Knights in the
News
San Francisco Jury Awards $23
Million To Woman Hit by Tour Bus
San Francisco Daily Journal
March 23, 2007
By Donna Domino
Daily Journal Staff Writer
SAN FRANCISCO A San Francisco jury has awarded $23 million in
damages to a woman who suffered permanent brain damage when she
was hit by a tour bus on Nob Hill in 2005.
The award handed down March 13 includes $15.1 million for Xiu
Jin "Celia" Shi's future pain and suffering and $6.4 million to
provide round-the-clock care. Xiu Jin Shi v. Coach USA Inc.
Shi's attorney,
Randy Scarlett of San Francisco's Scarlett Law
Group, said the 51-year-old book-store employee was crossing a
California Street intersection when she was struck by a Coach
USA tour bus making an illegal left turn. Shi was in the
crosswalk and walking with a green light, witnesses said. Shi
suffered severe brain injuries that required four surgeries and
nine months in hospitals and rehabilitation centers, leaving her
with permanent frontal-lobe dam-age, Scarlett said.
"The value of having one's cognitive abilities — who we are as
people — they've taken that from her in many respects," he said.
"She's basically inert. Unless someone is there to help her make
decisions, she has a very, very difficult time"
Atlanta attorney
Thomas W. Malone was plaintiff's co-counsel.
Attorneys for Coach USA, Brett Burlison and Kenneth Ward of San
Francisco's Archer Norris, did not return calls for comment.
The case and preceding settlement talks focused on whether Shi's
injuries required round-the-clock cafe for the rest of her life.
They [defense] had drawn a line in the sand over whether she
needed 24-hour care for the rest of her life. They said she
could be weaned off it in the future" Scarlett said. "The
reality is she needs someone to care for her, and she'll need it
for the rest of her life. They also said she didn't make very
much money."
Shi had been a mechanical draftsman but had been laid of. She
was earning $15 to $20 an hour as a part-time data entry clerk
at a bookstore when the accident occurred in April 2005.
She also worked as a translator and assistant to a master of
Qigong, a physical and meditative practice that is believed to
have medical benefits. Shi immigrated to the United States from
China in 1991 and is now a U.S. citizen, Scarlett said.
Shi, who is single, lives with her caregiver in San Francisco.
She will never again be able to do drafting work, Scarlett said.
"Every expert, including the bus company's, agreed that she'll
never return to the competitive workplace," he said.
The bus company had offered $7.7 million in a pretrial
settlement.
The trial lasted two weeks, and the jury returned with its
verdict in less than two days.
"This was simply a senseless tragedy," Scarlett said. "Our goal
was to ensure that we got recovery that would care for her the
rest of her life, and that's what we did."
Randall H. Scarlett
- Fellow
Thomas W. Malone - Diplomat
|
