California’s Victor Elementary School District stopped providing “curb-to-curb transportation” to and from school for an 11-year-old special-needs student named Fabian. He had previously been enrolled in an individualized education plan (IEP) and was accommodated with bussing. However, the district deemed it unnecessary after his family moved closer to the school. Consequently, he unexpectedly darted into traffic while walking home from school and was hit by a car traveling 50 miles per hour. Miraculously, he survived but was tragically afflicted with injuries that left him unable to function. After hearing about the horrific incident, Wilshire Law Firm’s Bobby Saadian and Jon C. Teller collaborated with Panish | Shea | Boyle | Ravipudi LLP’s Rahul Ravipudi and Ian Samson to create an animation of his damages, attaining a $28,500,000 settlement during trial.
Fabian suffered complex fractures all over his body, lacerations, collapsed lungs, and a life-changing traumatic brain injury. He was taken to a hospital and medically induced into a coma. MRIs taken found collections of blood and swelling all over his brain, causing cognitive disabilities, memory loss, mood disorders, and aggression. Doctors explained Fabian would need round-the-clock care for the rest of his life.
Fabian’s parents contacted Bobby Saadian and Jon C. Teller to help them hold the school district accountable and organize their child’s medical care. To help take on the governmental entity, they brought on Rahul Ravipudi and Ian Samson. The school denied all responsibility and made no monetary offers. Thus, the attorneys set their sights on trial. To help illustrate Fabian’s grave condition and contextualize the complexity of his future medical care, they shared their records and expert testimony with DK Global to animate his damages.
The animation commenced with Fabian’s 3D model, highlighting the overwhelming number of injuries suffered. His mandible fractures, avulsed teeth, and orthopedic fractures contextualized the profound pain he experienced. Then, Fabian’s medical imagery was colorized and superimposed over his likeness to better visualize the severity of his brain hemorrhaging. Finally, a 3D model of his brain showed the afflicted lobes and coinciding impairments he’ll endure forever.
Rahul, Ian, and Jon shared the animation with the Defense’s pediatric neurologist and pediatric orthopedist. Both experts agreed the animation was an accurate representation of Fabian's damages. Then, in a bifurcated bench trial to determine liability, the school district was found entirely responsible for Fabian’s injuries. Shortly after, the Defense looked to mediate and offered to settle the matter for $28,500,000.
Jon C. Teller is a partner at Wilshire Law Firm, PLC, advocating for the survivors of catastrophic injuries and sexual misconduct. In 2020, he was recognized as the “Consumer Attorney of the Year” by the Consumer Attorneys of California (CAOC) and consecutively named “Top 40 under 40” by The National Trial Lawyers. Additionally, as a Multi-Million Dollar Advocates Forum member, Jon has produced over $60,000,000 for his deserving clients.
Rahul Ravipudi is a partner at Panish | Shea | Boyle | Ravipudi LLP and has spent his legal career handling catastrophic injury and wrongful death cases. Ravipudi was named “2020 Plaintiff’s Lawyer Trailblazer” by the National Law Journal and has continuously been recognized among the “Best Lawyers” by Super Lawyers since 2013.
Ian Samson of Panish | Shea | Boyle | Ravipudi LLP has successfully secured multi-million-dollar awards for his clients and was recognized as a "Rising Star" by Super Lawyers. Since 2017, Samson has focused on advocating for those catastrophically injured or who have lost loved ones, using his experience litigating complex class action lawsuits to assist in his clients’ outcomes.
