Playground fall
Award: $20,000,000
Ten-year-old boy sustained severe brain damage when he fell from the crossbars of playground equipment at a national fast food chain restaurant onto a tile floor (Buckett v. Confidential, Orange County Superior Court, Plaintiff attorney: Christopher R. Aitken).

Motorcycle accident
Award: $10,000,000
Motorcycle officer in pursuit of speeding vehicle collided with truck that pulled out in front of him from a side street, rendering him a paraplegic (Woodel v. Folsom Cordova Unified School District, Sacramento County Superior Court, Plaintiff attorney: Roger A. Dreyer).

Bar fight
Award: $350,000
Bar patron was attacked by “known troublemakers” and sustained massive injuries; bouncers totally ineffective at protecting him (Zado v. Benjamin, Stanislaus County Superior Court, Plaintiff attorney: Michael E. Gatto).

Trip and fall
Award: Defense
Mother of two claimed that inadequate crowd control plus unsafe stairs were responsible for her fall at a Shamu attraction (Magnuson v. Sea World Inc., Southern District Federal Court, Defense attorney: Michelle D. Mitchell).

Deceptive practices
Award: $4,850,000
H&R Block was sued by the State of California for providing deceptive and misleading advice and promises to its customers (The People of the State of California v. H&R Block Inc., San Francisco County Superior Court, Plaintiff attorney: Edmund G. Brown Jr.).

Dangerous curve
Award: $6,000,000
Passenger in truck that went off a cliff and plunged 27 feet due to a defective guardrail at a dangerous curve was left a paraplegic (Meyers v. County of Amador, Amador County Superior Court, Plaintiff attorney: Michael L. Kelly).

Wrongful termination
Award: $11,441,559
Kaiser physician was terminated for alleged excessive advocating for improved patient care (Martinucci v. Southern California Permanente Medical Group, Los Angeles County Superior Court, Plaintiff attorney: Charles T. Mathews).

Disability denied
Award: Defense
Receptionist was denied permanent disability benefits after suffering orthopedic and psychiatric problems (Sterio v. Highmark Life Insurance Co., Eastern District Federal Court, Defense attorney: Bryan M. Weiss).

Worker death
Award: $2,600,000
Railroad worker unloading gravel onto a conveyor belt fell onto the belt, which lacked proper guards, and was pulled into a position that resulted in his death by asphyxiation (Parker v. Van Groningen, San Joaquin County Superior Court, Plaintiff attorney: Kenneth N. Meleyco).

Editor's Note: California Bar Journal publishes this abbreviated summary of important trials in California provided by Trials Digest, a Thomson West business. To report your case results, go to west.thomson.com/trialsdigest/form.asp or call 415-344-6000.