Personal Injury Lawyer Blog
(Please note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the proceedings.)
V. ECONOMIC DAMAGES
Past Medical:
Meridian Resource Company $ 386,407.13
Trauma Medical Group of Roseville $ 7,017.96
Patient Copays:
Sutter Auburn Home Health $ 137.88
Sutter Auburn Faith Hospital $ 167.55
Central Anesthesia Medical Group, Inc. $ 401.70
Roseville Cardiology $ 329.22
Radiological Associates of Sacramento $ 273.46
Sutter Roseville Medical Center $ 4,236.80
Sutter Emergency Medical Association $ 71.01
CA Emergency Physicians of Roseville $ 62.33
Diagnostic Pathology $ 39.88
Total Copays $ 5,719.83
Travel expenses $ 881.00
Total Past Medical $ 400,025.92
Total Conservative Future Medical $ 146,658.49
TOTAL MEDICAL DAMAGES $ 546,684.41
VI. CURRENT CONDITION
Currently, NANCY is a fraction of the woman that she was prior to the bus accident. Prior the bus trip, NANCY would wake up each day at 5:00 a.m. and put in 10-12 hours of work on her farm. She had no lung, kidney, or heart problems. She had run her farm since 1969. Her daily duties on the farm included, but were not limited to, the following:
1. Fixing fences
2. Cutting wood
3. Irrigation repair and clean out
4. Mowing
5. Fertilizing
6. Planting trees and crops
7. Unloading plant material
8. Tending to their farm animals
Today, NANCY can only perform about 15 – 20 percent of her prior responsibilities on her farm. She will start a task and quickly become out of breath, tired, and weak, causing her to rest and not finish the job. For instance, when she tries to plant trees or work on the farm’s irrigation systems, she is quickly forced to rest and try to regain her strength. Most days she is unable to continue. She has lost her vigor, vitality, and stamina to work. She is up many nights coughing and not sleeping. She cannot enjoy the scuba dives or bicycle trips she used to go on because she cannot climb the cliffs for the dives, and she cannot load and unload her bicycles and gear for her trips.
Because of her injuries, NANCY has been unable to do the work she used to do. She
needs help of approximately 5 hours per day, 7 days per week, or 35 hours per week, to keep the farm functioning. At $15 per hour this is a claim of $27,300 per year. Assuming NANCY would have continued to maintain the farm to age 70, this is an additional claim of $191,100.00.
As a result, plaintiff’s past and future economic damages total $737,784.41.
VII. LIABILITY
As operators of a common carrier bus, defendants owed to plaintiff the highest standard of care. Pursuant to California Civil Code Section 2100, the general duties of a carrier include:
“A carrier of persons for reward must use the utmost care and diligence for their safe carriage…”
As described by witnesses, defendants XYZ CHARTER TOURS and BOBBI JONES failed to use the utmost care and diligence in transporting plaintiff. Defendant XYZ CHARTER TOURS knew or should have known that JONES was not sufficiently recovered from her cancer and chemotherapy to safely operate such a large tour bus. This turned out to be the case as was evidenced by the numerous driving errors she made. In like manner, JONES knew or should have known she was not able to safely drive the bus.
In the exercise of the “utmost care and diligence,” XYZ CHARTER TOURS should have sent another driver and JONES should have declined to drive this trip because it was too arduous given her weakened condition. (See Part 4 of 6.)
For more information you are welcome to contact Sacramento personal injury lawyer, Moseley Collins.