Facts

Plaintiff Aaron Mueller was riding his bicycle home from work on Dec. 14, 2017, when his bicycle hit a pothole. He was 51 years old at the time, an experienced cyclist and was wearing a helmet. He fell off his bicycle and suffered a severe traumatic brain injury. The pothole that caused the accident was on College Boulevard within the City of Oceanside. The pothole was in the street, within a utility trench line, above where Pacific Bell Telephone Company had underground facilities. In 2003, Pacific Bell contracted with The Fishel Company as the general contractor to build the trench. The Fishel Company hired Ben's Asphalt as the asphalt subcontractor for the 2003 trench construction. Plaintiff, through his guardian ad litem, sued the City, Fishel, PacBell, and Ben's Asphalt for his injuries.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS: Plaintiff contended that the pothole formed when the City failed to maintain or repair visibly-cracked asphalt both in and around a utility line owned by Pacific Telephone Company. Plaintiff contended that the trench was negligently built, and that the City and Pacific Bell knew or should have known of the construction defects and failed to fix it, causing Mueller's accident in 2017.

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS: The defendants, in turn, each had cross-complaints against other defendants based on various indemnity theories. The defendants denied liability given Plaintiff's comparative fault of riding in an unsafe manner including riding downhill in the dark at a high speed (30 mph), and attempting to pass cars stopped due to traffic. The defendants also denied any notice of the asphalt defects given there were police photographs taken immediately after the accident showing broken pieces of the asphalt physically removed from the street by an unknown person and then stacked on the nearby sidewalk, thus likely creating the pothole that Plaintiff hit the day of the incident.

Specials in Evidence

Meds: $2,664,632.83 (not reduced) Past and Future Loe: $2,534,845 Meds: $5,188,443

Injuries

Mueller spent several weeks in a coma before moving to a brain injury rehabilitation facility. In total, he spent 10 months in care facilities before returning home. Mueller has multiple sequelae from his severe traumatic brain injury, the most disabling of which are cognitive and personality changes. As a result of these challenges, he requires supervision and assistance with many activities of daily living. He has a significant mobility impairment related to his brain injury causing him to be dependent on a wheelchair, persistent problems with double vision, slurred speech, and impaired swallowing, among other issues. It was undisputed Mueller will never work again.

Result

Between the parties, there were 29 designated experts. Following the completion of expert discovery, the parties attended a mandatory settlement conference with Judge Earl Maas. With Judge Maas' help, and through the earlier extensive work of mediators Judge Leo Papas and Robert Dobbins, the parties reached a global resolution of $16,000,000, with the defendants agreeing to dismiss their respective cross-complaints. Pacific Bell was fully indemnified.