Jury Finds Rare Condition Related to Bus Accident
Baum and Blake were called in right before trial to prove that a rare congenital problem was aggravated by trauma. The plaintiff was a 28-year-old clerk who was a passenger on a San Francisco bus when it was struck by a San Francisco streetcar.
Doctors treated her neck pain as a "whiplash", despite the onset of unusual symptoms e.g., difficulty swallowing with burning pain down her arms.
Two years later, specialists performed an MRI which showed a Chiari Syndrome, a rare condition of the brain - a limited flow of cerebral-spinal fluid which causes symptoms. The plaintiff was unaware of this and had no symptoms until the bus accident, which started progressive symptoms and eventually required major brain surgery.
The defendant adamantly denied any relationship to the accident but a jury in San Francisco Superior Court found that the trauma had ignited her dormant condition. The jury ruled in favor of the plaintiff and rendered a substantial verdict. The verdict was upheld on appeal in November 2002, and paid in full.
Major Settlement In Malpractice Delivery Case
The parents of a newborn baby were told that the multiple problems of the newborn were so severe that she would not live.
When the child survived to age 2 despite her severe disabilities, Baum and Blake were retained. An extensive investigation revealed that the newborn's systemic condition was not due to congenital problems but the cause was anoxic brain damage during delivery. They filed an action against the facility on the child's behalf in April 2002. David Baum settled the case before binding arbitration for $2,800.000. The sum is to be paid half in cash and half by an annuity over the child's lifetime, providing for all of her medical and attendant needs.
The child resides with her parents and requires constant care. Despite earlier pessimism, attending doctors now believe the child will survive for many more years.
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Bus Accident Near Tonopah, Nevada
View to East at Tonopah Accident Site
Baum & Blake Negotiate $10+ Million Settlement As Lead Counsel for 39 Bus Passengers In Complex Case.
Martin Blake has negotiated a $10+ million settlement as lead counsel for 39 bus passengers in complex action arising from the crash of a tour bus in Tonopah, Nevada. The settlement resolves litigation in Nevada and California as well as related proceedings in England.
FACTS.
On September 7, 2000, a bus carrying the passengers went out of control while traveling in excess of 75 m.p.h. and crashed on the interstate in Tonopah, Nevada. The bus toppled over and skidded on its side along the highway for several hundred feet. Many of the passengers were thrown against the side windows that broke and came into contact with the road surface, sustaining degloving injuries as well as loss of body parts, fractures and head injuries. The driver later pled guilty to criminal charges of driving at an unsafe speed and failing to properly record his on duty hours.
The passengers were traveling on a pre-paid package holiday called The Western Wonders Tour that they had purchased from a U.K. based company ("Archers") that in turn sub-contracted organization of the holiday to a Colorado based corporation ("GVI"). GVI contracted with California Sun Lines ("CSL"), a San Fernando bus company that provided a luxury coach and driver for the tour. GVI also provided a tour director who accompanied the passengers on the bus.
The evidence indicated that the bus driver had stayed up late the night preceding the accident in Las Vegas. The tour director was aware that he was tired and sleepy on the day of the accident, that he had driven on freeways in excess of the speed limit during the tour and that his reputation among other tour directors employed by GVI was that of an unsafe driver. Despite this knowledge, she did not report the driver to her controller and made no attempt to admonish or control the driver.
Plaintiffs brought suit against Archers on a theory of ostensible agency based on the fact that the passengers believed that they were on a tour being operated by Archers employees. Relevant facts included that the bus carried the Archers' logo, Archers tour signs were posted everywhere and the tour guide and the tour literature portrayed the tour as an Archers tour.
Plaintiffs brought suit against GVI on theories of direct liability for employing a bus company whose driver was known by them to be unsafe and vicarious liability for the negligence of the tour director for not controlling the driver.
PROCEDURAL HISTORY
All of the individual Plaintiff's claims were consolidated in Los Angeles Superior Court.
Archers contested the jurisdiction of the court on the grounds that their contract with the passengers had a forum selection clause that required litigation against the company to be brought in England. The trial court held that Archers could enforce that provision and issued a stay of all proceedings in California against the company. Plaintiffs appealed that decision and that appeal was being briefed while discovery continued in the action.
The parties completed liability discovery in California, Nevada and England. The depositions of the Plaintiffs were also completed in England. After these extensive proceedings, a two-week mediation place took in San Francisco. During the mediation, selected Plaintiffs and medical witnesses appeared by videoconferencing from England. This mediation was unsuccessful at resolving the case.
After the mediation, each side filed dispositive motions including a motion by GVI seeking the same forum selection protection as Archers. Also, Archers and GVI instituted proceedings in England to have the entire California action stayed under the forum selection clause. At the same time Plaintiffs filed motions to apply Nevada law to the entire action and for summary judgment on the issues of the vicarious liability of GVI for their tour guide and for the CSL bus driver.
While these motions and proceedings were pending, the parties arranged for a further mediation of the case. The parties then reached an agreement for resolution of all the passengers' claims. The case settled for $10,000,000 from CSL plus an additional confidential sum from other Defendants as well as payment of outstanding U.S. medical liens for the treatment received in Nevada by the 39 passengers.
