Motorcyclist, 35, is struck by defendant company's pickup, but defendant says driver was retired and not in course and scope of employment. Catastrophic head and spine injuries. $11.9 million verdict.
Award was against all defendants jointly.
$2,900,671
$9,000,000
Sean Choy, 35, was riding his motorcycle to his construction job on Nov, 7, 2007, when he was broadsided on Pacheco Boulevard at South Buchanan Circle in Pacheco by a Mori Hatsushi & Associates pickup truck driven by employee Masaru Hatsushi.
Hatsushi, who died before the trial started, was the 72-year-old uncle of the firm's owners, Mori and Tomiko Hatsushi.
That Masaru Hatsushi was in the course and scope of his employment with Mori Hatsushi and Associates on day of the accident and was carrying corporate-owned equipment to a job site, Kaiser Hospital in Walnut Creek, at the direction of Mori Hatsushi, the President of Mori Hatsushi and Associates Inc.
That Masaru Hatsushi was an employee of the company who had been removed from its insurance policy because of his poor driving record.
That there was no documentation to support the claim that he had retired the week before the accident.
That Masaru Hatsushi was not working for Mori Hatsushi and Associates and that as corporate officers they were not personally liable for negligent retention and ratification.
That the landscaping firm was not liable for Choy's injuries because Masaru Hatsushi had retired from the company a week before the accident and was in the process of returning equipment when he struck Choy.
Plaintiff was in a coma for six weeks after the collision. He suffered brain damage, facial and spinal fractures and a punctured lung. He lost his spleen and his left arm was paralyzed.
Complete loss of use of left arm, brain damage, loss of spleen, fractures of spine and right arm, massive fractures of facial bones.
Inability to work and play like a normal human being. Anger issues related to brain damages, emotional distress from injuries.
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