$10.8 Million Settlement for Navy Veteran Who Lost Leg in I-5 Chain-Reaction Crash

On September 13, 2019, Peter Arthur was riding his motorcycle on Interstate 5 near National City when a Navy sailor operating a government-owned van swerved lanes without warning, striking a vehicle ahead of Arthur and setting off a chain-reaction collision. The impact threw Arthur from his bike at highway speed.

Arthur, a 49-year-old Navy veteran with 20 years of service, sustained catastrophic injuries: above-the-knee amputation of his right leg, fractures to his femur, avulsion of his right biceps, and a complete laceration of the right radial nerve at the elbow. The nerve damage left him with severe, ongoing dysfunction in his arm. Before the crash Arthur had worked repairing and maintaining medical equipment at local hospitals; his injuries ended that career entirely.

The case was brought against the federal government for the sailor's negligence, with CaseyGerry partner Robert Francavilla leading Arthur's representation. The government's defense rested on a witness who claimed a phantom vehicle had swerved in front of the Navy van, shifting blame away from the sailor. Francavilla's team took depositions from everyone involved, including a critical deposition of that witness. As Francavilla put it, the witness "initially claimed to have seen a 'phantom' vehicle swerve in front of the Navy vehicle," but the testimony "failed to demonstrate that this phantom vehicle caused the collision, or even existed."

The settlement of $10.8 million was finalized on October 3, 2022, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. Attorneys described it at the time as the largest personal-injury settlement arising from a vehicle collision against the federal government in San Diego history.

Arthur, who relies on a prosthetic leg and has compromised use of his right arm, cannot return to his previous work.