Hunt & Adams, Inc.

2070 North Tustin Avenue

Second Floor

Santa Ana, CA  92705

HUNT & ADAMS, INC.

CIVIL TRIAL LAWYERS

PROTECTING YOUR INTERESTS

Ph 714-558-9000

Fx 714-558-0152

law@huntadams.com

Hunt & Adams, Inc.   © 2011

Notable Cases

SIGNIFICANT VERDICTS/SETTLEMENTS/RESULTS:

 

$3,000,000  Recovery

Manos v. Doe Trucking Co., et al. (defendant’s identity confidential per settlement terms); (Orange County Superior Court) -  2001  

 

$3,000,000 recovery on behalf of a 46- year old self-employed female insurance broker who suffered major closed head injury and multiple fractures in a pickup truck versus tractor trailer accident on Santiago Canyon Road in a virtual head on collision with the tractor trailer who was attempting to make a u-turn in the middle of a four-lane roadway.  Plaintiff had permanent cognitive and physical limitations but was able to live independently.

 

 

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$3,750,000  Wrongful Death Recovery

Maxwell v. Ganduglia Trucking Co., et al. (Sacramento Superior Court) - 2002

 

$3,750,000 recovery on behalf of the surviving widow and two minor children of their 54- year old husband and father arising from a disputed liability case involving a tractor trailer pulling two tankers full of asphalt pavement coating.  Plaintiffs contended that the truck driver executed an unsafe lane change initially clipping another vehicle and then over-corrected in the other direction towards the center divider causing the rear tanker to whip sideways and flip over in the process crushing the passenger side of plaintiff's car where the decedent was in the passenger seat.

 

Defendant denied any fault and claimed that another vehicle pulled suddenly in front of him into his lane causing him to lose control when trying to avoid a collision.

 

The case was settled at formal mediation in Sacramento before the criminal case against the defendant truck driver went to trial.  In the criminal case, the defendant truck driver was found not guilty of negligent homicide after this civil case was settled.

 

 

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$1,125,000  Wrongful Death Recovery

Cook v. Medina Trucking Co., et al.; (Riverside Superior Court) $1,125,000 - 1995

 

$1,125,000 recovery on behalf of family of the decedent who was killed when he rear-ended a stopped tractor trailer rig going approximately 55 miles per hour.   $1, 125,000 settlement during trial just before closing argument in a  reverse rear end case involving a tractor trailer which became mechanically disabled and stopped in the number two lane of the southbound 15 freeway (a four lane freeway with a wide center median strip) at 5:00 a.m.   Plaintiffs contended that the driver negligently failed to get his vehicle off the road once it began experiencing engine failure despite having a downhill grade and approximately 1.5 miles to pull over into the center median.   Plaintiffs also contended that defendant was negligent in failing to put out appropriate reflective triangles or cones once he came to a complete stop in the number two lane.  

 

Defendant contended that traffic prohibited the driver from reasonably and safely getting his rig off the freeway into the center median and to safely and effectively put out the appropriate reflective triangle or cones.  Defendant also claimed that the decedent was comparatively negligent in failing to observe and avoid the stopped tractor trailer rig.

 

Case settled just before plaintiff presented closing argument to the jury after a full jury trial.

 

 

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$1,655.000  Recovery

Aguilar v. City of Buena Park (Orange County Superior Court) - 2005

 

$1,655,000 for a 12-year old boy who suffered closed head injury with resulting permanent brain damage and multiple fractures when he was hit while crossing a major 4-lane street in a mid block crosswalk by an automobile traveling approximately 30-35 miles per hour.

 

Plaintiffs allege that the subject mid block crosswalk (which had been at the location for approximately 40 years without any significant accident history prior to plaintiff's accident) was nevertheless in a known dangerous condition to the City of Buena Park based on well known published traffic studies indicating the danger of such mid block crosswalks without any active warning devices (i.e. flashing lights, etc.) where the roadway is greater than one lane in each direction with a speed limit above 45 mph without circumstances along the adjacent roadway which would compel the placement of such a crosswalk due to high pedestrian usage which did not exist at this crossing.

 

 

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$1,500,000 Wrongful Death Recovery

Pabst v. Twin Labs, et al. (San Bernardino Superior Court) - $1,500,000 wrongful death settlement (2000)

 

$1,500,000 recovery after two formal mediation hearings for the wrongful death of a 37 year old father (for his widow and surviving 7 year old daughter) who suddenly died from a massive cardiac arrhythmia after returning home from his regular morning run.

 

This was one of the first cases in the U.S. to establish the unreasonable danger of “Ephedra”-containing nutritional supplements for weight loss and increased energy (“Ripped Fuel”) as causing irregular (and often fatal) heart arrhythmias and strokes; and the lack of any reasonable studies to establish the safety of such non-FDA regulated nutritional supplements for such extreme purposes.  

 

Twin Labs insisted that their “Ephedra” products (derived from the Chinese herb “MaHuang”) was “natural” and “safe”, having been used for centuries in China (but for totally different, short-term medicinal purposes by herbal doctors as a bronchial dilator).  

 

The FDA subsequently (after this case was settled and many later claims were brought across the U.S.) banned all of these dangerous Ephedra “natural” supplements.

 

 

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$850,000 Recovery

McGowan v. Franklin Steel, et al. (Los Angeles Superior Court) - 2000

 

$850,000 recovery on behalf of a 46-year old male who was employed by and working for a building company when he was struck in the head and back when a “spreader bar” being used on the site to lift and transport 800 lbs. of rebar cages suddenly slipped off the forks of a fork lift (due to error by the employee/operator of the forklift).   Plaintiff was knocked to the ground and sustained serious and debilitating injuries.