On Feb. 23, 2009, plaintiff Fernando Hernandez, 33, an operations industrial engineer with the post office, was standing at a food truck on the side of Heritage Road, near the intersection of Otay Valley Road, near of the border of the Otay Mesa area of San Diego. At approximately 3:36 p.m., a sport utility vehicle operated by Adalberto Gutierrez Alvarez, traveling north on Heritage Road, lost control and crashed in the area of the food truck, striking Hernandez and pinning him against another vehicle. Hernandez sued Alvarez and the entities believed to be the owner of Alvarez’s SUV, Auto City, Camiones de Mexicali, Tustin Toyota and Unique Autos. Hernandez alleged that Alvarez was negligent in the operation of his vehicle and that the other entities were vicariously liable for his actions. He also named Francisco Ruiz, who was driving a vehicle that pulled out of the food truck area at the time of the accident, as a defendant, but Ruiz was never served the complaint. In addition, all of the auto ownership entities were dismissed from the case prior to trial. Thus, the matter proceeded to trial against Alvarez only. Plaintiffs’ counsel contended that Alvarez was negligent for speeding as he approached the area of the food truck and for losing control of his vehicle. Alvarez filed a cross-complaint against Ruiz, alleging that he was negligent in the operation of his vehicle and contributed to causing the accident. He claimed that he had to swerve to his right in order to avoid Ruiz, who created a hazard to oncoming vehicles by making a sudden maneuver when he pulled onto Heritage Road. Thus, Alvarez claimed that Ruiz caused him to lose control of his vehicle. Ruiz answered Alvarez’s cross-complaint, but was later dismissed from the case during jury selection, after statements from two discovery eyewitnesses (federal agents who were near the accident scene) claimed that Ruiz did nothing to cause the accident. As a result, Alvarez admitted liability in the underlying complaint, and the matter proceeded to damages., Hernandez was taken from the scene of the accident by ambulance and brought to an emergency room. He sustained a compound fracture of his left fibula and a fractured left tibia. Hernandez subsequently required internal fixation of his left calf’s fibula, including the use of a rod, screws, and bone and skin grafts. He also required open reduction to treat his tibia fracture. Hernandez was ultimately discharged from the hospital after several weeks. Hernandez was eventually readmitted to the hospital after continuing to complain of left hip pain. It was ultimately determined that he had a dislocated hip, for which he underwent open reduction when a closed reduction proved to be unsuccessful. He followed up with a plastic surgeon for skin grafts to his left calf (in addition to the grafts performed while he was in the hospital) for the loss of tissue/skin that had necrosis due to the trauma to that area. Hernandez then followed up with two months of physical therapy and ultimately had the hardware in his calf surgically removed due to discomfort in the spring of 2010. Despite treatment, Hernandez had residual complaints of occasional pain to his left hip and lower left leg. He claimed he lost the ability to run, walk for extended periods, and perform any rigorous activities involving his legs. He also missed four months of work after the accident, before returning to normal duties. Prior to trial, and as reflected in the special verdict form, the parties stipulated to past lost earnings of $14,636.16 and past medical costs of $138,542.37 (Hanif reduction), for a total of $153,178.53 in economic damages. Hernandez also asked the jury for $500,000 to $1.5 million in damages for his pain and suffering, while his wife, Veronica, sought recovery of $50,000 in damages for her loss of consortium. Defense counsel asked the jury to award Mr. Hernandez $110,000 for his general damages and to not award anything to Mrs. Hernandez for her loss of consortium.