Brain and Spinal Cord Injuries: "Winning Record" Case Descriptions
Brain Injuries
Golf injury - brain damage
Our client v. golfer and golf camp
Alameda County Superior Court
$5,100,000 partial settlement
Our young client attended a Nike Golf Camp in Berkeley and was struck in the head with a Big Bertha golf club by a fellow golf student. The blow crushed out client's skull, causing a severe traumatic brain injury. At the time of the incident the foursome of student golfers, ranging from 12-14 years old, was left unsupervised by the golf camp, operated by American Golf Corporation. Our client underwent an emergency decompressive craniectomy that removed the fractured brain fragments and exposed his brain to relieve the swelling. This treatment prevented further brain damage. Eventually, doctors implanted a computer-designed acrylic skull prosthesis to close the defect in his skull. Our client settled with the fellow golf student for $5.1 million, the policy limits of his homeowner's coverage, and the case proceeded to trial against the remaining defendants. Before jury selection the remainder of the case settled for an undisclosed amount.
Auto accident/medical malpractice - brain injury
Our client v. defendant driver
Humboldt County Superior Court
$5,000,000 settlement
Our client, age 23, was broadsided in an automobile collision north of Eureka, California. She pulled out in front of a passing car and the other vehicle struck the driver's side door at a high rate of speed. The plaintiff sustained a depressed skull fracture over the left parietal lobe of the brain that caused bleeding and also generated swelling. She also suffered an insult to her brain from lack of oxygen for some period of time. Her brain injury resulted in a cognitive loss and significant deficits in her speech. In addition to her brain injuries, our client sustained major orthopedic injuries that were not promptly diagnosed because the attending neurosurgeon at the hospital failed to order x-rays of other parts of her body because he said he was only focusing solely on her head injury.
Football Injury - brain damage
Our client v. St. Bernard's High School
Humboldt County Superior Court
$850,000 settlement
This incident occurred during Fall Practice for high school football at St. Bernard's High School, a Catholic high school in Eureka, California. Plaintiff sustained a brain injury when he was performing tackling drills under the supervision of a school coach. Plaintiff was injured when he was "face tackling" another player. Plaintiff argued that face tackling is an illegal and dangerous tackling method because it increases the risk of head and neck injury. Defendant argued that the tackling method was acceptable and that plaintiff assumed the risk of injury by participating in the contact sport of tackle football. After considerable discovery the case settled.
Camping Death - fatal brain injury
Our Client v. Target Stores, Inc. and Academy Broadway, Inc.
Alameda County Superior Court
$671,000 wrongful death jury verdict
Plaintiff and his wife decided to go camping for Memorial Day in the Hope Valley just to the south of Lake Tahoe. It was the couple's anniversary so as a gift they purchased a new canvas cabin tent from Target Stores in Dublin, California. The tent was made in China but it was designed, assembled and marketed by a Smithtown, New York company named Academy Broadway Inc.
Plaintiff set up the tent next to a quiet stream and used the metal stakes that came with the tent to anchor it. There were approximately 14 stakes and they were V shaped and 6 inches long. The tent had a floor and a zip up window and door. The tent also came with an attached canopy that was held up by poles and anchored by stakes.
While plaintiff was cooking breakfast beneath the adjacent canopy a strong gust of wind came up and the canopy collapsed. The plaintiff turned around and to his amazement the entire tent was airborne with his wife in it. She had stayed in the tent and had zipped up all the openings to take a sponge bath. She weighed over 150 pounds and the other material in the tent weighed at least another 100 pounds or more. The tent went about 60 feet into the air and then landed on some large Tahoe rocks nearby.
The plaintiff ran to the point of rest and was finally able to access his wife who was unconscious and was bleeding from her ears. He screamed for help and it took more than an hour for the emergency vehicles to arrive to treat her. She was alive when they arrived but she died of a massive head and brain injury shortly after she got to the hospital.
The wind had uprooted all of the tent stakes from the ground and had lifted the tent in the air. Plaintiff argued that the tent was defective in design because its stakes were too short and were of the wrong design. Plaintiff conducted extensive discovery and found that Target's replacement stakes were considerably longer and better shaped to retain the tent. Plaintiff also discovered that the manufacturer had never really "designed" the tent for wind and had no idea how it would perform in windy conditions. Plaintiff retained a New Jersey tensile architect as an expert who testified that the tent was defective.
The defense argued that the tent was not defective and that the wind could not have lifted straight up in the air as plaintiff described. It argued that the number, quality and design of the stakes was adequate. It also argued that a large dust devil uprooted the tent.
The jury held for plaintiff and this is the only such case of its kind in the country. The verdict got the attention of the tent industry and it now realizes that tent designers must consider the effect of wind (e.g. lift) on tent structures. Prior to this case, tensile architects had considered the effect of wind in the design of larger structures like the Hubert Humphrey dome in Minneapolis and the Denver Airport but most tent manufacturers had not.
Bike Accident - fatal brain injury
Our client v. Truck driver
Contra Costa County Superior Court
$500,000 settlement
Our client was the 26-year-old son of a 55-year-old divorced man from Moraga, California, who was riding his road bike with two friends just north of Orinda, California on Bear Creek Road. The route he took is popular for cyclists, called "The Bears" because it includes three hills (Mama, Papa and Baby Bear). Plaintiff's father was riding in front of two friends on the "white line" - the fog line - separating the bike lane from the right travel lane. Suddenly a passing pick up truck bumped his upper body with its protruding rearview mirror, causing him to lose his balance when he was descending Papa Bear Hill at approximately 35 MPH and crashing onto the roadway pavement. The defendant driver denied that he came near the cyclist. Despite wearing a helmet, the severe impact caused a massive brain bleed and brain swelling which ultimately caused his death within 24 hours. Cyclists must be aware that you can still sustain a major brain injury while wearing a proper helmet.
Industrial Accident - epidural hematoma
Our client v. owner of industrial dryer
San Joaquin County Superior Court
Our client, a mechanic working on an industrial dryer, sustained a head injury when he was struck by some moving parts when he mistakenly activated the machine. The attending emergency room physician failed to obtain films of plaintiff's head, and thus failed to diagnose and treat an epidural hematoma. The untreated brain bleed resulted in serious brain damage, including cognitive loss and speech deficits. Confidential settlement amount.
Medical Malpractice - brain damage
Our client v. v. Kaiser Foundation Hospitals
Our clients took their 23-year-old disabled son to Kaiser Vallejo's emergency room to treat his prolonged nausea and vomiting. He had a condition called Friedreich's ataxia that attacks the central nervous system; he was confined to a wheelchair. The Kaiser emergency room staff did not immediately admit him and did not monitor his status after he was admitted. He was extremely dehydrated and did not receive IV fluids. His heart rate became extremely elevated. When Kaiser's staff eventually recognized the extent of the emergency, they provided him medication that drove his blood pressure down to a hypotensive level, depriving his brain of oxygen. He sustained a hypoxic brain insult and went into a semi-vegetative state. Plaintiffs settled their wrongful death medical malpractice with Kaiser for a confidential amount. "
Auto accident - brain injury
Our minor client v. defendant driver
Our client, a young child riding in a child seat in an automobile, struck his head in a serious collision. His closed head injury resulted in a brain bled that blocked cerebrospinal fluid flowing through his left ventricle and caused hydrocephalus. This necessitated the insertion of a shunt to drain the fluid to prevent pressure from the expanding ventricle from pressing against adjacent brain tissue. This case settled for a confidential amount.
Spinal Injuries
Diving Accident - quadriplegia
Our Client v. City of Walnut Creek
Contra Costa County Superior Court
$27.75 million verdict
Our client was a 20-year-old state diving champion who was rendered a quadriplegic when he collided with a synchronized swimmer during diving practice in a public pool. The City of Walnut Creek, owner and operator of the pool, rented its dive pool to a diving team and a synchronized swimming team to hold practices at the same time without any means of separating the two inconsistent uses. The diver did not see a 15-year-old synchronized swimmer push off the wall under the diving board toward his landing area just as he began his dive. The pool now uses floating lane lines to separate the two groups. The verdict was identified as the 12th largest in California and the 67th largest in the United States in 2003.
Auto Accident/Dangerous Condition of Public Property - quadriplegia
Marin County Superior Court
On May 20, 2000, our 23-year-old client was a passenger in a new 1999 Mazda Miata driven by his girlfriend, headed to Stinson Beach from San Francisco on a clear and sunny day. From Stinson Beach, they drove further north on State Route 1 toward the Point Reyes Lighthouse. The driver saw that the speed limit increased from 35 mph to 55 mph just north of the Town of Olema. The driver increased the speed of the Miata to approximately 60-65 mph in the straightaway following the 55 mph speed limit sign. Then, within 1200 feet of the 55 mph speed limit sign, the driver came upon a curve in the road.
The State of California owns State Route 1. Although it is unknown when this portion of State Route 1 was originally designed or constructed, Caltrans widened the original 18-foot, two-lane road to a 32-foot wide roadway in the early 1980's.
The curve in issue, one mile north of the Town of Olema and one mile south of Point Reyes Station, has an undisputed design speed of 35 mph based on its radius of curvature. All other geometric measurements of the curve indicated that it was a 35 mph curve. However, there was no sign in advance of the curve warning that it was only a 35 mph curve on a road with a 55 mph speed limit.
The driver lost control of the Miata while attempting to negotiate the curve. The Miata left the roadway, went up an adjacent embankment, and rolled one and one half times. It landed upside down back on the roadway. The driver subsequently admitted to the CHP that she was going "too fast" for the curve at 60-65 mph.
The airbags deployed in the incident and the seat belts remained fastened on both the driver and the passenger, our client, as they came to rest upside down in the vehicle. The driver was able to unfasten her seat belt and remove herself from under the car. She sustained a laceration on her head when it scraped against the pavement during the incident, causing her to lose some hair and requiring seven stitches to close the wound. Our client suffered fractures to his C4-6 vertebrae, rendering him an immediate C4-5 quadriplegic. He is permanently confined to a wheelchair and has virtually no use of his arms and legs.
Plaintiff brought a case against the State of California for a dangerous condition of public property (Government Code §835). The case went to trial before The Honorable Lynn O'Malley Taylor in Marin County. Plaintiff's experts in traffic engineering testified that the curve in issue was a dangerous condition because Caltrans posted a 55 mph speed limit sign 1200 feet before a 35 mph curve without providing any warning to motorists of the curve's limitations. Plaintiff claimed that the curve created a trap for the unwary. Plaintiff's experts further opined that the curve's radius, length, and superelevation violated Caltrans' standards, and that it was compound in nature (it had a diminishing radius).
The State claimed that the only similar incident, which involved a motorcycle in 1993, occurred seven years before this incident and more than 3 million vehicles safely negotiated the curve without incident between that prior incident and the subject incident. Thus, the curve could not be dangerous to those using due care and the State had no notice of any condition that was dangerous. It also claimed that the curve was readily apparent and clearly visible to approaching motorists, so no warning sign was necessary. It further claimed that the single vehicle rollover was solely caused by the negligence of the driver.
After the jury deliberated for a week, our client reached a settlement with the State of California for $5.5 million
Motocross Accident - back injury
Our Client v. Sand Hill Ranch Motocross Park, et al.
Contra Costa County Superior Court
$3,043,491 for back injuries
Our client paid a $20 fee to ride his dirt bike at Sand Hill Ranch Motocross Park in Brentwood, California, and signed a release that waived many of his rights to make claims against the park. He began to ride his motorcycle on Sand Hill Ranch's 40 acres of trails. He took one trail that unknowingly led him off Sand Hill Ranch's property and onto the property of a neighbor, the Brentwood Rod and Gun Club. That trail led to a 25-foot man made cliff, the visibility of which was obscured by a tree. Our client rode his dirt bike around the tree at approximately 20 mph, and unsuspectingly drove off the cliff. He landed on several large boulders at the base of the cliff.
As a result, our client suffered serious injuries, including a comminuted fracture of his right wrist and a T7 burst fracture. He underwent spinal surgery to install hardware to fuse T3-T9. He missed 15 months from his employment.
Plaintiff claimed negligence and gross negligence against Sand Hill Ranch Motocross Park and the Brentwood Rod and Gun Club for failing to warn our client about the boundaries of the motocross facility and the presence of the dangerous cliff.
Defendants contended 1) that the release signed by plaintiff barred his claim, 2) that plaintiff assumed the risk of injury by participating in motocross as a sporting activity, 3) that plaintiff negligently caused his injuries, and 4) that recreational immunity under Civil Code Section 846 also barred plaintiff's claim.
On the eve of trial, plaintiff settled with the Brentwood Rod and Gun Club and the trucking company that dumped the bounders at the base of the cliff for a combined $775,000 and agreed to binding arbitration with the remaining defendant. The arbitrator awarded plaintiff $2,268,491 in damages against Sand Hill Ranch Motocross Park.
