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Personal Injury
Pedestrian v. Auto
Child Pedestrian

Leos v. Nguyen

Published: Aug. 9, 1997 | Result Date: Apr. 22, 1997 | Filing Date: Jan. 1, 1900 |

Case number: 752373 Verdict –  $75,000

Judge

Eleanor M. Palk

Court

Orange Superior


Attorneys

Plaintiff

Gary A. Dordick
(Dordick Law Corporation)


Defendant

Don W. Gilbert
(Michael Maguire & Associates)


Experts

Plaintiff

Ted M. Kobayashi
(technical)

Facts

On Sept. 6, 1994, plaintiff Jaime Leos, a 3-year-old boy, his sister Brenda Duran, a 7-year-old girl, and the plaintiff's mother were crossing First Street during rush hour traffic on a Friday afternoon. First Street is a six-lane commercial boulevard with three lanes of travel for westbound traffic and three lanes for eastbound traffic, in the city of Santa Ana. The east/west lanes are seperated by a grassy median. The plaintiff's mother was pushing a stroller containing a 1-year-old child (settled out for $250,000 policy limits before trial), and her two children were on each side of the stroller. Mrs. Leos crossed the eastbound lanes and stopped on the median strip in the center of the roadway. Per the plaintiff, Mrs. Leos did not see any cars which she believed presented a threat when she stepped off the median curb into the roadway with the stroller and the three children. The plaintiff claimed that after taking one to two steps, the three children were hit by defendant Nguyen who was traveling westbound on First Street in the number one lane at approximately five miles per hour below the speed limit of 35 mph. The plaintiff's mother claimed she never saw the defendant before the impact. The defendant swerved before the impact, but struck the stroller with the driver's side corner of his vehicle. The plaintiff brought this action against the defendant based on a negligence theory of recovery.

Settlement Discussions

The plaintiff made a settlement demand for $100,000. The defendant made a settlement offer of $25,000.

Other Information

The verdict was reached approximately ____ years and ____ months after the case was filed. A settlement conference / arbitration / mediation was held on ___/___/19___ before ____________________ (name) of _________________________ (affiliation/court) resulting in ________________________. The parties settled after the verdict for an undisclosed amount. EXPERT TESTIMONY: Any interesting expert testimony? Pls. state the full name of defense expert Officer ____________ Moreno, Santa Ana Police Dept. Any interesting comments / infos on judge / arbitrator / mediator?

Deliberation

1 day

Poll

10-2

Length

4 days


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