Jury Awards Family $8.36 Million After Transit Agency Van Rear-Ends Stalled Car on Los Angeles Freeway
After trial: The parties settled after the verdict, waiving costs, interest and appeal rights. We could not confirm the settlement terms or the amount paid.
Won by Carpenter & Zuckerman.
In September 2013 a Los Angeles County MTA maintenance van rear-ended a stalled Honda on the Santa Monica Freeway, and both vehicles caught fire. The driver, Xian Hui Lin, 56, died four days later. The MTA admitted responsibility, and a Los Angeles Superior Court jury in March 2016 awarded his widow and two adult children $8.36 million in damages. The parties then settled and waived appeal.
What happened
In September 2013, Xian Hui Lin, a 56-year-old cook who had immigrated to the United States, was on the Santa Monica Freeway (Interstate 10) east of downtown Los Angeles when his Honda Accord stalled in a traffic lane. A GMC Savana van driven by a maintenance employee of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority came up behind it at roughly 65 to 68 miles per hour. The driver had glanced over his left shoulder to change lanes, and when he looked forward the utility truck ahead of him had moved out of the way. He could not brake in time.
The van struck the Accord with great force, and both vehicles burst into flames. A passing fire captain pulled Mr. Lin from the wreckage, but he had suffered severe burns and other traumatic injuries, and he died in the hospital four days later. His wife, Ma Mei Liao, and their adult son and daughter, Yaer Lin and Lian Lin, brought a wrongful death and survival action in Los Angeles Superior Court (case BC546460) against the transportation authority and the driver. The family spoke Mandarin and used interpreters throughout the case. The driver, who was burned while helping try to rescue Mr. Lin, was dismissed before trial.
The authority stipulated that it was responsible for the crash, so the three-day jury trial in early March 2016 was limited to damages. Judge Anthony J. Mohr presided. Nicholas C. Rowley, Sark Ohanian and Courtney E. Rowley of Carpenter Zuckerman & Rowley represented the family, together with Cortney S. Shegerian of Shegerian & Associates. The transportation authority was defended by counsel from Veatch Carlson.
In March 2016 the jury awarded $8.28 million in non-economic damages to the family: $2.5 million for past losses and $5.78 million for future losses. The parties had stipulated to $75,451 in medical and funeral costs, bringing the total to $8,355,451. The figure was a family-wide award shared among the widow and the two children, not the result of a single plaintiff.
Trial coverage reported Mr. Rowley arguing that the authority had expected an immigrant family that did not speak English to settle cheaply. The verdict came in above the authority's highest pretrial offer.
After the verdict, the parties settled the case, with each side waiving costs, interest and the right to appeal.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
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