A Long Beach woman has won $21.3 million in a negligence lawsuit alleging she was left with a traumatic brain injury and chronic pain when her van was hit from behind by a big-rig truck in the California Heights neighborhood.
In her lawsuit, Leila Miyamoto, 43, said she had been fully stopped for at least a minute, waiting to make a left turn near Wardlow Road and Elm Avenue, when an 18-wheeler slammed into her minivan from behind. The 2016 wreck left her needing “numerous neck and back surgeries,” according to her attorneys.
After the crash, she and her 9-year-old son — who was in the van with her — filed a negligence lawsuit against Services Group of America, Inc., Food Services of America, Inc., driver Daniel Almazan, and Systems Services of America, Inc.
Defense attorneys maintained that Miyamoto made a sudden stop and did not use a turn signal, but on Monday, jurors found in her and her son’s favor. The panel concluded that Almazan acted negligently when his truck hit the van.
“The loaded truck weighing 37,000 pounds smashed into the rear of Leila Miyamoto’s van, totaling it and shattering the rear window,” her attorneys wrote in court filings.
The crash caused her head to hit the steering wheel and left her son fearing that his mother was dead, her attorneys wrote.
Miyamoto still has no recollection of the day of the collision or the days immediately before and after the crash, according to her lawyers.
Her attorneys described Miyamoto as a pillar of her family before the collision, organizing her family’s activities and home-schooling her children.
“Her injuries and limitations since the time of the collision have put significant strain on her marital relationship and have hindered her ability to care for her children in the way she did before the crash and her quest to get the medical care that she needs in order to restore as much of her pre-collision functionality as possible has been long and arduous,” they wrote in court papers.
One of Miyamoto’s attorneys, Nick Rowley, said the defense rejected a settlement offer of $6.9 million about seven years ago. They contended that Miyamoto had overstated the extent of her injuries.
“The jury saw through their attempts to distort the truth and delivered a powerful verdict for Leila, who has endured years of pain and hardship,” Rowley said in a statement.
City News Service, Long Beach Post editor Jeremiah Dobruck, and staff writer Jacob Sisneros contributed to this report.
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