Garage door falls on tenant but landlord says injury was from auto accident. $2.8M. Sacramento County.

Facts and Background

• Facts and Background:

  Plaintiff Brian Record, was involved in two separate incidents 10 days apart in May 2012. The first incident involved a wooden garage door falling on Brian’s back and pinning him to a truck and the second incident involved Brian riding as a passenger in a truck that was rear-ended 10 days later.

  Background

  At the time plaintiff was injured, he was 42 years old and had recently moved from Washington state to California. He was in the middle of a workers' comp retraining program that brought him to Sacramento for an accounting/business program at a tech school in Sacramento. In 2002 plaintiff had been injured at work and ultimately had to have two neck surgeries due to his injuries. Later, in 2008, he was injured again at work which disabled him from working as a finish carpenter. The second work injury ultimately led to two shoulder surgeries and two additional neck surgeries. By 2012, Brian had two levels at his neck fused (4 prior neck surgeries) and screws in his right shoulder. Due to his previous injuries and then to the injuries he suffered as a result of the garage door falling on his back, he did not work from 2008 until September 2015.

  Garage door incident (#1)

  The first incident in the present case with plaintiff took place at a home that he and his wife had rented in Sacramento from the defendant landlords. The incident involved a spring/hinged wood garage door that plaintiff claimed became unhinged and fell on plaintiff’s back, pinning him to a truck, when he was in his garage. That night, after the door allegedly fell on him, plaintiff went to the emergency room, complaining of severe low back pain and left leg weakness. He did not have any visible bruising at the time and his CT scans and X-rays showed no fractures. He was given four injections of pain medication, a diagnosis of “a contusion” and a prescription for additional pain medication. For the next 10 days, Brian stayed home and did not return to the doctor. 

  Rear-ender car collision (#2)

  On the tenth day after the garage door incident, plaintiff was riding as a passenger in a pickup truck. At a stop, the truck he was riding in was the last vehicle to be rear-ended in a four-car crash. Ten days after the rear-end crash, plaintiff returned to the ER complaining of low back pain and left leg weakness. 

   

• Plaintiff's Contentions:

  That defendant landlords' negligence caused the garage door to fall on plaintiff, resulting in his injuries.

• Defendant's Contentions:

  Defendant in the car collision accepted responsibility for his actions and entered into a “Mary Carter” agreement after tendering their remaining policy limits of $285,000.

  The landlord defendants maintained that plaintiff was the cause of his own injury, or was never truly injured by the garage door in the first place.