Confidential
Settlement – $86,000Facts
On Jan. 2, 1995, the plaintiffs, a husband (38) and wife (31) and their daughter (6 months) were driving their 1992 Ford southbound on the 215 Freeway. While they were stopped in traffic, the defendant middle driver, who was driving his 1985 Cadillac behind the plaintiffs, allegedly rear-ended the plaintiffs' vehicle. The defendant rear driver, an uninsured motorist, rear-ended the middle driver, pushing that vehicle into the plaintiffs' for a second impact. The plaintiffs, husband, wife and child, brought this action against the defendants, the middle driver and rear driver, based on a negligence theory of recovery. (The rear driver, although named as a defendant, was not an active party.)
Settlement Discussions
The plaintiffs made a C.C.P. º998 settlement demand (to the middle driver only) for $12,500 (plaintiff husband), $30,000 (plaintiff wife) and $500 (plaintiff child). Compromise settlement agreements were eventually reached for those amounts. The defendants made no settlement offers.
Specials in Evidence
$6,820 (plaintiff husband), $8,764 (plaintiff wife), $138 (plaintiff child) $1,275 (plaintiff husband), $1,428 (plaintiff wife) unknown (plaintiff wife) unknown (plaintiff wife)
Injuries
The plaintiff husband alleged he sustained a cervicodorsal and lumbosacral sprain. The plaintiff wife alleged that she sustained a cervicodorsal sprain and aggravation of pre-existing disc protusion at L5-S1. The plaintiff wife claimed her injuries would require future lumbar surgery, estimated at $35,000. The plaintiff child alleged that she sustained crying and vomitting.
Other Information
The settlement was reached approximately six months after the case was filed.
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