A Long Beach woman who suffered a traumatic brain injury and related symptoms after her van was hit from behind by a big rig truck weighing multiple tons in a 2016 traffic accident in that city has been awarded $21.3 million.
Plaintiff Leila Miyamoto-Workman and her son filed a negligence lawsuit against Services Group of America, Inc., Food Services of America, Inc., driver Daniel Almazan and Systems Services of America, Inc. after a motor vehicle accident with a tractor-trailer at an intersection in California.
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On Monday, jurors found in favor of Miyamoto-Workman and her son, who was 9 years old at the time and was in the van with his mother. The panel concluded that Almazan acted negligently when his truck hit the van while Miyamoto-Workman was attempting to make a left turn near East Wardlow Road and Elm Avenue on July 18, 2016.
"The loaded truck weighing 37,000 pounds smashed into the rear of Leila Miyamoto-Workman's van, totaling it and shattering the rear window," according to the plaintiffs' attorneys' court papers, which further stated that the impact caused the woman's head to hit the steering wheel and left her son fearing that his mother was dead.
Miyamoto-Workman still has no recollection of the day of the collision or the days immediately before and after the crash, her lawyers further stated in their pleadings.
Miyamoto-Workman was a pillar of her family before the collision, organized her family's activities and home-schooled her children, according to her attorneys' court papers, which further state that she was in good health before the collision.
"Her injuries and limitations since the time of the collision have put significant strain on her marital relationship and have hindered her ability to care for her children in the way she did before the crash and her quest to get the medical care that she needs in order to restore as much of her pre-collision functionality as possible has been long and arduous," according to Miyamoto-Workman's lawyers' court papers.
Defense attorneys maintained that the 43-year-old plaintiff made a sudden stop and did not use a turn signal. The lawyers also contended she overstated the extent of her injuries.
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