Jury awards $8.1M to California couple after State Farm rejects $100K settlement

It ended Tuesday in Kern County Superior Court when a jury awarded more than $8 million to a Rosamond woman and her husband.

According to a complaint filed in Kern County Superior Court in 2019, it all began when defendant Alyse Williams was driving a Toyota Corolla in the city of Rosamond. She was westbound on Rosamond Boulevard approaching 25th Street West.

Plaintiff Denita Wells was at the wheel of a 2011 Ford Flex on southbound 25th Street West, stopped for a red light at the intersection with Rosamond Boulevard.

The light changed from red to a green arrow, and Wells began to make a left turn onto eastbound Rosamond Boulevard. According to the complaint, Williams ran the red light and T-boned the plaintiff's Ford, causing Wells to suffer a mild traumatic brain injury.

Parris Law Firm attorney Jason P. Fowler, who led the team that represented the plaintiff, said in the firm's news release Tuesday evening that testimony from doctors during the trial provided additional credibility to the plaintiff.

"Throughout litigation and trial, State Farm's attorneys tried to minimize the severity of the crash, and argued that at most our client suffered a concussion that should have resolved within a few months," Fowler said.

State Farm Insurance was the insurance carrier for Williams' vehicle.

"The jury saw through the defendant's attempts and listened to the doctors and our client," Fowler said.

Ryan K. Kahl, another attorney for the plaintiffs, also commented in the firm's news release.

"The jury understood that our client had significant residual problems that required substantial future medical care," Kahl said. "They saw the human losses our client suffered through no fault of her own."

The jury award included more than $5.2 million in future medical expenses, $250,000 in past non-economic losses and $1.6 million in future non-economic losses.

The complaint alleged negligence and carelessness of the part of the defendant, causing severe injuries to Wells, injuries that "have greatly impaired her health, strength and activity, and have thereby caused and continue to cause her great mental, physical, and nervous pain and suffering, and an extreme shock to her nervous system," likely resulting in some disability.

The jury also awarded $1 million in damages to the victim's husband, Gregory Wells.

Knapp Petersen & Clarke, the Glendale, Calif.-based law firm that represented the defendants, did not respond to a phone call and a follow-up email Wednesday. A representative at State Farm was reached Wednesday, but no response was received by Wednesday evening.

The story may include a cautionary tale for auto insurance companies. According to the Parris firm's release, the plaintiff made repeated pre-trial requests that the defendant's insurance carrier, State Farm Insurance, pay the defendant's $100,000 policy limits.

"But State Farm refused to ever offer the defendant's $100,000 policy limits to settle the case," the firm said in its release. "Indeed, two months before trial and after years of litigation, State Farm offered only $30,000 to settle the case."

On Tuesday, the jury's award to the plaintiffs turned out to be more than 80 times the $100,000 asking price.

Reporter Steven Mayer can be reached at 661-395-7353. Follow him on Facebook and on Twitter: @semayerTBC.

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