Confidential
Settlement – $600,000Court
Solano Superior
Attorneys
Plaintiff
Andrew C. Schwartz
(Casper, Meadows, Schwartz & Cook)
David J. Samuelsen
(Bennett, Samuelsen, Reynolds, Allard, Cowperthwaite & Gelini APC)
Defendant
Experts
Plaintiff
V. Paul Herbert C.P.S.A.
(technical)
Gustav A. Nystrom
(technical)
G. Michael Michael Graham
(technical)
Facts
On March 7, 2003 at approximately 7 p.m., the plaintiff Kyle Sanford, age 22, was a passenger in a 2001 GMC Sierra pickup truck which was being driven by his wife, Melissa Sanford, age 36, and owned by Melissa's father, Lawrence Griffith. They were traveling eastbound in the number 4 lane of Interstate 80 in the City of Vacaville. The defendant Keith Ricker, in the course and scope of his employment as a truck driver for Freemont Contact Carriers, was also traveling eastbound in the number 4 lane of Interstate 80, driving a 1999 Volvo 18-wheel tractor trailer, just ahead of the Sanford vehicle. At a point near where the accident occurred, Interstate 80 is reduced from four eastbound lanes to three. As lane number four was ending and merging into lane three, Keith Ricker moved his tractor trailer into the number three lane. The Sanford vehicle was following the Ricker vehicle in the number four lane and attempted to merge into lane number three by passing the Ricker vehicle into the number four lane on the right. As the Sanford pickup attempted to merge into lane number three, it struck the right front bumper of Ricker's big rig, causing the pickup to lose control, cross all eastbound lanes of traffic, collide into the center divider guardrail and land in the westbound number one lane of Interstate 80, at which time it was struck again by a third vehicle traveling westbound on Interstate 80. Melissa Sanford was pronounced dead upon arrival at UC Davis Medical Center and the plaintiff Kyle Sanford was seriously injured. An eyewitness to this accident indicated that Ricker was accelerating at the time Melissa Sanford was attempting to merge from the number four into the number three lane.
Settlement Discussions
The case settled at $600,000. WHAT WERE THE OFFERS AND DEMANDS PRIOR TO SETTLEMENT?
Specials in Evidence
approximately $700,000 $800,000 $________? A FIGURE $________? A FIGURE
Damages
Death of a wife AND ? MOTHER??
Injuries
The plaintiff was hospitalized for approximately seven weeks as a result of the injuries he sustained in the accident. He sustained a left posterior hip dislocation, a left acetabular fracture and a right wrist fracture. Upon his release, he was confined to both his home and a wheelchair for several months.
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