Car Accident Attorney in Los Angeles, California
$2.5 Million Recovery for Spine Fusion: Overcoming the no seatbelt defense
$2.5 Million Recovery for Spine Fusion: Overcoming the no seatbelt defense
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One case that stands out is the case we did for Miss Ding that settled for two and a half million dollars for her spinal fusion. She was a passenger in a small tour bus that was going from Los Angeles to Las Vegas and it went off the road and onto the desert floor and the small tour bus hits a bump and slams down. And that energy goes up through her seat and causes her vertebrae to fracture. What was challenging about that case was that the defense said she should have a seatbelt on and if she had a seatbelt on, she would have never have had those problems.
It started as a straightforward case, became more complicated, but we really had good experts on it. And we tried to answer the why question, why did this happen? And so, we were able to reconstruct it using an animation that was science based and then we had a bio mechanist, a scientist whose study is what does a seatbelt do and what doesn’t it do? And we were able to show that with that type of G-loading what they call the force that was coming up to her, that a seatbelt would never have made a difference. And as a matter of fact, in this case it might have even made it worse. That was a very interesting case that we had regarding seatbelts. And I think we had a good outcome for her.
Los Angeles, CA personal injury attorney Thomas Johnston talks about a case he worked on where a woman had injured herself in a tour bus. He recalls a case that stands out: representing Miss Ding, which settled for $2.5 million for her spinal fusion. She was a passenger on a small tour bus traveling from Los Angeles to Las Vegas when it veered off the road onto the desert floor. The bus hits a bump, slams down, and the force travels up through her seat, fracturing her vertebrae.
The challenge arises when the defense argues she should have been wearing a seatbelt, claiming it would have prevented her injuries. What began as a straightforward case becomes more complex, but he assembles strong experts to tackle the “why” question—why this happened. Using a science-based animation and a biomechanist, he demonstrates what a seatbelt could and couldn’t do under that type of G-loading. They show that a seatbelt wouldn’t have prevented her injuries and, in fact, might have made them worse. The case proves fascinating, and he achieves a favorable outcome for Miss Ding.
