Court documents reveal a jury award of $990,438.90 in a truck vs. vehicle collision where the Plaintiff had been drinking and driving
by
Alexis Galindo on May. 26, 2020
Accident & Injury Personal Injury Accident & Injury Car Accident Consumer Rights Consumer Protection
Summary: Attorney Alex Galindo with Curd, Galindo & Smith, LLP announces a jury verdict in truck vs. auto case.
Court records in the case titled Minjarez vs. Guss, after a 9 day jury trial in Los Angeles Superior Court Case No.: NC057708; a jury rendered a $990,439.90 verdict in favor of Ruben Minjarez.
The complaint states that Plaintiff Ruben Lee Minjarez, who was represented by Alex Galindo of Curd, Galindo & Smith, LLP sued defendant Jerry Abasta and his employer, defendant Fastrucking.com,
LLC, and defendant Robert G. Guss, in connection with an automobile collision that occurred on June 8, 2010 at approximately 10:10 p.m. The trial transcript shows that prior to the accident, plaintiff admitted that he went to a sports bar in Huntington Beach where he drank alcohol.
At trial Plaintiff alleged that when he was traveling northbound in the far right lane on Interstate 405 in
Long Beach, near the Pacific exit. A truck driven by defendant Jerry Abasta made an unsafe lane
change from the #3 to #4 lane, hitting the plaintiff’s vehicle on the rear driver’s side, which caused the
plaintiff’s vehicle to spin and move across all of the northbound lanes, coming to rest perpendicular in the HOV lane after hitting the center divider.
Shortly thereafter, plaintiff’s vehicle was struck by a white Mercedes, driven by former defendant Marshall Golden, causing plaintiff’s vehicle to rotate again, coming to rest between the HOV and #1 lanesplaintiff attempted to start his vehicle to no avail, he saw headlights coming his way and exited his vehicle.
Plaintiff alleged at trial that defendant Robert G. Guss failed to exercise reasonable care in traveling at an unsafe speed for the traffic conditions, as a multi-vehicle collision had already occurred with Golden’s Mercedes stopped in the #3 lane ahead and several vehicles slowing or stopping to assist on the shoulder. Plaintiff also contended that Guss was tailgating and failed to brake or execute any
precautionary swerving maneuver, which caused plaintiff’s car to be crushed under Guss’s GMC Yukon.
At trial Plaintiff argued that he was injured when the vehicle driven by Guss struck the plaintiff, causing his body to be catapulted into the southbound lanes of tra
