Gomez vs. Becerra, Dog Attack Trial: Offer: $0, Verdict: $417,000.00 (plus costs & interest)

Case No. VC32956. According to plaintiff: A young girl was viciously attacked by a pit bull while in a neighbor's yard. The plaintiffs were Natalie Gomez, eight years old at the time of the attack, and Valerie Gomez, ten years old at the time of the attack. The defendants were Artemio L. Becerra, owner of the property jointly with his ex-wife, and Elvira Becerra Jiminez, owner and occupier of the property. On July 13, 2000, at 10:30 a.m., plaintiff Natalie Gomez was attacked by defendants' pit bull dog in front of her sister, Valerie. The incident occurred at the home of defendants. Plaintiffs Natalie and Valerie accompanied the defendants' daughter, Lauren Becerra, and Natalie's cousin, Bridget Hernandez, to defendants' home to retrieve some clothing that had been left there on the previous day. When the girls went out into the yard to obtain the clothing, Lauren dropped some lip gloss and Natalie stopped to pick it up. When she bent down, the dog attacked. Natalie's father, Fermin Gomez, rescued her from the dog. Defendants contended that Jiminez did not own the dog; however, she admitted to ownership on the stand. She also contended that she did not give the Gomez girls permission to be on the property, even though her daughter had invited them. Defendant Becerra contended that he did not own the pit bulls and should be treated like a landlord.

Lujan vs. Doe Trucking Company (Arizona Case): Settled prior to trial $750,000.00

Plaintiff was riding his motorcycle with a friend down a highway just outside Phoenix. The truck driver fell asleep at the wheel and lost control of his truck running over Plaintiff. Plaintiff=s left leg was severed. As he lay bleeding witness tried to get the truck driver to help stem Plaintiff=s bleed but he was too busy changing his trucking logs. He had driven more hours that week then federal regulations allowed.

Tripke vs. Pizza Hut: Settled prior to trial for $850,000.00

Case #BC157261. Plaintiff was traveling eastbound on Sunset Boulevard near the intersection of Las Palmas on his friend's motorcycle. There are three lanes on Sunset going eastbound. At the time of this accident, the light at Cherokee had turned red and traffic had begun to back up. The number #1 and #2 lanes were stopped but the #3 lane was clear for Plaintiff. The Defendant was a driver for Pizza Hut and was westbound on Sunset making a left turn into the strip center driveway for the Pizza Hut where he worked. Defendant made a quick left turn into the driveway in front of the cars stopped in the #1 and #2 lanes. He did not see the Plaintiff and he ended up striking Plaintiff dead center into his left leg, crushing the leg and knocking the motorcycle and the Plaintiff first onto the curb and than eventually into a pole.

Molny vs. Dive West Inc. Dallas, Texas: Settled prior to trial $850,000.00

Case #97-02242-B. Plaintiff and his wife were scuba diving in Cozumel Mexico. The dive plan was for everyone to meet at the Asandy bottom@. However the captain of the boat took the diver to the wrong spot and there was no sandy bottom. It turned out that the Acaptain@ was not a captain at all and had no license or certification. When Plaintiff realized he was to deep he began to surface. While Plaintiff waiting at his AF@ stop, his wife began to float to the surface to fast and she signaled to him to help her. In going after her, he got decompression illness (bends) and an air embolism (arterial gas embolism). His real injury came because the dive boat had no oxygen. Plaintiff survived the injury and can walk but has numbness from the chest to his feet.

Wagner vs. Grantham: Offer: $250,000.00 Verdict: $2,916,712

Please call us today toll free, atCase #YC046981. Reduced 55% for the negligence of Plaintiff Wagner-Believed to be the largest gross damage award for a Plaintiff in an automobile accident in the Torrance court.

This was a three car freeway accident. Plaintiff was the middle car and was struck from behind by the Grantham Mercedes which pushed her into the car ahead. The defendant contended that the Plaintiff=s car struck the car ahead before they struck her which deprived the defendant of normal stopping distance.

Plaintiff's injures were soft tissue neck and low back injuries arising out of a driver=s seat failure. After initial improvement her low back progressively got worse until she had fusion of L4 to L5 and L5 to S1. She had a second surgery to remove Harrington hardware used to stabilize the joints until the fusion was complete. Plaintiff alleged a relatively poor result with proprioception; a condition resulting in the loss of understanding of how her feet were positioned and resulting loss of balance.

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