The Case

• Case Name: Serrano-Loera v. Olson Precast Company
• Court and Case Number: Riverside County Superior Court / CVRI2300355
• Date of Verdict or Judgment: Thursday, August 28, 2025
• Date Action was Filed: Monday, January 23, 2023
• Type of Case: Wrongful Death
• Judge or Arbitrator(s): Hon. Daniel Ottolia
• Plaintiffs:
  Leo Serrano (decedent's father), 49
  Evelia Hernandez (decedent's mother), 55
• Defendants:
  Olson Precast Company
• Type of Result: Jury Verdict

The Result

• Gross Verdict or Award: $5,028,000
• Net Verdict or Award: Jury awarded $2 million to each parent for the wrongful death claim; $1 million to plaintiff father for his shoulder injury and to plaintiff mother $28,000 for economic support.
• Award as to each Defendant:100% against Olson Precast Company.
• Contributory/Comparative Negligence: The jury assigned 100% fault to the defendant, 0% to the tire manufacturer, and 0% to the plaintiff.
• Economic Damages: Future: $28,000
• Non-Economic Damages: $5,000,000 
• Trial or Arbitration Time: 22 days; started on August 6 and finished on August 28
• Jury Deliberation Time: 3 hours
• Jury Polls: Unanimous

The Attorneys

• Attorney for the Plaintiff:

  Greene Broillet & Wheeler, LLP  by Molly McKibben, Christine Spagnoli and Omar Dardon, El Segundo, for Evelia Hernandez.

  Casillas & Associates by Arnoldo Casillas and Leonel Mojica, Long Beach, for Leo Serrano.

• Attorney for the Defendant:

  Taylor Anderson by Chris Mordy  and Nadina Beach, Reno, NV and San Diego.

  Behar Gibbs Savage Paulson LLP by William Woodland and Jim Mikhail, Long Beach.

The Experts

• Plaintiff’s Medical Expert(s):

  Michael Hollander, M.D., orthopedic surgery.

• Defendant's Medical Expert(s):Kevin Ehrhart, M.D., orthopedic surgery.
• Plaintiff's Technical Expert(s):

  Micky Gilbert, accident reconstruction and vehicle handling.

  William Woerhle, tires.

  Enrique Vega, vocational rehab and economics.

• Defendant's Technical Expert(s):

  Timothy Long, accident reconstruction.

  Richard Sherman, tires.

  Larry Miller, trucking.

Facts and Background

• Facts and Background: The case arose out of the death of a 22-year-old young man on August 1, 2022. Plaintiff father, and his son, Hector, were driving to work early that morning on I-215 S. At the same time, a 70,000-pound boom truck with a flatbed trailer owned by a concrete infrastructure company called Olson Precast Company (OPC) was traveling on the same freeway. As the two vehicles were side by side in the #1 and #2 lanes, the left front steering tire of the boom truck failed in a massive blowout. This caused the truck to veer into plaintiff's lane, causing him to take evasive action and steer into the dirt median, which led to his truck rolling. Plaintiff father brought this case for his personal injuries and the wrongful death of his son. Plaintiff mother also brought her own claim for Hector’s wrongful death and for his economic support; he was living with her at time of death.
• Despite both being belted, Hector was killed, and Hector's father sustained a severe shoulder injury. OPC did not retain the carcass of the blown-out tire even though they knew Hector had been killed (a fact plaintiffs were allowed to put before the jury and include a modified CACI 204 instruction on). Only about 5% of the tire tread pieces were left to analyze along with some photographs taken at the scene by CHP and an OPC supervisor who came to the scene.
• Plaintiff's Contentions: That the tire failed due to poor maintenance. The plaintiffs’ tire expert, Bill Woehrle, testified that, based on the photos of the carcass and the tread pieces that came off, the blowout occurred due to underinflation, and that the OPC driver should have discovered it during his pre-trip inspection the morning of the accident.
• Plaintiffs also had other photos of other tires on the OPC rig that had their own problems, as well as a violation the driver received from driving with a broken light, which he admitted to CHP he knew was broken but didn’t put on his pre-trip form, bolstering their claim that the driver did a bad inspection.
• Defendant's Contentions: The defense argued that their driver was not negligent, that the tire failed because of a manufacturing defect – “liner pattern marks” indicating poor adhesion – which were visible on the remaining piece of tread. They argued that the tire manufacturer (who was not a party) was at fault.
• Defendant also argued that plaintiff father was at fault because he was driving above the speed limit and should have braked instead of accelerating when the 70,000-pound rig encroached into his lane and forced him to take evasive action by steering into the dirt median.

Injuries and Other Damages

• Physical Injuries claimed by Plaintiff: Wrongful death of 22-year-old Hector Serrano; shoulder injury of plaintiff father.

Demands and Offers

• Defendant Final Offer before Trial: $1,300,000