Los Angeles Jury Awards $34.56 Million to Cyclist Who Lost His Leg When a Big Rig Drove Over a Sidewalk
After trial: A confidential settlement was reached after the verdict, and its amount was not disclosed. We found no appeal, and we could not confirm what was ultimately paid.
Won by Panish Shea Ravipudi LLP.
On January 29, 2015, a Los Angeles Superior Court jury awarded $34,555,220 to Alan Casillas, who was 19 when a Landstar Ranger tractor-trailer drove over a South Los Angeles sidewalk during a right turn and crushed his left leg, which was amputated below the knee. Landstar admitted negligence at the start of trial, so the jury decided only damages. The verdict was unanimous and was followed by a confidential settlement.
What happened
On the morning of December 7, 2012, Alan Casillas, then 19, was riding his bicycle to a friend's house in South Los Angeles. He stopped on the sidewalk at the corner of Tweedy Boulevard and Alameda Street. A Landstar Ranger tractor-trailer, driven by Francisco Azurdia, was turning right from Tweedy onto Alameda. The 55-foot trailer swung over part of the sidewalk, struck Casillas's bicycle, knocked him down and crushed his left leg.
Casillas was taken to St. Francis Medical Center, where he stayed 54 days. His left leg was amputated below the knee. Fitting a prosthetic was not straightforward, and he went through revision surgeries afterward. By the time of trial he was 21 and appeared in court in a wheelchair. He described nightmares, depression and the loss of the sports and manual work he had done before the crash.
He sued Landstar Ranger, Inc. and the driver. Landstar had initially argued that Casillas was partly at fault and that the intersection's design was dangerous. At the start of trial it admitted negligence, which left the jury with one question: how much the injury was worth.
The case was tried before Judge Elizabeth Allen White over about two weeks. Brian Panish and Thomas Schultz of Panish Shea & Boyle (now Panish Shea Ravipudi) represented Casillas. The defense team came from Klinedinst and Yukevich Cavanaugh. The medical bills to date were stipulated, and the jury spent most of its deliberation on pain and suffering. Outside the courtroom, Casillas said the money would go to his medical needs and his college education.
The jury deliberated for most of one day and returned a unanimous 12 to 0 verdict on January 29, 2015, for a total of $34,555,220. It awarded $27,875,000 for past and future pain and suffering, $5,941,581 for past and future medical expenses and $738,639 for past and future lost earnings. A news report that day gave the total as $33.8 million, but the itemized figures reported by VerdictSearch and the other coverage add up to the larger number.
After the verdict, the parties reached a confidential settlement. The verdict also drew a 2015 top verdicts recognition from the Daily Journal, according to the plaintiff's firm.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
- 1.VerdictSearch, 'Truck's unsafe turn resulted in bicyclist's need for amputation', Casillas v. Landstar Ranger, Inc., 2015
- 2.City News Service via MyNewsLA, '$33.8M awarded to L.A. bicyclist who lost leg in crash with big rig', Jan. 29, 2015·Archived copy
- 3.Panish Shea Ravipudi LLP (firm)·Archived copy
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