$2,030,000.00 at mediation
The plaintiff, as 22 year old student, was a passenger in a Honda Civic
which experienced a front passenger side flat tire. In response, the driver
of the Honda had pulled so far off the freeway, half of the vehicle was
straddling the asphalt shoulder and the other half was in the gravel completely
off the paved shoulder surface. The emergency flashers were on and the
trunk lid open. After a night of drinking with friends, defendant drove
his Ford F350 truck to his employer's yard in Brisbane, California,
for the purpose of meeting a subordinate employee and to hitch his Ford
350 truck to a Toman trailer owned by his employer. After hitching the
trailer, he drove to the job site in Santa Cruz with the subordinate employee
following in a second vehicle on I-280.
At a speed of approximately 60 mph, defendant went off the freeway and
smashed into the rear of the Honda which had been stopped on the side
of the freeway for approximately 15 minutes. The forces of the truck striking
the small Honda at this speed demolished the car in which the plaintiff
was a rear seat passenger. The plaintiff was later pronounced dead at
the scene.
In a later criminal proceeding, the defendant pled guilty to felony vehicular
manslaughter and felony driving under the influence causing great bodily
injury. He was sentenced to a term of years in a California State Penitentiary.
Defendant employer claimed and continued to contend that the defendant
driver was an independent contractor, despite the fact that during discovery
proceedings in litigation, there was overwhelming evidence that the driver
was an employee of the defendant company at the time of the subject collision
and was acting in the course and scope of said employment.