Case details
Defense denied plaintiff suffered a brain injury from crash
SUMMARY
$100000
Amount
Verdict-Plaintiff
Result type
Not present
Ruling
KEYWORDS
back, brain, brain damage, brain injury, cervical, cognition, concussion, head, headaches, herniated disc, impairment, lumbar, lumbar head, mental, neck, psychological, traumatic brain injury
FACTS
On Nov. 15, 2013, plaintiff Marc Crumpton, a self-employed human-resources consultant in his 50s, was driving on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, in San Francisco, when his vehicle was rear-ended by a box truck operated by Robert Sherman. The force of the collision caused Crumpton’s vehicle to rear-end the vehicle in front of him. Crumpton claimed to his head, neck and back. Crumpton sued Sherman, alleging that Sherman was negligent in the operation of his truck. Sherman conceded liability for the collision., Crumpton claimed he sustained a mild traumatic brain injury, and herniated cervical and lumbar discs. He was immediately taken to a emergency room, where a full workup was done. While Crumpton was not diagnosed with symptoms of a concussion, he claimed that he had a later onset of symptoms related to a concussion/traumatic brain injury, which started the night he went home from the ER or the next day. Two years after the accident, Crumpton began receiving Botox injections for his migraines and continued to receive them every three months for the next three years. Crumpton claimed that, before the accident, he never had any headaches or migraines, but that after the accident, he had continuing migraines for five years. He also claimed that he suffers from cognition impairment and that as a result, his work has been impacted. Crumpton alleged that he will need future migraine treatments. Crumpton sought recovery of past and future medical costs, and damages for his past and future pain and suffering. He did not seek recovery of lost wages. Plaintiff’s counsel asked the jury to award Crumpton $860,000 in total damages. Defense counsel contended that the ambulance’s emergency medical technicians and ER personnel did a full workup of Crumpton and found no symptoms of concussion. The defense’s accident reconstruction and biomechanics expert found that the delta-V from the accident was around 12 and opined that the force of impact was too low of a speed to support a mechanism for causing a concussion. The defense’s expert neurosurgeon testified that, according to ambulance records and Crumpton’s first visit to his treating physician, Crumpton did not complain of symptoms that could have been considered to be caused by a concussion. As a result, the expert opined that Crumpton did not suffer a traumatic brain injury. The defense’s neuropsychology expert did a workup and determined that Crumpton is prone to exaggeration. As a result of his experts’ findings, defense counsel asked the jury to only award Crumpton between $50,000 and $75,000.
COURT
Superior Court of Alameda County, Oakland, CA
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- brain
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- depression
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- facial bone
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- head
- headaches
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- speech
- subdural hematoma
- tinnitus
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