Once again, Gary A. Dordick took on the State of California, Caltrans, for unsafe conditions on California’s roadways.
Mr. Schmidt, an 77-year-old retired attorney, was traveling on State Route 62 to meet his family for a vacation at Lake Havasu, Arizona. Mr. Schmidt did not see that the roadway on which he was driving (a rural T-intersection) terminated because the State of California (CalTrans) failed to replace an end-of-roadway sign that had fallen months earlier. Unable to see a stop sign in time, he crashed into a five-foot stony embankment just beyond a T-intersection. His Ford Crown Victoria was destroyed.
Mr. Schmidt was seriously injured in the collision. He was close to death throughout his two-month stay in intensive care. When he could finally leave the hospital, the impact had left him a ventilator-dependent quadriplegic with limited arm movement.
The case was tried before a Riverside County jury who returned a verdict in Mr. Schmidt’s favor in the amount of $11,621,064. This was one of the highest damage awards ever for loss of consortium.
Practice area(s): Car / Auto Accident, Civil Litigation, Litigation, Personal Injury
Court: Riverside Superior Court
