A 30-year-old woman was driving home with her young daughter on the freeway when she was hit by two different vehicles. The Plaintiff is the caretaker of her youngest daughter, which is a very physically demanding job. On the day of the incident, this young woman and her daughter were coming back from UCLA Children’s Hospital when the defendant struck the right, front side of her car. This pushed her vehicle into the carpool lane, and another car subsequently hit her on the driver-side door. Because of this incident, the Plaintiff suffered severe neck and back injuries and had to undergo physical therapy, epidural injections, and surgery on her lumbar spine. Attorney Mark Leonardo, of Kuzyk Law, was able to reach a very favorable settlement of $530,000 for this case.

The challenge with this case was that the actual description of the incident does not sound very serious, and the defense expert claimed the impact this woman suffered was minor and would have only resulted in soft tissue injuries and not those that Attorney Leonardo and his client were claiming. Originally, the defense only offered the Plaintiff $50,000, eventually increasing the offer to $125,0000. This led Attorney Leonardo to hire DK Global to create a reconstruction animation of the accident, a medical animation of the lumbar surgery, and a Day-in-the-Life documentary video that explained the impact this event has had on the Plaintiff and her family.

Visual Presentations Lead to Favorable Settlement at Mediation

DK Global first created a vivid recreation of the two impacts on the young woman’s vehicle, effectively showing how these were, in fact, quite severe and capable of causing her major bodily harm. The second impact was especially serious, and that became very apparent to anyone watching the video. Next, a surgical animation was developed that showed each step of the lumbar procedure she had to endure to repair her spinal damage. Then the documentary was made, and this explained how the Plaintiff’s personal and professional lives have been affected. As her daughter’s primary caretaker, Attorney Leonardo’s client must physically pick her child up every day to change her ileostomy bag, causing excruciating pain in her lower back after the accident. The video depicts the actual work she does each day and how these tasks have become virtually impossible for her to perform. She is not even able to enjoy her hobbies any longer, which included physical activities with her 3 daughters and husband. Attorney Leonardo turned over the two animations to the defense counsel as exhibits before trial, and this resulted in the insurance company agreeing to settle the case during mediation for more than ten times the original amount offered.

For the past 34 years, Mr. Leonardo has successfully tried cases in front of judges, juries, and arbitrators in the areas of Personal Injury, Employment, Real Estate, Business Law, and Appellate Law. He has experience in all levels of the court system, including Small Claims Court and Small Claims Appeals, the California Superior Court (both limited and unlimited jurisdiction), the California Court of Appeals and the California Supreme Court.

Mr. Leonardo also has extensive civil litigation experience in personal injury matters, including auto accidents, slip and fall cases, assault and battery cases, defamation, pharmacy, and medical malpractice cases.