Now, That's A Big Verdict

    Per today's Law.com:

A Santa Clara, Calif., jury awarded $49 million in damages Monday to a college student who was on his way to a camping trip when two trucks collided and one struck the car he was riding in, causing him traumatic brain injuries.

  

  Law.com also owns Verdict Search, and reports that its search shows this is the biggest single plaintiff personal injury verdict in California in the last ten years.  Law.com also quotes a plaintiff attorney (who was not involved in the case" to the effect that "the Santa Clara jury pool is known to be conservative."  (That has not, incidentally, been what we have seen over the years.  Jurors in Santa Clara County are hard for a plaintiff to hoodwink on liability, but once they find liability, they can award large damages in large cases).

    Attorney Randall Scarlett, who represented the plaintiff, says on his web site that the jury broke down the verdict amounts as follows:  $3.4 million in past medical expenses, $27.6 million in future medical expenses, $4.5 million for future lost wages, and $13.5 million in general damages.  The jury found the State of California --which had previously settled for $10 million -- 5% at fault.