Sacramento Personal Injury Lawyer Blog

(Please note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the proceedings.)

After being hospitalized at Mercy San Juan Hospital for 14 days, on May 15, 2006, plaintiff was transferred the U.C.D. Medical Center for further inpatient treatment. Upon transfer from Mercy San Juan, her diagnosis included:
 Closed head injury.
 Subarachnoid hemorrhage.
 Diffuse axonal injury.
 C2 fracture anterior aspect of the lateral mass.

Plaintiff remained at UC Davis Medical Center for 22 days where she was treated for a traumatic brain injury. In total, she was hospitalized for 35 days.

V. PLAINTIFF'’S CONTINUING COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENTS
Since the collision plaintiff has been evaluated by three medical experts. Their reports are attached as Exhibits and their findings are discussed below.

1. Alan D. Shonkoff, Ph.D. Dr. Shonkoff was retained by defendant. He examined plaintiff on April 22, 2007, and administered some tests. In his reports he states:

[Plaintiff] clearly sustained a significant head trauma in the 5/1/06 accident. As mentioned, paramedics at the accident scene described her as unresponsive with serial Glasgow Coma Scale scores of 3. She was subsequently intubated and medically sedated.

Continue reading " Woman Hit By Sacramento Drunk Driver Suffers Traumatic Brain Injury, Part 4 of 10 " »

(Please note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the proceedings.)

Dr. Allen’s report confirms that plaintiff suffered “cortical brain damage based on radiological and electroencephalographic test findings.” In his report Dr. Allen states:
“In my professional opinion, [plaintiff] has sustained significant damage to her brain, which has demonstrated lowered performance over a period of one year following her automobile accident. It is indicated that she has permanent impairment.

I concur with Dr. Shonkoff in concluding that there has been improvement in some areas of functioning. [Plaintiff’s] functioning in the complex abstract thinking realm, remains moderate to severely impaired. This is also true difficulty learning some left hemisphere mediated tasks.

It is indicated and is my opinion that her automobile accident and subsequent injury will limit occupational functioning in may areas. However, it cannot be determined from these neuropsychological evaluations what his future occupational interests will be, and referral for occupational counseling is suggested.

There is also concern that the level of impairment (moderate to severe) with the significant period of unconsciousness will cause him significantly vulnerability to further brain damage upon any future trauma to his brain. Based on the available information and what is becoming apparent from the research on repeat head trauma patients, she is twice as likely as individuals who have not experienced head trauma to develop damage should a second concussion or major injury occur.

Continue reading " Sacramento Drunk Driver Hits Woman Who Suffers Traumatic Brain Injury, Part 5 of 10 " »

(Please note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the proceedings.)

Eric Van Ostrand, M.D. Dr. Van Ostrand is a physician and a board-certified neurologist.He was retained by plaintiff. Dr. Van Ostrand’s report sets forth [plaintiff's] diagnosis as follows:
a. Severe traumatic brain injury based upon clinical history and radiographic findings, sustained 04/28/07.
b. Mood instability, irritability causally related to traumatic brain injury.
c. Impaired short-term recall, causally related to the subject accident.
d. Impaired fine motor control and overall agility, causally related to traumatic brain injury.
e. Central nervous system radiographic findings documenting traumatic subarachnoid hemorrhage, multiple cerebral contusions and diffuse axonal injury.
f. Impaired right-sided hearing, causally related to subject accident based upon temporal relationship. Multiple potential etiologies. Further comment deferred to ENT specialist.
g. Possible early post-traumatic seizure. Abnormal EEG suggesting increased risk of epilepsy.

Continue reading " Sacramento Woman Hit By Drunk Driver Suffers Brain Damage, Part 6 of 10 " »

(Please note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the proceedings.)

INCREASED RISK OF FUTURE SEIZURES
Dr. Van Ostrand discusses plaintiff’s increased risk of seizures as follows:
“In regards to her future risk of seizures, the currently available neurology literature is replete with studies demonstrating an increased risk of seizures following a traumatic brain injury. It is possible that she had a seizure at the scene of the subject accident based on the report that she had a clenched jaw at that time. It should also be noted that her post accident EEG was abnormal and may reflect evidence of cortical irritability. Such a finding may suggest an increased risk for the subsequent development of seizures. The risk of not only early but late post-traumatic seizures increasing with the severity of traumatic brain injury. One study investigated 5,984 episodes of traumatic brain injury (Seizures, Vol. 9, Issue 7, pages 453-457, J. Annegers) and found a relative risk of 17.2 for the development of seizures following a severe traumatic brain injury. Although the risk of seizures decreases with each passing year, traumatic brain injury patients are still considered to be at risk of subsequent seizures for 15 or more years following the brain injury.”

INCREASED RISK OF ALZHEIMER’S DEMENTIA
Recent studies have reported that persons who suffer a traumatic brain injury like [plaintiff], have an increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s dementia in old age. Dr. Van Ostrand comments on this in his report, stating the following:

Continue reading " Drunk Driver Leaves Sacramento Woman With Brain Damage, Part 7 of 10 " »

(Please note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the proceedings.)

RISK OF ALZHEIMER'S cont.

In Neuropsychiatric Reviews, October of 2000, Vol. 1, #5, Dr. Trojanowski comments that, “Recent studies have provided very strong evidence that there is a connection between head trauma and at least some of the pathology of Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Brenda L. Plassman, Ph.D., director of the program in epidemiology of dementia at Duke University Medical Center is quoted as saying, “Positive series outnumber negative ones (in terms of the causal relationship between traumatic brain injury and the development of Alzheimer’s dementia.”

This article cited a study which involved the telephone screening of more than World War II veterans who had suffered a head injury. What was found was that veterans who suffered a severe traumatic brain injury were noted to be at increased risk for ultimately developing Alzheimer’s dementia. The link between traumatic brain injury and the development of Alzheimer’s dementia has been found to be particularly strong in male patients. No pathophysiological explanation for this phenomenon has been firmly established.

It should be also noted that according to the American Journal of Epidemiology, Vol. 149, #1: pages 33-40, ‘Results suggest that traumatic brain injury reduces the time to onset of Alzheimer’s disease among persons at risk of developing the disease.’ Based upon my review of the currently available neurology literature, it is my opinion that plaintiff faces an increased risk for developing Alzheimer’s in the future as a direct result of this severe traumatic brain injury.”

Continue reading " Sacramento Woman Left With Brain Damage When Struck By Drunk Driver, Part 8 of 10 " »

(Please note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the proceedings.)

X. SPECIAL DAMAGES
Plaintiff was rushed by ambulance to Mercy San Juan Hospital. After 14 days she was transferred to U.C.Davis Medical Center where she was hospitalized for 22 additional days. The bills for the foregoing are as follows.
Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District $ 1,021.97
UC Davis Med Center $ 150,450.62
Mercy San Juan Hospital $ 210,437.00
TOTAL DAMAGES $ 361,909.59

At time of trial plaintiff will be entitled to present to the jury the sum of $361,909.59, itemized above. Plaintiff’s medical bills are referenced below. Plaintiff has also been served with a lien from Catholic Healthcare West for Mercy San Juan Hospital in the sum of $210,437.00. There remains no Medi-Cal lien for these charges as it has been withdrawn. Catholic Healthcare West has refunded all monies received from Medi-Cal and the Medi-Cal lien is cancelled because the defendant tortfeasors are insured and Medi-Cal is, by statute, the payer of last resort.

XI. SETTLEMENT OFFERS
Plaintiff has sued Chris Brown for compensatory and punitive damages as a result of his drunk driving. Plaintiff is also entitled to an award of attorney fees if defendant is convicted of a felony. In addition, plaintiff has sued Paul and Mary Brown for negligent entrustment of the vehicle to their son.

The defendants are insured by Allstate Insurance with policy limits of $500,000 per accident plus an umbrella in the sum of $1,000,000. Total insurance coverage available for all three claims arising from the collision is, therefore, $1,500,000.

Continue reading " Woman Suffers Traumatic Brain Injury When Struck By Sacramento Drunk Driver, Part 9 of 10 " »

(Please note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the proceedings.)

B. Joint Offer from All Plaintiffs
On September 15, 2007, all three plaintiffs in this action joined in renewing a policy limit offer to settle the entire case. A copy of that offer states the following:

“As you know, your clients have been sued for compensation and punitive damages following a drunken driving crash caused by Mr. Brown. His parents were sued for negligent entrustment. The plaintiffs have suffered serious injuries including brain damage and fractures requiring hospitalization. Please see plaintiffs’ Mediation Briefs for a further description of their injuries and economic damages.

All three plaintiffs in this case, by and through their respective attorneys, previously offered to jointly accept payment of the Defendants’ full policy limits of coverage (two policies totaling $1,500,000.00) in settlement of this case.

Please allow this letter to again alert you, Allstate Insurance, and the defendants’ insurance adjustors that plaintiffs’ combined global settlement offer is again offered by all three plaintiffs, by and through their respective counsel, and is available to provide all three of your clients with a complete and full release of all claims against them. In addition, the plaintiffs will extinguish all liens.

Stated another way, if Allstate Insurance Company agrees to pay to the injured plaintiffs the limits of the insurance coverage previously purchased by the Brown family from Allstate, then the Brown family (Chris, Mary and Paul) will be forever finished with the litigation and will be fully released from any further claim for compensatory and/or punitive damages. The case will be over.

Continue reading " Sacramento Drunk Driver Injures Woman, Causing Brain Damage, Part 10 of 10 " »

On April 9, a federal jury in Sacramento has ordered West Sacramento to pay damages to two sisters from Ghana who were handcuffed during a traffic stop.

Jurors declined to order punitive damages, The Sacramento Bee reported. They ordered $11,700 in compensatory damages to Karene Beecham, who was driving the car, and $21,700 to her sister, Karena Crankson. Because U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez, in an unusual move, found that the sisters' constitutional rights were violated, the jury only had to consider whether they were entitled to damages and how much.

The sisters, with their two young children in the car, were on a sightseeing trip when they were pulled over in 2006 for making a lane change without signaling. Officer Timothy Twardosz, who made the stop, sent a radio message suggesting that the sisters were high-risk, resulting in the arrival of three other officers.

Thethree other officers arrived at the scene in separate cars. With guns drawn, all four officers ordered the women out of their car. One officer had an assault rifle. Another had a pistol in one hand and a leashed police dog in the other. The two women were ordered to lift their shirts to show they were not armed, then handcuffed and placed in the back of separate police vehicles for about 30 minutes.

Beecham and Crankson were detained in the backs of police cars for about half an hour before Beecham was given a ticket and they were allowed to drive off.

Continue reading " Jury Awards Sacramento Women Money For Traffic Stop " »

On Thursday night a man sitting a bus stop in Sacramento was struck and killed by a 17-year-old motorcyclist. The cyclist will be charged with felony gross vehicular manslaughter, evading arrest and driving without a license, authorities said today.

The cyclist, whose name has not been released because he is a minor, remains in Mercy San Juan Hospital, where he is being treated for injuries suffered after leading the CHP on a high-speed chase and crashing into a Sacramento County sheriff's patrol car.

The incident began about 7:40 p.m., when a California Highway Patrol officer writing reports in the parking lot of a Target at Madison Avenue and College Oak Drive saw the motorcyclist speeding along Madison Avenue, CHP spokeswoman Liz Dutton said. The officer engaged in a pursuit heading west on Madison across the Highway 80 overpass. The cyclist was traveling an estimated 90 mph on a street with a 45 mph limit.

Near Hillsdale Boulevard, the motorcyclist signaled to the pursuing officer that he was going to stop but then sped up and ran a red light at the intersection with Jackson Street, Dutton said. There the cyclist collided with the sheriff's car.

Continue reading " Sacramento Bystander Struck And Killed By Motorcyclist " »

A 35-year-old Orangevale man died Wednesday afternoon, April 1, on Hazel Avenue after his motorcycle hit a car, California Highway Patrol officials said. The man, whose identity was withheld pending notification of next of kin, was driving a Kawasaki ZX6R southbound at an "extreme high rate of speed" near Lake Nimbus Drive at about 4:15 p.m., according to a CHP news release.

At the same time, a 68-year-old woman from Fair Oaks was turning left onto Lake Nimbus Drive, the CHP said. The motorcyclist hit the right side of her car and was thrown from his bike, the CHP said. He was taken by helicopter to Sutter Roseville Hospital, where he was pronounced dead about 45 minutes later.

The woman was knocked unconscious by the impact and her car rolled down Lake Nimbus Drive for several hundred feet until a citizen helped stop it, the CHP said.

Drugs or alcohol do not appear to be a factor in the crash, the CHP said. The motorcylist was negligent by the mere fact of his high rate of speed.

Continue reading " Orangevale Motorcyclist Killed After Colliding With Automobile " »

There was an interesting piece in the New York Times last week about the business of independent medical exams (IMEs) of injured workers who had filed claims against their employers. The story detailed the pressure often placed on the physicians conducting the exams to produce a report that is favorable to the insurance company, who also happens to be paying the physician's fee. Not everybody believes the system is broken, but the apparent conflict of interest does raise several red flags.

The obvious victim in this situation is the injured worker. The Times piece focused on New York state's workers' compensation system And that system's deficiencies is no different here in the Sacramento area, and throughout California.

The independent exams are designed to flush out workers who exaggerate injuries or get unnecessary care, and there is no question that some of that goes on. As a check on what a worker’s doctor determines, insurers are allowed to order an ostensibly neutral exam by a doctor they select and pay for. They do so regularly, with more than 100,000 exams conducted in New York state each year. The numbers are just as high in California.

Continue reading " NY Investigation Of Independent Medical Exams Affects California Injury Claims " »