Guzman vs. Morning Star Company, Inc. et al
Dec 06, 2024OUTCOME: $17,220,807
On September 26, 2016, at 2:33 a.m., Plaintiff Lethesia Guzman’s Ford Fusion struck the car in front of her and became disabled in the third lane of Highway 80, between Davis and Sacramento, on an ele ... vated area of the highway known as the Yolo Causeway. Plaintiff and her fiancé, David Miranda, the father of their 2-year-old child, Lilyanna, had been sleeping in the back of the car at the time the Fusion became disabled. Guzman and Miranda, uninjured, exited the vehicle, went to the edge of the causeway and called 911, and for seven minutes without incident, waited for the CHP. A tractor trailer driven by Eduardo Marquez, with two fully loaded tomato tubs, carrying more than 80,000 lbs., didn’t see the disabled Fusion until approximately 250’ away. The truck was operated by Morning Star Trucking Company, LLC (Trucking), an affiliate of the Morning Star Company, Inc. (Morning Star), the nation’s largest producer of tomato products. Marquez swerved, braked and sideswiped the Fusion, and traveled onto the shoulder where his out-of-control trailers struck Miranda and Guzman throwing them over the bride rail onto the mud 30’ below. Miranda was killed and Guzman suffered severe injuries requiring surgery to both of her femurs, her 11th vertebra and her foot as well as a subsequent brain injury caused by a blood clot. Plaintiff admitted negligence for the rear-end collision. After an eleven-week trial, the Jury found in favor of Plaintiff, $11,220,807.00 in compensatory damages, $3,000,000.00 in punitive damages against Morning Star Company, Inc., and $3,000,000.00 in punitive damages against Morning Star Trucking Company, LLC. The Jury assigned zero comparative fault to Guzman.
