Defendant admits liability in T-bone accident, but disputes injuries. Defense verdict. Los Angeles County.

Facts and Background

• Facts and Background:

  Liability was admitted. The accident occurred on July 31, 2021 on James M. Wood Boulevard near the intersection of S. Bonnie Brae Street in Los Angeles. Plaintiff was traveling eastbound on James Wood Boulevard. Defendant had exited an alleyway on the south side of James Wood Boulevard near the intersection with Bonnie Brae Street.

  Defendant admitted that she pulled out of the alleyway and struck the plaintiff’s vehicle on the driver side in a T-bone impact, pushing plaintiff’s vehicle into a parked vehicle. Both of the vehicles were deemed total losses as a result of the impact. Defendant driver sustained injury and was unable to get out of her car on her own. 

  Plaintiff did not have complaints of pain, discomfort or problems at the scene of the accident. She declined an ambulance at the scene. She was able to get out of her car on her own. Plaintiff denied loss of consciousness. She did not go to a hospital or urgent care or see her primary care physician  after the accident.

• Plaintiff's Contentions:

  Plaintiff alleged she sustained a concussion and that she sustained injuries to the neck and low back. Plaintiff underwent two PRP injections to the low back and one PRP injection to the mid back. Plaintiff alleged she needed a percutaneous lumbar microdiscectomy in the future.

  Plaintiff is a rising Latin pop star, singer and dancer. She claimed that she could no longer dance and perform as she did before the accident. Her choreographer and trainer testified that she trains plaintiff in gymnastics and Zumba and that she has known plaintiff since 2017.  She testified that since the accident, plaintiff has had to take breaks during her performances and rehearsals and that she has had to alter the plaintiff’s choreography. The trainer testified that prior to the accident, plaintiff went to her Zumba class every day, but since the accident, plaintiff does not go to Zumba often and plaintiff last went to her Zumba three months before trial; that plaintiff will never move like she used to and that plaintiff’s movements had stopped “a lot” and that plaintiff’s movements are slower instead of abrupt.

  Plaintiff testified on direct and cross-examination after her trainer's testimony. She testified that the accident made her music and performance more difficult. Plaintiff told the jury that her life is no longer the same as it was before the subject accident. She testified that she wanted to have the recommended lumbar discectomy and that she intended to have the surgery. She also testified that she could not Zumba like she used to. She testified that after exertion with dancing, she always seeks medical treatment.

• Defendant's Contentions:

  Defendant disputed the nature and extent of injuries and damages alleged by plaintiff and argued this was a case of attorney-referred medical build-up on a lien. 

  Defendant used sub-rosa video to impeach plaintiff. On the evening of Wednesday, April 23, 2025, surveillance of plaintiff showed plaintiff at Zumba class for two hours from 10:00 p.m. until midnight. On cross-examination, plaintiff admitted to going to her trainer's Zumba class, but explained that she was not doing Zumba and that she was having dance rehearsal.

  As further impeachment, defendant played two videos from plaintiff’s Instagram taken after the subject accident that depicted plaintiff dancing, ferociously moving her hips, twerking and squatting. After her testimony, plaintiff made her Instagram account private.

  Defense argued that plaintiff was never given any work or activity restrictions by any of the doctors. She completed various patient questionnaires with her treating doctors and she did not mark any pain on her body, nor did she mark any numbers when asked to rate her pain on a scale of 1-10. 

  Plaintiff had a total of 31 chiropractic visits at which her reported pain on the pain scale to her neck and low back was 3/10. She also denied headaches. She was discharged on December 4, 2021.

  On August 5, 2021, plaintiff underwent MRIs of the neck, mid back and low back and they were normal. Plaintiff then saw pain management doctors. She was given three PRP injections; two to the low back and one to the mid back. Defendant argued these injections were given before exhausting conservative care.

  Defendant argued the PRP injections were unnecessary and the cost of the injections was unreasonable. Further, that a recommendation of a percutaneous lumbar microdiscectomy was unnecessary.

  As to causation, defendant argued that plaintiff was in an automobile accident on July 25, 2019, two years before the subject accident of July 31, 2021. Plaintiff sustained injuries to the neck and back in the July 25, 2019 accident and she received chiropractic treatment following that accident.