Aram John Manukyan v. Showerman's Distributing Company, Inc.
Published: Feb. 11, 1995 | Result Date: Dec. 13, 1994 | Filing Date: Jan. 1, 1900 |Case number: 727709 – $1,021,820
Judge
Court
Santa Clara Superior
Attorneys
Plaintiff
Defendant
Experts
Plaintiff
Thomas P. Yankowski M.S., C.V.E.
(technical)
Hamid Mehdizadeh
(medical)
John Poochigian
(medical)
Mervin Krill
(medical)
Gary T. Moran
(technical)
Mark DuLong
(medical)
Gilbert Kucera
(medical)
Kirk Barry
(technical)
Robert L. Barrow
(medical)
Kirk A. Blackerby
(technical)
Defendant
Robert Fijan
(technical)
Edward Buttyan
(technical)
Robert W. Carson
(medical)
Facts
This lawsuit arose out of multiple vehicle rear end collisions in Santa Clara, which occurred on February 18, 1992. Plaintiff Aram John Manukyan was a 45-year-old, 316-pound, chronically deconditioned male and part-time correctional officer for the County of Santa Clara. He was the seat-belted driver of a 1979 Lincoln Continental, stopped behind other vehicles at a marked crosswalk. While both of Plaintiff's hands were holding the steering wheel, his vehicle was struck in a rear end collision by a beer truck operated by an employee of Defendant Showerman's Distributing Company, Inc. The force of the collision propelled Plaintiff's vehicle into the vehicle in front of him; which in turn, struck the vehicle in front of it. Defendant admitted it was negligent.
Settlement Discussions
Plaintiff contends their demand was a 998 in the amount of $500,000 and Defendant made a verbal offer of $150,000. Defendant contends the following: After the arbitration award, Plaintiff served Defendant with its 998 demand of $500,000; at the settlement conference prior to trial, Plaintiff increased his demand to $2,200,000; Plaintiff's demand was then reduced to $1,500,000; Defendant offered $150,000 prior to trial, with an indication of more; and Defendant's offer was increased to $400,000 during trial.
Specials in Evidence
$45,400 $105,000 $400,000 to $800,000 $56,500
Damages
Plaintiff argued that, as a result of the subject accident, he would be precluded from applying for and successfully completing the Correctional Officer Academy and therefore would be unable to become a full-time correction officer with the Santa Clara County Department of Corrections, resulting in substantial loss of future income. (At the time of the incident, Plaintiff had not made application to the Academy, but had expressed an interest to do so.) Plaintiff asked the jury to award special damages ranging from $600,000 to $900,000 and general damages in an amount equal to whatever the jury determined were Plaintiff's special damages. Defendant asked the jury to award $90,390 to Plaintiff and to find Plaintiff 50 percent contributorily negligent.
Injuries
Plaintiff was born with a congenitally fused C6-7 vertebrae, but had been asymptomatic with respect to this condition all his life. Plaintiff claimed that, as a result of this incident, he sustained traumatically induced bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome requiring bilateral surgical releases; cervical disc herniations at C4-6 requiring a 2-level fusion; strain and sprain injuries to the right knee and lumbar spine requiring physical therapy. The nature of the future medical treatments and/or surgeries, was not disclosed.
Other Information
A prior arbitration by Gary Mitchell resulted in a Plaintiff's award of $475,000; trial de novo by Defendant.
Deliberation
1/2 day
Poll
12-0 liability, 12-0 damages, 9-3 no on contributory negligence by Plaintiff
Length
6 weeks
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