he put his forklift in reverse, backing into Singh. By not looking back, Perez violated state, industry and Capay's own rules regarding the safe operation of a forklift. Those rules require operators to always look in the direction of travel to make sure everything is clear and that there are no pedestrians in the way. Plaintiffs further contended that Perez failed to designate a safe area for the truck drivers to stand during the loading process.

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS: The defense contended that Singh was the sole cause of the accident. They claimed that he was specifically instructed to stay out of the active forklift operating zone and to stand in the corner. They pointed out that by his own admission, Singh did nothing to get the attention of Perez to alert him that Singh was going to walk across the active loading zone.

Settlement Discussions

Plaintiffs demanded $8 million and the defense offered $3 million.

Damages

Medical Costs Past - $126,401.71 (stipulated "Howell" amount); Future Lost Earning Capacity - $1,000,000; Future Medical Costs- $1,680,088; Past Non-Economic - $2,000,000; Future Non-Economic - $5,000,000; Loss of Consortium - $750,000.

Injuries

Plaintiff suffered an amputation of his right leg, below the knee; prosthesis; and decreased range of motion. After the accident, Singh was taken by ambulance to Kaiser Hospital in Vacaville. A surgeon performed an emergency "open" amputation" that evening. Two days later a "definitive" amputation was performed. Singh was discharged home after 11 days in the hospital. With respect to future medical expenses, the main disagreement between the parties related to future surgeries. Plaintiffs contended that Singh would need one major revision surgery to his residual limb and four minor revisions. The defense argued that Singh made a great recovery and there was no need for major surgery. With respect to his prosthetic leg needs, both sides agreed that Singh would need a daily use leg, an aquatic leg, and an activity leg for exercise. The main dispute was that Plaintiffs proffered that Singh required a fourth back-up daily use leg and the defense claimed that the aquatic or activity leg could serve as a back-up. Plaintiffs also sought recovery for a microprocessor foot and ankle for the daily use leg, which defendant contended was contraindicated.

Result

The jury awarded plaintiff $10.5 million in damages. The jury also found plaintiff to be 25 percent comparatively negligent, with a net verdict of $7.9 million.