Facts

Kelman Garcia, was rear ended by the defendant, Ting Lin on June 4, 2018 in San Mateo. The speed at the point of impact was between 19 and 30 mph.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS: Plaintiff claimed he suffered an injury to his L5-S1 disc and claimed he needed a future disc replacement surgery at that level which he claimed would cost $200,000. Dr. Kenneth Light recommended the surgery and offered to perform it on a lien basis. The plaintiff obtained five months of Chiropractic treatment and three epidural steroid injections at the L5-S1 level. Plaintiff lastly contended that the collision prevented him from playing soccer.

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS: Liability was admitted by the defendant with no comparative fault on the plaintiff. Defense experts testified that the accident did not cause a permanent injury to the disc. Rather, the plaintiff had preexisting degenerative disc disease that was temporarily aggravated by the accident justifying only a few months of chiropractic care.

Settlement Discussions

Plaintiff demanded the State Farm policy limit of $1.25 million up until about a month before trial at which time he dropped to a CCP 998 of $199,999. The defendant offered $21,000 up until about a month before trial and then came up to a CCP 998 of $50,001.

Specials in Evidence

Meds: $27,000

Damages

The defense asked the jury to award $25,000. Plaintiff asked the jury to award $1.7 million.

Result

A jury awarded Plaintiff $100,000 which was composed of past medical expenses of $27,000; past pain and suffering of $25,000; future medical expenses of $38,000; and future pain and suffering of $10,000. Plaintiff also recovered $20,451 in prevailing costs.

Other Information

This was the first and only civil jury trial in San Francisco Superior Court in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Length

nine days