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CONFIDENTIAL

May 2, 1998

Personal Injury
Negligence
Construction Site Accident

Confidential

Settlement –  $600,000

Judge

Ralph W. Dau

Court

L.A. Superior Central


Attorneys

Plaintiff

Richard H. Rabkin


Defendant

Michael J. O'Connor

Patricia A. Rush


Experts

Plaintiff

W. Gerald Wythe
(medical)

Kurt Grosz
(technical)

Barnett Steven Mayerson
(medical)

Defendant

Vincent Farese
(technical)

N. Paul Rosenthal
(medical)

Facts

On Nov. 25, 1995, the plaintiff, a 39-year-old fire sprinkler installer, was on the site of a mixed-use development construction project to off-load material. He was confronted by the defendant, a building contractor whose license had been revoked, who wanted the plaintiff to leave the suite while he worked with a crew erecting scaffolding. When the plaintiff did not leave, the defendant allegedly drove at him with a forklift, forks at 25 feet and loaded, stopping abruptly, causing scaffolding material to fall onto the plaintiff. The plaintiff brought this action against the general contractor and the building contractor based on a negligence theory of recovery.

Settlement Discussions

The plaintiff made a C.C.P. º998 settlement demand for $1 million (policy limits). The defendants initially did not offer anything, then offered $250,000 at the start of trial.

Specials in Evidence

$80,000 $50,000 $500,000

Injuries

The plaintiff alleged that he suffered reflex sympathetic dystrophy in his right arm, secondary to injury to his right shoulder.

Other Information

The settlement was reached approximately five months after the case was filed (on the third day of trial).


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