Tenacious Advocacy For The Injured

$6,375,360 PAYOUT TO CHILD INJURED IN A COLLISION WITH A BIG RIG TRUCK

Plaintiff, a 5 year old boy, was a backseat passenger riding in a 2004 Lexus automobile driven by his mother in Oakland, CA The defendant truck driver pulling a fully loaded trailer made a left turn from a stop sign, blocked the road and the Lexus collided with the trailer.  The Plaintiff child was unrestrained having released his shoulder harness and seat belt just before the collision.  The defendants blamed the mother for the accident for driving too fast, being distracted when her cell phone fell to the floor and for not having her child restrained in a car seat.

We undertook a full investigation and contended the sole cause of the accident was an unsafe illegal left turn by the driver who was unlicensed and had prior driving violations.  Further, under then existing law the child did not have to be in a car seat and could be restrained as he was when the trip started.

The child suffered severe injuries including skull and facial fractures with residual deficits in attention executive functioning and memory and two broken legs.  The defendant’s claimed the child’s deficits were a result of prior developmental delays since birth, that there was no demonstrable residual brain injury and the child was doing fine in school.  We retained a highly qualified Developmental Neuropsychologist who reported cognitive developments worsening over time that were caused by the collision.  In February 2014, shortly before the start of trial, we settled the case for $2,550,000 which resulted in a payout to the child of $6,375,360.