Case details
Truck driver claimed crash left him permanently disabled
SUMMARY
$3120000
Amount
Settlement
Result type
Not present
Ruling
KEYWORDS
back, brain, brain damage, brain injury, chest, chest flail, cognition, concentration, concussion, depression, face, fracture, head, hemopneumothorax, impairment, mental, neck, nose, psychological, rib, transverse process, transverse process head, traumatic brain injury, vertebra
FACTS
On Dec. 10, 2014, applicant Jose Paz, 58, a long-haul truck driver for Airfax Logistics Inc., was a passenger sleeping in the cab of a truck that was being operated by his co-driver. While they were traveling on eastbound Interstate 40, in Barstow, their truck was involved in a collision that caused Paz to be ejected from the sleeper cab. Paz claimed to his head and back. Paz filed a workers’ compensation claim against his employer, Airfax Logistics Inc., which was insured by the State Compensation Insurance Fund. He brought a claim against the respondent in an attempt to collect workers’ compensation benefits., Paz sustained a traumatic brain injury and briefly lost consciousness, but he regained consciousness during the ambulance ride to a hospital. He also sustained blunt craniofacial trauma, a cerebral concussion, nasal fractures, multiple fractures to the left ribs, a flail chest, a lung contusion, a hemopneumothorax, respiratory failure, blunt abdominal trauma, an intrahepatic liver laceration, and multiple soft tissue abrasions and contusions. In addition, he sustained fractures of the L1 transverse process and bilateral L2 processes. Paz was admitted to the emergency room at Desert Regional Medical Center, in Palm Springs, where he was admitted to the intensive care unit and intubated. He was mechanically ventilated and sedated, and he underwent numerous procedures, including a tracheostomy. Paz was eventually weaned from mechanical ventilation, and the tracheostomy was removed. After a month in the intensive care unit, Paz was discharged home. He was then seen by various doctors for the next several years. He was ultimately admitted into a residential neurorehabilitation facility at a Centre for Neuro Skills location, where he received multidisciplinary neurorehabilitation. Paz continues to complain of memory problems, slowed processing speed, dizziness, depression, decreased concentration, and poor sustained attention difficulties. He alleged that as a result, he is no longer able to compete in the open labor market. The medical-legal evaluators in this matter opined that Paz would benefit from home health care as well as long-term supported living services. However, multiple experts declared Paz permanently and totally disabled. The respondent’s counsel did not dispute the that were diagnosed immediately after the accident. However, counsel disputed the nature and extent of Paz’s residual complaints.
COURT
Workers' Compensation Appeals Board, CA
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INJURIES:
- anxiety
- brain
- brain damage
- brain injury
- cognition
- depression
- epidural
- extradural hematoma
- face
- facial bone
- fracture
- head
- headaches
- hearing
- impairment
- insomnia
- loss of
- mental
- nose
- psychological
- scapula
- sensory
- shoulder
- skull
- speech
- subdural hematoma
- tinnitus
- traumatic brain injury
- vision
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