A 25 year-old art student was hit by a Yellow Cab when she was walking within a crosswalk in the SOMA district of San Francisco. She was thrown onto the cab’s hood, and then plummeted to the ground. The cab driver kept driving until passengers in the cab advised him to stop. As a result of being hit by a car while walking, she a pelvis fracture.
After much medical treatment and evaluation it was determined that surgical repair of the pelvis (pubic bone) was required. Hardware was implanted and several courses of physical therapy were required for her to walk again normally. As a result of the serious personal injuries, she had to have her pubic bone “fused” such that she would thereafter be unable to have a child via “natural child birth” – she could only have a child via a c-section.
As the pedestrian was a student, she did not have a loss of earnings claim, but she did claim a small amount for lost tuition money, as she was forced to withdraw from a semester of school to take time to recover from her injuries.
The cab driver tried to argue (at his deposition) that the pedestrian “ran into” his cab. However, the passengers of the cab provided statements that the cab driver almost attempted to flee the scene, but one of the passengers stayed in the cab to keep the driver at the scene.
The pedestrian suffered $53,369 in past medical costs, $34,609 in future medical costs, and $3,600 for lost tuition. San Francisco personal injury traffic accident lawyer Sally Morin opened with a demand of around $1.5 million and the offer in response was only $65,000. As the offer was ridiculous and nowhere near the reasonable value of the case, Morin filed the lawsuit and proceeded through litigation to press for a fair settlement. She took the case to mediation where she obtained a settlement of $937,500 for her young pedestrian client.
