Recent Settlements

SETTLEMENTS

Our Attorneys Achieved The Following Recent Settlements for Our Clients

 • $3,750,000  We represented a healthy 76-year old retired heavy equipment operator whose car was rear-ended by a San Francisco Municipal Railway bus.  The bus driver was intoxicated and our investigation revealed, in divorce papers filed in San Mateo County, that the bus driver had an extensive substance abuse problem and prior accident history.  The accident severed our client’s spinal cord and left him a T-5 paraplegic.  The settlement included enough money to provide him with the needed life care prognosticated by our experts

 • $3,000,000 Our firm represented the family of an 8-year old girl who drowned at the start of her swim class at a public pool in Contra Costa County.  We proved to the defendant that the drowning would not have occurred if the pool staff had followed their own stated protocols for pool safety.  The settlement included a memorial established in honor of our clients’ daughter.

 • $2,250,000  We represented the surviving husband and two adult children of a 56-year old health aide to the elderly who was crossing the street within a crosswalk when she was struck and killed by a San Francisco Municipal Railway bus. After 1-1/2 years of litigation, Muni finally admitted liability and settled the lawsuit.

 • $1,850,000 Our 36-year old electrician client was lawfully driving his Harley Davidson motorcycle on I-80 near Hayward when a commuter van suddenly and without warning changed lanes into him, striking his motorcycle and foot.  The defendant claimed that our client was speeding, because he looked in his rearview mirror and never saw him.  Our motorcycle expert reconstructed the accident and helped us prove our client wasn’t speeding.  Our client sustained a severe foot fracture requiring surgery and a career change.

 • $1,578,500 We represented a 12-year old Milpitas girl against the City of Milpitas and a general contractor for constructing a mid-block signalized pedestrian crossing to give greater access to a well-used trail that led to local schools.  Once the school year started, the signal lights weren’t yet functional, although there were no warnings for anyone, especially children, to not yet use the crossing.  In deposition, a City employee working on the project broke down and admitted that she knew prior to the accident that the non-functioning crossing would be a problem, but she did nothing to correct it.  Unfortunately, our client was struck by a van while crossing mid-block and sustained a traumatic brain injury.

 • $1,136,000 Our 30-year old motorcycle parts/service manager from Vallejo was driving his motorcycle slightly above the speed limit when a slow-moving backhoe in front of him moved partially into the shoulder and then started turning left in front of our client, causing him to lay down his motorcycle and fracture his back, injure his spinal cord and necessitate spinal fusions at two vertebral levels.  The adverse party predictably argued that our client was going at an excessive speed, but our expert motorcycle reconstructionist proved otherwise.

• $1,120,000 We represented a 29-year old tow truck driver from Vacaville who was struck by a car while he was standing behind and hooking up a tow.  Our client sustained a severe crush and degloving injury to his leg requiring multiple surgeries.  The car driver only had $50,000 insurance and when she passed away before the lawsuit settled, her estate added another $120,000.  We made an Under-Insured Motorist Claim against our client’s employer’s automobile uninsured/under-insured motorist policy and received an additional $950,000 for him.

• $1,000,000 Our firm represented a 42-year old X-Ray technician who was walking on the sidewalk when she was struck in the back of the head and neck by a piece of playground equipment which protruded from the bed of a passing pick-up truck.  We claimed that the client sustained a neck and traumatic brain injury, causing an extended disability.

• $855,000 We represented a 29-year old housepainter who was a Muni bus passenger when he was lifted up from his seat by the bus driver and tossed out the front doors onto the street.  The driver claimed that when our client placed his fare in the box he hit the driver’s hand.  Our investigation discovered that the bus driver was a convicted violent felon with a history of allegedly attacking other Muni patrons.  Our client sustained a fractured wrist and thumb and significant psychological injury.

• $825,000 In this medical malpractice case we represented the wife and 4 children of a civil engineer who complained to his primary care physician for a year of upper respiratory infections and bronchitis.  The physician failed to order needed tests or refer the patient to the necessary specialists who would have revealed that he had leukemia.

• $650,000 We represented the heirs (4 adult children) of a 78-year old woman who was pushing a shopping cart at a Ross Store when she tripped on merchandise (throw rugs) which was littering the aisleway.  The decedent broke her hip.  During surgery to repair her hip she suffered a stroke which led to her death.  The case settled the day before trial was to begin.

 • $600,000  Our firm represented a 70-year old woman who was a passenger in a car driven by her husband when they were rear-ended at high speed. Our client sustained bilateral jaw fractures requiring her entire mouth to be reconstructed.

• $550,000 We represented a 41-year old homemaker who was lawfully driving her car when she was struck by a car that ran a red light at an intersection.  She sustained spinal disc injuries not requiring surgery.

•  $500,000 Our client, a 37-year old plumber and pipefitter, was working inside a trailer when a forklift operator lost control of his forklift and slammed into the trailer.  Our client sustained a post-concussion syndrome and injuries to his knees, face, teeth, neck and back.

• $498,000 We represented a 24-year old insurance underwriter who was a seat belted passenger in the back of a Mercedes E55 AMG driven by a soccer acquaintance who was giving him a ride home from an evening soccer match at the Bladium in Oakland.  The driver of the Mercedes started racing with a BMW M5 driven by another soccer player.  The Mercedes went out of control, collided with the BMW, struck a tree and split in half.  Our client sustained internal injuries to his small bowel and sigmoid colon as well as psychological injury.

• $462,500 We represented a 25-year old illegal alien restaurant worker who was struck by a left-turning automobile in San Francisco’s Haight Ashbury district.  The defendant automobile driver claimed that the motorcycle was speeding.  Our client sustained facial fractures and a traumatic brain injury when his helmet flew off his head at impact.

• $400,000 We represented a 34-year old stripper who was a passenger on a motorcycle struck by a rental car that ran a red light.  All of her physical injuries were soft-tissue.  We claimed that the accident caused our client severe psychological injury requiring psychiatric hospitalization.

• $400,000 Our client was a 63-year old immigration attorney who was walking in a crosswalk in Berkeley when she was struck by a car making a left turn.  She sustained an anterior cruciate ligament tear of her right knee, which necessitated surgical repair, and an injury to her back.

• $400,000 Our 25-year old network analyst client was driving home in commute traffic when he was rear-ended by a semi.  The truck driver claimed our client cut in front of him.  Our client sustained a bulging disc in his back that required surgery.

• $400,000 Our firm helped a 51-year old building engineer who tripped over a wire placed earlier in the day by an antenna installer across a marked walkway on the defendant property owner’s rooftop.  The installer and building owner failed to place any signs, barriers or warning for the tripping hazard.  Our client suffered a severe shoulder injury requiring surgery which left him with residual shoulder limitations.

• $375,000 We assisted a 42-year old home health aide who was driving her Harley Davidson motorcycle on a country road when a car pulled from a stop sign, causing her to drive her motorcycle into a ditch when trying to avoid a collision.  She fractured her wrist, which developed reflex sympathetic dystrophy necessitating extensive medical treatment to regain function.

• $115,000 Our client, a 35-year old executive assistant, was driving her car on a Sonoma County road when a eucalyptus tree branch fell onto and through her windshield, causing her to lose control of her car and strike a tree.  The County claimed that they knew the branch needed to be cut down, as well as numerous other trees and branches in the stand, but they didn’t have the funding for the maintenance.  Our client sustained a fractured finger and partial amputation of the fingertip (nail area).