Santa Monica Jury Returns $2.53 Million Verdict for a Security Guard Crushed by a Car Wash Gate

Reina Castro worked as a security guard. One assignment placed her at a rundown car wash in the Los Angeles area, where a crew was filming the television series "Criminal Minds." She was stationed near the entrance, close to a heavy metal gate that slid along a track. A rubber stopper was supposed to keep that gate from rolling off the end of the rail. On the day Castro was hurt, the stopper was missing.

As the gate was being closed, it rolled past the point where the stopper should have caught it. The gate came off its track, tipped over, and fell onto her. The weight knocked her down and crushed her knee. She suffered a fractured tibial plateau, an avulsion tear of her ACL, and a torn meniscus, along with a fracture to her left upper arm.

The car wash was owned by Bang Deok. After the accident, the property owner refused to accept responsibility for the gate. Castro brought her claim with The Dominguez Firm, and the case went to trial in Los Angeles County Superior Court at the Santa Monica courthouse, filed as Reina Castro v. Bang Deok (Case No. BC540307).

The trial ran about four weeks. The firm's team, led by trial attorney Olivier Taillieu with Judd R. Allen, George B. Singer, and Maura Gewirtz, argued that a sliding gate left without its required stopper was a dangerous condition the owner had a duty to fix or warn about. Castro testified in Spanish about how the injury changed her daily life. Her daughter also took the stand and described her worry over her mother's recovery.

On April 26, 2017, the jury sided with Castro and returned a verdict of $2,534,613. "We are glad the jury held these defendants accountable after they had refused to accept any responsibility," said Juan Dominguez, the founder of the firm that handled her case.

The Dominguez Firm reported the award as a record for a knee injury verdict at the Santa Monica courthouse. No published report indicates the amount was later reduced or remitted.