Los Angeles – A California state court jury has slammed the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority with an $8.35 million verdict in a lawsuit filed by the family of a Vietnamese immigrant who died after being rear-ended by an MTA vehicle.
The jury voted 9-3 on March 8 following a three-day trial to award $8.28 million in non-economic damages and $75,451 for medical costs and funeral expenses to Xian Lin’s widow Ma Mei Liao and his adult children, Yaer Lin and Lian Lin, according to an attorney representing the family. The MTA had already stipulated to being responsible for the accident, so the trial was limited to determining non-economic damages.
The award is substantially less than the $80 to $140 million attorney Nicholas C. Rowley of Carpenter Zuckerman & Rowley LLP had asked the jury to award during his closing argument, but it also beat the MTA’s highest pretrial settlement offer of $5 million, Rowley told Courtroom View Network. He claimed the MTA increased their settlement offer to $7 million after the selection of a jury.