Plaintiff who had been drinking suffers injuries after his car is hit by truck. $990K verdict. Los Angeles County.

Facts and Background

• Facts and Background:

  Plaintiff Ruben Lee Minjarez, a marine diver, sued defendant Jerry Abasta and his employer, defendant Fastrucking.com, LLC, and defendant Robert G. Guss, in connection with an automobile collision that occurred on June 8, 2010 at approximately 10:10 p.m. Prior to the accident, plaintiff was at a sports bar in Huntington Beach where he drank alcohol.

• Plaintiff's Contentions:

  That when he was traveling northbound in the far right lane on Interstate 405 in Long Beach, near the Pacific Ave. onramp, a truck driven by defendant Jerry Abasta made an unsafe lane change from the #3 to #4 lane, hitting plaintiff’s vehicle on the rear driver’s side, which caused the plaintiff’s vehicle to spin and move across all of the northbound lanes, coming to rest perpendicular in the HOV lane after hitting the center divider.

  Shortly thereafter, plaintiff’s vehicle was struck by a white Mercedes, driven by former defendant Marshall Golden, causing plaintiff’s vehicle to rotate again, coming to rest between the HOV and #1 lanes. After plaintiff attempted to start his vehicle to no avail, he saw headlights coming his way and exited his vehicle. Plaintiff alleged that defendant Robert G. Guss failed to exercise reasonable care in traveling at an unsafe speed for the traffic conditions, as a multi-vehicle collision had already occurred with Golden’s Mercedes stopped in the #3 lane ahead and several vehicles slowing or stopping to assist on the shoulder.

  Plaintiff also contended that Guss was tailgating and failed to brake or execute any precautionary swerving maneuver, which caused plaintiff’s car to be crushed under Guss’s GMC Yukon. Plaintiff was injured when the vehicle driven by Guss struck the plaintiff, causing his body to be catapulted into the southbound lanes of traffic, leading to multiple facial, head and bilateral tibia/fibula fractures, internal injuries, and a facial de-gloving injury.

  Medical records showed that plaintiff’s blood alcohol was a 0.13. Plaintiff contended that his alcohol consumption did not contribute to his harm. Defendant’s expert Dr. Stein agreed that if the truck driven by Mr. Abasta came into contact with plaintiff’s vehicle, nothing plaintiff could have done would have prevented the accident.

• Defendant's Contentions:

  Fastrucking.com, LLC denied liability for employee Jerry Abasta’s negligence, claiming that the truck driven by Abasta did not make contact with the plaintiff’s vehicle, while claiming that the plaintiff alone was negligent in driving while under the influence of alcohol.

  Fastrucking.com, LLC also contended that plaintiff made an unsafe lane change, which caused the plaintiff’s car to collide with the center divider from the far right lane of traffic, leading to the plaintiff’s subsequent injuries.

  Robert G. Guss claimed that plaintiff alone was negligent in driving under the influence of alcohol, denying liability. Guss’s main contention was that he acted reasonably under the circumstances and was unable to avoid collision with the plaintiff’s vehicle after it had come to rest between the HOV and #1 lanes. Both defendants stipulated that the plaintiff’s past medical expenses totaled $125,438.90