Automobile Accidents
GIRL, MOTHER STRUCK IN INTERSECTION: FAILURE TO STOP AT RED LIGHT: FTCA LIABILITY: QUADRIPLEGIA: BRAIN INJURY:
Gutierrez v. USA, U.S. Dist. Ct., C.D. Cal., No. 8:04-cv-01045, September 27, 2007.
Gutierrez, 4, was with her mother in their SUV. Gutierrez was properly restrained in a child booster seat in the back seat on the driver’s side. As they entered an intersection on a green light, another vehicle going about 30 m.p.h. ran a red light and broadsided their car on the passenger side, causing Gutierrez’s mother to lose control of the car. It struck a utility pole on the passenger side and flipped over onto the driver’s side. Gutierrez sustained a disk injury at C2, causing ventilator-dependent quadriplegia. She also suffered other injuries, including a brain injury with a subarachnoid hemorrhage, traumatic instability at C6-7, a collapsed left lung, abdominal trauma, and a laceration of her spleen. Gutierrez required a total of 25 surgeries and other procedures and was hospitalized for about 250 days.
Her past medical expenses were about $3.55 million and her future life-care costs, based on a 40-year life expectancy, are estimated to be approximately $22.6 million. Gutierrez will never be able to work and claimed about $1.37 million in lost earing capacity.
After a bench trial, the court entered judgment for plaintiffs in the amount of $55.18 million, including $54.14 million to Gutierrez and the remaining amount to her mother. Defendant has appealed the portion of the judgment awarding Gutierrez $31 million in noneconomic damages.
