The City of San Diego had knowledge of but ignored a known dangerous condition, resulting in a San Diego man tripping on his way home from dinner. Plaintiff Mark Brownlee was injured and needed legal representation. Mark took his case to Daryoosh Khashayar, an attorney with Khashayar Law Group of San Diego, specializing in civil litigation. Daryoosh contacted fellow San Diego attorney Oliver Shami as co-counsel due to Shami’s extensive experience in personal injury law. Daryoosh and Oliver opened a lawsuit against the City of San Diego, which they asserted had known about the problems with this stretch of sidewalk for over a decade and had done nothing to fix them. The city claimed liability lay with the homeowner and the homeowner’s association. Consequently, the duo had to fight for Mark on two fronts — proving that the city was liable and that the homeowner was not.
In addition to the liability dispute, the Defense maintained that the Plaintiff was incapacitated by alcohol because he had a blood alcohol level at or below the legal limit of 0.08. They also tried to claim Mark fell in a different place than where he said the accident happened. Nevertheless, the city offered to pay $100,000. Daryoosh, Oliver, and their client refused and prepared for trial.
Daryoosh and Oliver knew the damages phase would be problematic, too. They needed to prove that their client’s TBI — known as an “invisible injury” — resulted from the fall.
Drayoosh and Oliver sought out assistance to create a compelling visual that introduced the mechanism but also brought clarity to the internal damage that Mark sustained. The takeaway from the demonstratives was that the accident caused a severe TBI.
The case went all the way through a three-week trial. Daryoosh and Oliver played the animation for the jury alongside their evidence and expert testimony. The jury found the City of San Diego liable for the accident and came back with a verdict of $4,500,000 to help Mark recover. Afterward, Daryoosh and Oliver filed a motion for costs and fees, bringing the final judgment to $4,800,000.
