$1.85 Million Verdict After Dump Truck Veers Into Sacramento Driver, L5-S1 Fusion Surgery Required

On July 20, 2015, Robert Venkus was driving on Arden Way in Sacramento when Santiago Nolasco, operating a 2014 International 7600 dump truck pulling a trailer for Biondi Paving, Inc., drifted out of his lane and struck Venkus's vehicle. The contact appeared minor: Venkus was able to drive away from the scene under his own power, a fact the defense would later use to contest the severity of what followed.

In the months after the crash, Venkus developed persistent low-back pain that imaging traced to an L5-S1 disc injury. Conservative care failed to resolve it, and he ultimately underwent a single-level lumbar fusion. He reported a full recovery after surgery and returned to manual labor, but the road there required years of treatment.

Liability was disputed through most of the case. The defense did not concede fault until one week before trial. At that point the highest settlement offer on the table was $650,000. Daniel Del Rio of Del Rio and Caraway, P.C. served as trial counsel alongside Ognian Gavrilov of Gavrilov and Brooks, who was brought in as co-trial counsel roughly a month before jury selection.

The Sacramento County jury returned its verdict on July 2, 2018, in Department 35 before Judge Alan Perkins. Damages totaled $1,670,689, broken down as $795,689 in economic losses and $875,000 in non-economic damages. Because the plaintiff had served a valid CCP 998 offer the defense failed to beat, the court added $127,757.53 in expert costs and $53,879.72 in pre-judgment interest. Final judgment was entered October 1, 2018, for a net recovery of $1,852,325.95.