CASE OVERVIEW
Starting in 2021, BoatLaw, LLP represented a worker who was injured at the Port of Long Beach when a semi-truck driver drove forward without warning, crushing our client’s right foot under one of the truck’s wheels. The semi-truck driver worked for a different company, Ventura Transfer Company, than our client’s employer. We brought a third-party lawsuit for negligence against Ventura and the semi-truck driver. The lawsuit was filed on August 20, 2021, in the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles (Case No.: 21STCV30845).
DESCRIPTION OF INCIDENT
On July 13, 2021, while working at the Port of Long Beach, our client was involved in an “offload” project during which two separate 6,000-pound ISO tanks needed to be transferred off of a semi-truck, owned by Ventura Transfer Company and driven by a Ventura employee, and onto a barge. As our client was holding a tag line guiding the second and last ISO Tank off the Ventura truck to the barge, the semi-truck driver hastily, and without notice, started to drive away, running over our client’s right foot. Our client’s foot was severely damaged due to the incident, necessitating multiple surgeries.
Ventura and the driver denied all liability, including based upon the police report which found no fault of the Ventura driver and concluded that our client “was at fault by misstepping and stepping back to the truck causing him to get run over.” We were not dissuaded and aggressively pursued the case.
Multiple depositions were taken and several workers, including our client, all testified that the Ventura driver gave no verbal or physical indication that he was going to start driving prior to driving away. The same employees also testified that no one, including our client, ever did or said anything to indicate to the Ventura driver that he should start driving. The deposition testimony was also consistent that our client was focused at the time on his job (guiding a 6,000 pound tank with a tag line) and was not at fault for stepping in the area around the Ventura truck. Although the Ventura driver testified in his own deposition that he did receive signals from our client to “go”, and although the police report found no fault for the driver, there was overwhelming testimony to the contrary from other witnesses.
CONCLUSION
In February of 2024, following extensive discovery, we mediated the lawsuit and settled with Ventura and the driver for $2,350,000.00 ($2.35 million).
