Case details
Motorcycle collison with bus caused multiple injuries: plaintiff
SUMMARY
$3060000
Amount
Mediated Settlement
Result type
Not present
Ruling
KEYWORDS
fracture, genital pain, pelvic trauma, pelvis, right knee, right leg's fibula, right thigh, sacrum, tears
FACTS
On May 14, 2014, plaintiff Corry Lazarowitz, 33, a software engineer, was riding his motorcycle on the northbound San Diego Freeway, also known as Interstate 405, in Torrance, when a shuttle bus operated by Tadashi Watanabe suddenly changed lanes. As a result, Lazarowitz collided into the rear, driver’s side corner of the bus, pinching his right, lower extremity between the motorcycle and bus, before crashing to the pavement and sliding across the asphalt in the carpool lane. Lazarowitz sued Watanabe and the owner of the bus, Nada Bus Inc. Lazarowitz alleged that Watanabe was negligent in the operation of the shuttle bus and that Nada Bus was vicariously liable for Watanabe’s actions while engaged in the course and scope of his employment. Lazarowitz claimed that he was traveling in the carpool lane, going between 40 and 45 mph, when a Watanabe suddenly changed lanes from the number one lane into the carpool lane, as traffic in the number one lane slowed. He further claimed that Watanabe’s shuttle bus crossed over the two sets of double-yellow lines that separate the number one lane from the carpool lane and moved directly into the path of his motorcycle in carpool lane, causing him to collide into the shuttle bus. Plaintiff’s counsel asserted that Watanabe made an unsafe lane change across the double-yellow carpool divider lines and was solely responsible for the crash. Watanabe denied negligence, claiming that Lazarowtiz was lane splitting just prior to the collision. He claimed that as a result, Lazarowtiz was in his blind spot at the time of the collision., Lazarowitz sustained fractures of his pelvis, sacrum, and right leg’s fibula. His upper, right thigh also sustained a Morel-Lavallée lesion, which is a closed degloving injury associated with pelvic trauma that results in the abrupt separation of skin and subcutaneous tissue from the underlying fascia. In addition, he sustained a shearing injury to the right, inner thigh; and tears of the right knee’s anterior cruciate ligament and medial meniscus. Lazarowitz was subsequently taken by ambulance to a local emergency room, where he remained for six weeks. During his hospitalization, he underwent open reduction and internal fixation to repair the anterior pelvic ring and anterior pubis symphysis, and closed reduction with percutaneous fixation of the right sacroiliac joint and the right sacral fracture. After being discharged from the hospital, Lazarowitz underwent three surgeries on his right knee, including an arthroscopic meniscectomy and a total ACL reconstruction. He also underwent 100 physical therapy sessions and a debridement of the necrotic shearing lesion of his right thigh. Lazarowitz claimed that he experienced worrisome genital pain during erections for about one year after the crash. He also claimed that he suffers from lingering right knee limitations and that he will eventually require a total knee arthroplasty with a possible arthroplasty revision thereafter, due to his relatively young age.
COURT
Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, CA
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