Confidential
Settlement – $100,000Judge
Court
L.A. Superior Central
Attorneys
Plaintiff
Richard P. Kinnan
(Engstrom, Lipscomb & Lack)
Defendant
Facts
On June 28, 1996, the plaintiff driver, a 33-year-old waiter, was driving eastbound on Washington Blvd. in Los Angeles. The plaintiff wife, a 33-year-old woman who was eight months pregnant, was seated in the front passenger seat. The plaintiff couple's 2-year-old daughter was seated in the back seat in an infant's car seat, next to her 8-year-old brother and a 35-year-old friend. The defendant driver was traveling westbound on Washington Blvd. The defendant fell asleep at the wheel causing her vehicle to cross the center divider and crash head-on into the plaintiffs' vehicle. The plaintiffs brought this action against the defendant driver based on a negligence theory of recovery.
Settlement Discussions
The plaintiffs made a policy limit settlement demand.
Specials in Evidence
$1,177.90 (plaintiff driver); $44,392.90 (plaintiff wife); $25,007.68 (2-year-old plaintiff); $3,256.70 (8-year-old plaintiff); $13,058.45 (35-year-old plaintiff)
Injuries
The plaintiff driver sustained a broken hand and miscellaneous cuts and bruises. The plaintiff wife sustained a shattered forearm and foot requiring surgery and internal fixation and leaving substantial scars. The 2-year-old plaintiff suffered skull and facial fractures and a subdural hematoma. The 8-year-old plaintiff suffered cuts, bruises and sprains. The 36-year-old plaintiff sustained head injuries. The fetus was born without apparent injury.
Other Information
The settlement was reached approximately two months after the case was filed. As part of the settlement, the medical bills were reduced to 50 percent of full value.
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