Woman awarded $21.3 M for wreck with semi after stopping in road without signaling

A woman was awarded $21.3 million in a lawsuit against a driver and a trucking company for a serious wreck that left her with life-changing injuries. 

The wreck happened in the California Heights neighborhood of Long Beach, California back in 2016. The jury’s decision was reached on Monday, February 10th of this year.

According to Long Beach Post, 43-year-old Leila Miyamoto was fully stopped in the road for at least a minute as she waited to make a left turn near Wardlow Road and Elm Avenue. As she waited, a semi truck smashed into the back of her minivan. 

“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 force of the impact caused Miyamoto’s head to slam into the steering wheel, and left her needing “numerous neck and back surgeries.”

“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.

The negligence lawsuit was filed against Services Group of America, Inc., Food Services of America, Inc., Systems Services of America, Inc., and truck driver Daniel Almazan. 

Defense attorneys argued that Miyamoto stopped suddenly in the roadway without using a turn signal, and that she has since overstated the extent of her injuries. However, the jury concluded that truck driver Almazan acted negligently when he crashed into the back of her van, despite the possibility that she stopped unsafely in the roadway. Miyamoto was awarded $21.3 million in the lawsuit.

“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,” Nick Rowley, an attorney for Miyamoto, said in a statement.