Result: Verdict, $4,517,000
Big rig accident
Los Angeles County Superior Court
June 2005
Anthony Cintron, 31, of Haleyville, Alabama, was driving a truck-and-trailer combination in Madera, California, on June 17, 2002. Mr. Cintron was picking up a load of heavy equipment that had been prepared for him by Los Angeles Machinery Moving, Inc. of Los Angeles.
The dismantled equipment had been loaded onto two pallets, each weighing one ton. One of the pallets had been safely loaded onto another truck, but the remaining pallet was not locked into position and balanced precariously on rollers on a loading station. Making matters worse, the head rigger at Los Angeles Machinery Moving was in a hurry and refused to allow Mr. Cintron to chain the loading station as he wished, insisting instead on chaining it in an insecure way. Eight miles down the road, Mr. Cintron stopped to adjust the load, and the pallet fell on him, crushing his foot.
Mr. Cintron sustained significant trauma to his left foot, ankle, and shinbone near the ankle. The force of the impact caused an avulsion or a "degloving" injury to his foot in which his skin was forcibly detached. His foot was skeletonized, leaving him without a sole and heel pad. The impact caused a combination of complex bone fractures, along with complex soft tissue injury to the ligaments, nerves, and tendons of his left foot and ankle.
Orthopedic repair included open reduction internal fixation of his shinbone and ankle, and avulsed skin was re-draped over the ankle area. Ultimately, this repair resulted in a nonunion of the fracture, requiring surgery to realign the fracture and fix the nonunion. Mr. Cintron underwent a series of skin grafts to his ankle, sole and heel of his foot with limited success, often resulting in chronic ulcers and infection at the site. Unfortunately, he also lost most of the foot's pad underneath the heel, an area in which grafted skin tissue is inadequate.
After the accident, Mr. Cintron's left leg was never again able to bear weight. A Los Angeles County Superior Court jury awarded Mr. Cintron $4,517,000 in compensation for the severe damage that occurred to his foot.
