Defendant's limo causes t-bone crash when he attempts to cross 7 lanes of traffic. $1.3M. Los Angeles County

Facts and Background

• Facts and Background:

  On June 26, 2015 plaintiff was traveling westbound in the number three lane of Victory Blvd. in Van Nuys. It was rush hour and Victory Blvd. is a heavily traveled major arterial seven-lane highway through the Valley in Los Angeles. Defendant limo driver attempted to cut across Victory Blvd. using the minor residential street of Columbus Avenue. Columbus had a stop sign at the intersection of Victory.

  Defendant driver claimed that he stopped at the stop sign before crossing the intersection. He was driving in scope of employment for A-List Limousine Company LLC. He had dropped off a customer in the area and was using Columbus as a shortcut to get home. Solomon made it across six of the lanes and entered westbound lane number three a fraction of a second ahead of plaintiff. Plaintiff t-boned defendant's vehicle. The crash damaged two discs in plaintiff's spine at C5-C6 and C6-C7. After two years of conservative treatment, PT, and injections, the discs ultimately had to be replaced.

• Plaintiff's Contentions:

  That defendant driver was taking an unnecessary and unsafe shortcut across Victory Blvd. to save a little time. That he did not properly pay attention to traffic on Victory Blvd. and proceeded across the intersection without first checking if it was safe to do so. Defendant driver should have slowed or stopped ahead of westbound lane number three on Victory Blvd.

  Further, that the crash was responsible for plaintiff's disc replacement surgery, caused her to miss work for the surgery, and requires a future surgery. Plaintiff will suffer chronic pain.

• Defendant's Contentions:

  That defendant driver stopped at the stop sign, properly checked Victory Blvd. for immediate hazards and properly entered Victory Blvd. Under California Vehicle Code 21802(b) defendant claimed that their limo driver occupied the intersection and had the right of way over plaintiff, that plaintiff should have seen defendant enter the intersection and crossing the intersection, and  that plaintiff was not keeping a proper lookout and violated the basic speed law.

  Also, that westbound lanes one and two on Victory had become backed up, which meant that plaintiff had to treat the "Keep Clear" signs at the intersection like a stop sign. Further, that the backed up cars should have given plaintiff a visual cue to slow down or stop ahead of the intersection. Further, that plaintiff was on her cell phone at the time of the crash.

  LAPD arrived at the scene and did not take a police report which defense argued showed the crash was not significant. Defense also claimed that medical records showed various pre-existing conditions that were causing plaintiff's problems. In addition, defendant noted that plaintiff's disc replacement surgery was extremely successful, that she would not need future surgery, that she had gotten happily married a year after the surgery, that she had hardly missed any work, and  that she was living an active life. Defense used social media pictures to claim that plaintiff's current pain was minor or non-existent.