Christopher Galindo Cota v. Dos Santos, et al.

What happened:

Ms. Dos Santos, made a lane change from the left lane into the right lane.  Mr. Galindo Cota was lane splitting and a couple feet to the right of Ms. Dos Santos, when her vehicle entered into his path of travel.  Her vehicle made contact with the handlebar of Mr. Galindo Cota’s motorcycle causing Mr. Galindo Cota to fall off the bike and sustain injuries.

Medical bills:

Mr. Cota’s medical bills for his injuries amounted to approximately $381,000, which Mr. Cota’s retained billing expert testified the suggested reasonable cost of treatment to be $270,876.05. How was he able to pay? Mr. Khorshidi advanced $14,000 to Mr. Cota to pay his emergency room bill.  The rest of the medical  treatment was rendered on a “lien” basis, meaning the doctors will defer collection on the bills until the case resolves. They did this for our client because of our law firm’s winning track record, and careful selection of legitimate cases and winning cases.

Disputes:

Defendant Dos Santos’ insurance carrier hired several experts to support their position that Mr. Cota had comparative fault for the accident, that his injuries were only soft tissue,  that the medical treatment he received for pain, other than the ER and some therapy, were not indicated, and that the reasonable and necessary medical bills should have amounted to under $39,000.  Defendant denied all liability until shortly before trial at which time Defendant took the position that she was only partially at fault and asked the jury to attribute at least 50% liability to Mr. Cota (the jury attributed only 15%).

Defendant Dos Santos’ retained pain management expert testified that none of the pain management Mr. Cota underwent was indicated essentially because his lumbar MRI did not show any anatomical injury or even any foraminal stenosis (foraminal stenosis is the narrowing or tightening of the openings between the bones in your spine. These small openings are called the foramen. Foraminal stenosis is a specific type of spinal stenosis.)   Defendants also hired a radiologist expert to opine that the lumbar MRI did not show any anatomical injury or foraminal stenosis or other evidence of injury that would be caused by the accident and an Orthopedic expert to testify that Mr. Cota should have probably gone to an orthopedic doctor first and to dispute the bulk of Mr. Cota’s treatment consisting of pain management.

Defendant’s insurance carrier also hired an accident reconstruction expert (who was also a motorcycle safety expert and a biomechanical engineer) experts who testified in essence that Mr. Cota should not have been lane splitting and could have avoided the accident had he not been riding so close to Ms. Dos Santos’ vehicle.  They also hired a human factors expert in support of their position that Ms. Dos Santos made a gradual lane change and Mr. Cota was at fault for not avoiding the accident.

The Khorshidi Law Firm, on behalf of Mr. Cota, hired an accident reconstruction expert, a human factors expert, a pain management expert and a billing expert, who the jury found more believable as reflected in their award of $770,000.

Settlement offer:

The highest offer Ms. Cota’s insurance carrier offered was $125,000 at one point (2 years after the accident) and refused to increase their offer even through mediation and despite our offer to continue the settlement dialogue.

Trial & Conclusion

At trial, defendant’s attorneys asked the jury to award no more than $39,000 for medical bills and no more than $50,000 for pain and suffering and to further attribute “at least” 50% fault to Mr. Cota (therefore Defendant’s insurance company hired lawyers wanted the jury to award a total recovery of less than $45,000).

The jury trial lasted11 days, starting on 12/1/2021 and ending on 12/15/2021.  Our client was awarded $770,000 (remember, the highest the defendant’s insurance offered was $125,000) and was attributed only 15% liability (thereby reducing the award to $654,500).  Our client is also entitled to recover reasonable costs of litigation he would otherwise not receive with a settlement.

Khorshidi Law Firm, APC advanced over $100,000 of it’s own money to give our client his day in court and prove up his case.  As you can see, no matter how long it takes or how much it costs, we will do whatever it takes to obtain a recovery for you that is fair.

We never gave up on our client Mr. Cota and got him what he deserved.  We will do the same for you.