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Four Does (Minors) v. VPL Transport, Inc., Armando Armenta Gonzalez
Docket # CV 022496
San Joaquin County Superior Court
FACTS:
On November 30, 2002 plaintiffs were seat-belted passengers in the rear seat of a 1976 Ford F150 pickup, owned and driven by their father who was a cross-defendant. At a few minutes after noon, they were proceeding west on Industrial Drive, after having turned onto this roadway from Airport Way. Industrial Drive at their location is a straight, level, two lane road with a broken yellow center line indicating that it is permissible to pass. As the pickup proceeded west on Industrial Way, it was following a slow moving tractor-trailer rig, being operated by defendant Armando Armenta Gonzlez. This was Mr. Gonzales' first experience (other than during the truck driving school) driving a tractor and trailer. The tractor Mr. Gonzales was driving on the day of the accident was a 1997 Peterbilt, and it was pulling an empty 1995 Mono 48 foot box van trailer. The accident occurred when, as the pickup was making a legal passing maneuver, defendant Gonzales started to make a left turn into the driveway of 440 E. Industrial Drive. Based on the objective physical facts found by the Stockton police in their investigation of this accident, and on the testimony of the witnesses, including Mr. Gonzales, and contrary to his claim otherwise, Mr. Gonzales failed to signal his left turn. Mr. Gonzales claims not to have seen the pickup truck until the instant of the impact, which occurred between the right front corner of the pickup and the front of the left front corner of the tractor.
PLAINTIFFS' CONTENTIONS:
Plaintiffs contended that defendant Gonzales not only failed to signal the left turn, he did not bother to look for passing vehicles before making it. The investigating police officers also found that one of the two air lines, namely the blue "service" line, running from the back of the tractor to the connection on the front of the trailer, was not connected. With this line disconnected, the tractor driver could not activate the brakes on the four sets of duals on the trailer. Further, because of the absence of the trailer brakes, the tractor was caused to partially jack-knife, driving it further to the left, and further into the lane of the passing pickup. Plaintiffs contended that had the connection been sound, and operational when Mr. Gonzales attempted to avoid the impact, the added braking effect of the trailer brakes would have prevented the partial jack-knife, and most probably would have stopped the rig short of the impact point. Had the two components of the air line connection been properly maintained in the first instance, and had Mr. Gonzales actually connected the service line, this accident would most likely not have happened. The impact caused the path of the pickup to be ricocheted to the left into the driveway opening of 440 East Industrial Way. As it angled across the opening it struck the edge curb and overturned. It then slid and rolled until it impacted a parked trailer. When it did so, it was on its right side, and the impact of the bottom edge of the trailer upon the roof of the pickup caused the left side of the rear portion of the roof to be crushed down to the level of the window sill directly over the head of Doe One, a minor.
DEFENDANTS' CONTENTIONS:
Defendants contended that the plaintiffs' father's vehicle was making an illegal passing move at a high rate of speed. A co-worker witness of the defendant truck driver testified the truck?s left turn signal indicator was operating before the collision. The Stockton police concluded that the plaintiffs? father caused the accident.
INJURIES SUFFERED:
Doe One had just turned 12 years old before this accident. He sustained multiple injuries including severe traumatic brain injury, and fractures of the skull, ribs, clavicle, and a T10 transverse fracture. Doe One was extricated from the vehicle and intubated at the scene secondary to a low Glascow Coma Score of 3. He was transported to San Joaquin General Hospital. Due to the nature and severity of the injuries he was airlifted to UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento. He was hospitalized for 68 days. He had made gains in activities of daily living and was able to ambulate at the time of discharge. The prognosis was for continued significant impact on his cognitive skills. He returned to school and was placed in Special Education classes. Although Doe One had difficulties in regular classes prior to the accident, plaintiff?s expert testified these problems were primarily due to language difficulty. These difficulties were now compounded by the cognitive deficits related to his traumatic brain injury. Plaintiff?s neuro-psychologist, Dr. Perez, opined that Doe One now approximately 3 years status post head injury, had reached the ultimate state of recovery. Absent this injury, he believed that Doe One would not have experienced any level of impairment. Dr. Perez testified that Doe One has suffered a severe brain injury with significant level of cognitive impairment. He determined that based on his findings, Doe One?s overall intellectual ability now falls in the borderline impaired range. These findings pose a significant impairment on his vocational prospects. The other three children received relatively minor injuries and have made a complete recovery without any residual impairment. Defendants contended that Doe One?s school records prior to the accident demonstrated he was a very poor student with poor language skills. The extent of decline due to the accident injuries was not significant. He would be able to be competitively employed as an adult.
AMOUNT OF DAMAGES:
Past medical expenses were approximately $600,000 although only $78,198 was paid by Medi-Cal. Future expenses reduced to present value are:
Medical $93,000
Attendant Care 866,577
Wage Loss 1,463,000
Defendants contended there was no wage loss because Doe One could be competitively employed and that he did not need attendant care or future psychiatric services.
SETTLEMENT: $2,000,000 just before the start of trial
