Verdict:
$27.73 Million
Settlement:
$37.3 Million
Trial attorney(s):
Case Synopsis:
Attorneys for a motorcyclist who suffered a below-the-knee amputation following a collision with a construction laborer’s vehicle obtained a $37,025,000 settlement pursuant to a high/low agreement with defendants that was finalized just minutes before a jury awarded their clients $27,727,630. Plaintiff Michael LaPlante and his wife were represented in the case and at trial by Brian Panish, Tom Schultz, and Alex Behar of Panish | Shea | Ravipudi LLP as well as by co-counsel Joshua C. Braddock of Arendsen Braddock LLP. The case was tried before the Honorable Timothy B. Taylor in what was the last of his 189 jury trials following a 20-year judicial career. This verdict is believed to be the largest ever reached in San Diego County for this type of injury.
“The Griffith Company fought us every step of the way in this case, asserting the Going-and-Coming Rule shielded it from liability, but the jury got it right and delivered a just verdict for our clients,” said Brian Panish, founding partner at Panish | Shea | Ravipudi LLP. “We are grateful to the jury and thankful Mr. LaPlante will be able to receive the care he needs to move forward.”
On the morning of August 27, 2021, Griffith Company employee Antelmo Martinez was driving his truck to work when he made an unsafe U-Turn on SR-94, directly into Mr. LaPlante’s path of travel. Unable to avoid the defendant’s vehicle, Mr. LaPlante collided with the truck and was hospitalized with severe injuries including multiple rib fractures, kidney injury, hip fracture, femoral artery injury, open tibia and fibula fractures, talus fracture, labral tears to his right shoulder and bilateral knees, and a mangled left leg.