 Amount: $21.6 million To: Sukhsagar “Sam” Pannu, a onetime member of the Hong Kong National Field Hockey Team, who was rendered a partial quadriplegic when the roof of his Land Rover Discovery I was crushed in a car accident. After his prolonged hospital stay, he returned home. His wife became his primary caregiver. She left the marriage after 19 years because of the stress of the situation and he is now dependent on his children and mother, who turn him three times each night and otherwise care for him. Plaintiff Lawyer: Garo Mardirossian and Armen Akaragian of Mardirossian & Associates; Stanley Jacobs of Jacobs Jacobs & Eisfelder Defense Lawyer: Warren Platt and Lee Mickus of Snell & Wilmer Judge: Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert H. O’Brien The Accident: Sam Pannu was driving his Land Rover on the 118 Freeway the morning of December 14, 2003, when he was hit by a car driven by 16-year old Bret Lusis, who had been driving recklessly. The impact caused Sam’s vehicle to collide with a Blazer and then roll over 3 ½ times, coming to rest on its roof. When the Land Rover rolled, its roof crushed causing Sam to suffer a permanent spinal cord injury. The Case: Sam sued Land Rover under strict liability and design defect theories, including insufficient roof strength. Plaintiffs undertook five years of discovery, including extensive stability testing of both the existing track design and an alternate design (which resembled changes made for the Discovery II vehicle). Plaintiffs also demonstrated that if Land Rover had spent $100 per vehicle on a strengthened roof structure, the roof would have collapsed only 3 inches. The defense claimed the vehicle was not defective and that Bret Lusis was the sole cause of Sam’s injuries. The parties waived a jury and Judge O’Brien conducted a bench trial. He awarded $11.65 million in economic damages and $10 million in general damages, finding Land Rover 95% liable and Lusis 5%. Need to Know: Mardirossian has been a strong advocate for transparency and release of internal automotive industry test results and safety data. His work and that of other plaintiff lawyers and safety advocates resulted in adoption of new federal automobile roof crush standards earlier this year, which double the current standards for vehicles weighing up to 6,000 pounds. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, there are approximately 273,000 rollover crashes ever year, which kill more than 10,000 people and seriously injure 24,000 others. Page: 1 of 1 pages for this article
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