Child struck
Award: $4,530,000
Unsafe operating procedures and missing safety features on a school bus contributed to a 6-year-old boy being struck by a car after exiting the bus (Gonzalez v. Cutler-Orosi Joint Unified School District, Tulare County Superior Court, Plaintiff attorney: Richard C. Watters).

Medication overdose
Award: $318,944
A massive overdose of insulin caused the death of a patient at a Kaiser Hospital (Lakos v. Kaiser Permanente, Los Angeles County Superior Court, Plaintiff attorney: Raymond P. Johnson).

Attorney malpractice
Award: Defense
Plaintiff alleged her attorneys mishandled her product liability case arising from an automobile accident that left her a ventilator-dependent quadriplegic (Granda v. Dreyer, Sacramento County Superior Court, Defense attorney: Steven H. Gurnee).

Hemochromatosis
Award: $3,550,000
Failure to timely diagnose iron overload disease over a period of three years left a man with severe brain damage (Valentine v. Kramer, San Diego County Superior Court, Plaintiff attorney: Nicholas C. Rowley).

Rollover
Award: $1,870,000
Worn tire tread on a rented van caused serious injuries to a passenger when a blowout resulted in a rollover (Pease v. Enterprise Rent-A-Car of Sacramento, Sacramento County Superior Court, Plaintiff attorney: Joseph J. Babich).

Slip and fall
Award: Defense
A wet floor was allegedly the cause of a slip and fall by a bank customer (Jameau v. Washington Mutual Bank, Los Angeles County Superior Court, Defense attorney: Kevin T. Dunbar).

Intersection collision
Award: $1,005,000
Defendant’s failure to stop at a controlled intersection resulted in the death of the other driver and injury to his son (Avila v. Martin, Fresno County Superior Court, Plaintiff attorney: Michael Marderosian).

Dog bite
Award: $396,981
Unleashed dogs were responsible for injuries to a man as he attempted to protect another dog that was being attacked (Gipson v. Nassir, Los Angeles County Superior Court, Plaintiff attorney: Jerold D. Sullivan).

Vessel sinks
Award: $847,771
A marina was found negligent for the sinking of a vessel as a result of allowing submerged concrete to remain below the surface of the water (Caravel/Woodwind Charters Inc. v. Tahoe Key Marina, Eastern District Federal Court, Plaintiff attorney: Joshua E. Kirsch).

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.