Blog Post

Largest Personal Injury Lawsuit in Ventura County


March 21, 2008
Topic: Brain Injuries

The largest settlement in the world couldn't give Dawn Renae Diaz her health or her happiness back, and it certainly couldn't give her back the time she has lost with her daughter because of her injuries. There really isn't enough money in the world to compensate for the loss of things like these.

The personal injury settlement that she will now receive, however - at $22.5 million dollars, the largest ever in Ventura County history - will lead to the end of her financial woes. Most importantly, it will reunite Dawn with her young daughter, Mikaela.

38-year-old Dawn, a former head emergency room nurse at Community Memorial Hospital in Ventura, was left severely injured after a car accident on January 20, 2006. The sequence of tragic events unfolded as a Peterbilt box truck, driving at 55 mph, and a pickup truck were involved in a collision on the Conejo Grade. That collision sent the pickup truck over the center divider and on to Diaz's car.

The nurse suffered severe brain injuries that resulted in brain damage.

The driver of the pickup truck and Karen Tagliaferri, the driver of the pickup truck, were both held responsible for the accident. The Peterbilt truck driver, Jose Gerardo Carcamo, worked for the Sugar Transport Company and was delivering wine from South Gate. Investigations would later reveal the hand the trucking company that HIRED Carcamo would have in this ghastly tragedy.

In later investigations it was revealed that the Stockton-based Sugar Transport never sent anybody to hand Carcamo his training manual or give him safety instructions. The company hadn't bothered to give training to its California drivers. It was also reveled that Carcamo's previous employer told his new employers that he was an unsafe driver, and that he had been fired from his previous job for exactly this reason. The most damning testimony came from Sugar Transport's own hiring officer, who said that the company rushed to fill empty driver seats without making necessary checks into employee credentials.

In other words, they took willful risks with the safety of others on the street, by sending out less than adept drivers who had a record of unsafe driving behind the wheels of their gargantuan vehicles. They saw no reason to train their truck drivers, and didn't see it fit to upgrade safety instructions. Simply put, they didn't give a hoot.

Meanwhile Dawn struggled with her severely restricted mobility after the accident. She still has double vision, and experiences difficulty walking and talking. A few weeks after the accident, she suffered the severest punishment of all - she lost custody of her 10-year-old daughter Mikaela after a court judged she was unable to look after her daughter.

With this award, a number of Dawn's problems will be solved. She will be able to pay off the medical bills that have accumulated since the accident. She will also be able to hire a nanny for her daughter, which means that the little girl will be reunited with her mother.

When back breaking settlement awards like this are handed out, it helps instill a sense of fear in owners of trucking companies, fears that will help them take every trucking safety precaution that is necessary or risk facing bankruptcy.

If you have suffered a head injury in an accident, you need the help of a California personal injury lawyer. Contact an attorney at The Reeves Law Group for a free consultation.


The California personal injury attorneys at The Reeves Law Group represent victims of accidents, injuries and wrongful death throughout California from our offices in Los Angeles County, Orange County, San Diego County, Riverside County, San Bernardino County, Ventura County, Fresno County, Kern County, Sacramento County, San Fernando Valley, Long Beach, Antelope Valley, Torrance, Glendale, Bakersfield, Santa Ana, San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland, Ontario, and Victorville.