Vehicular Negligence

In Jogger v. United States of America, (USDC No. Dist.) Douglas Saeltzer and Justin Chou obtained a $1,000,000 cash settlement on behalf of a 39 year old woman who was injured while on her morning pre-dawn jog when she was struck by a left turning vehicle being driven by an employee of The Presidio Trust. The accident occurred at an intersection controlled by a 4-way stop in a residential area of San Francisco. Our client was struck in a marked crosswalk as she jogged across the intersection. She testified that she was well into the intersection and did not see defendant making his left turn until the moment before impact. The defense argued that plaintiff darted out from the curb without checking for traffic. Plaintiff suffered a fractured wrist and fractured ankle, both requiring surgery. Doug and Justin retained experts in accident reconstruction, biomechanics, human factors and forensic animation to create a computer animation depicting the visibility of plaintiff as she left the curb and jogged into the crosswalk. The case settled following expert depositions.