Panish | Shea | Ravipudi LLP is proud to announce firm attorneys Rahul Ravipudi, Tom Schultz, Jonathan Davidi, and Tyler Paboojian have obtained a $48,792,870.53 jury verdict in Los Angeles County Superior Court | Van Nuys East for plaintiff Kamran Hakimi, a father who remains comatose nearly one year after being struck by a sanitation truck while crossing the street in a marked crosswalk. The City of Los Angeles admitted that its driver’s negligence was the sole cause of the incident but disputed the value of the damages suffered by our client.
“Mr. Hakimi’s life, and the lives of his family, are forever changed due to the negligence of a City of Los Angeles employee,” said Rahul Ravipudi. “This verdict upholds the dignity of the life Mr. Hakimi enjoyed before this tragedy and we are grateful to the jury who carefully considered all the evidence and provided Mr. Hakimi with the means necessary to get the higher level of care he so desperately needs.”
On August 1, 2024, Plaintiff Kamran Hakimi was legally crossing the street in a marked crosswalk at the intersection of Hayvenhurst Avenue and Ventura Boulevard in Encino, California when he was struck by a sanitation truck making an unsafe right turn. Mr. Hakimi had entered the crosswalk when the pedestrian signal indicated it was safe to do so. Defendant driver Davyion Williams had been stopped at a red light, and when the traffic signal turned green, made an unsafe right turn onto Ventura Boulevard without looking and struck Mr. Hakimi. A handlebar on the front of the truck hit the front of Mr. Hakimi’s head, and the force of the collision caused his body to propel through the air and land with his head hitting the asphalt.
Although Mr. Hakimi was initially responsive after being hit, including trying to get up and giving bystanders a “thumbs up”, he was transported to a local hospital with catastrophic injuries including a traumatic brain injury, acute subdural hematoma, and cerebral edema. He underwent numerous procedures to treat intracranial hypertension including a craniectomy and decompression with duraplasty. His injuries left Mr. Hakimi comatose in a vegetative state since shortly after the incident.
Prior to trial, defendants admitted defendant Williams failed to yield to Mr. Hakimi and that Williams was in the course and scope of his employment with the City of Los Angeles’ Department of Public Works, Bureau of Sanitation at the time of the collision. However, at trial, the City of Los Angeles disputed the damages suffered by Mr. Hakimi, arguing that his life expectancy was limited and that the value of his non-economic damages, including pain and suffering, emotional distress, and loss of enjoyment of life, was minimized because he was in a comatose state. Mr. Hakimi’s counsel presented evidence that Mr. Hakimi’s life expectancy would be lengthened with improved care in a neurogenesis care facility, that he could experience pain and suffering, and that he would continue to suffer significant noneconomic damages.
After just hours of deliberation, the jury awarded Mr. Hakimi a total of $48,792,870.53 including $35,000,000 for his past and future pain and suffering.
“The Los Angeles City Attorney had an opportunity to settle this case for less than the verdict, but rejected all demands and offered $0 on a case where a sanitation truck driver ran over an innocent victim — a father of five — in the crosswalk on a green light. The father has been in a coma ever since, for 11 months,” added Brian Panish. “The City Attorney is fiscally irresponsible and should not be in charge of city funds!”
The City of Los Angeles was represented in the case and at trial by Dikran Sassounian from the Office of the City Attorney and by Thomas C. Hurrell and Onik Ovanesian of Hurrell Cantrall LLP.