Alison v. JOhn Doe

$500K

Alison was crossing the street at night with her husband in Livermore, CA when she was struck by a careless driver. Even though her husband, Stephen was not hit, he witnessed his wife being hit and seriously injured.  We filed suit against the careless driver on behalf of both Alison and Stephen. 

We based Stephen's claim on the tort of Negligent Infliction of Emotional Distress, which allows anyone who sees a close family member seriously injured to sue for emotional distress. We also based Stephen's claim on Loss of Consortium, which allows a spouse to claim damages for "the loss of love, companionship, comfort, care, assistance, protection, affection, society, and moral support, losing the enjoyment of sexual relation, or the ability to have children."  (See California Civil Jury Instructions 3920.)

We recovered $425,000 for Alison and $75,000 for Stephen.