Confidential
Settlement – $475,000Court
Case Not Filed
Attorneys
Plaintiff
David L. Shain
(Ferguson, Case, Orr & Paterson LLP)
Defendant
Thomas J. Dowling
(Hager & Dowling)
Facts
On Jan. 6, 2004, at 2:23 p.m., the claimant, Ailish Tormey, was a passenger in a Toyota Tacoma driven by the
respondent Robert Drescher. They were returning to their homes in Ventura after a morning of snowboarding
at Mountain High.
Drescher was proceeding southbound on Sierra Highway, where there are two lanes of traffic in each direction
with no guardrail separating the northbound and southbound traffic. Tormey had partially reclined, with her
seat belt fastened, and fallen asleep. Drescher fell asleep while driving, and his car crossed over the double
yellow line, colliding head-on with a northbound Oldsmobile driven by Ramiro Ramirez. Ramirez was killed
in the collision. Driving behind Ramirez was Samuel Childree. His Nissan truck hit Ramirez's vehicle. The
claimant claimed that Drescher was negligent, which he did not dispute.
Settlement Discussions
The case settled during a pre-filing mediation with the Hon. Bruce Sottile of ARC. Drescher settled with the claimants for $1.5 million (policy limits), with $900,000 going to Ramirez's family, $125,000 to Childree, and $475,000 to Tormey.
Injuries
Tormey sustained a C2 fracture, nondisplaced, which required her head to be immobilized with a halo brace for three months.
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