$26.3 Million Verdict for Pedestrian Who Lost a Leg and Suffered Brain Injury in Laguna Niguel Crosswalk Crash

On an October afternoon in 2012, Maryam Hedayati was crossing Moulton Parkway at Aliso Niguel Road in Laguna Niguel when Maurice Vanwyk ran a red light and struck her in the marked crosswalk. The impact severed one of her legs at the scene, shattered the other, and left her in a coma with broken bones throughout her body. She was 43 years old and had completed medical school training.

Vanwyk carried only $25,000 in bodily injury coverage through the Automobile Club of Southern California. That policy limit was a fraction of the losses Hedayati faced: multiple limb surgeries, an above-the-knee amputation of her left leg, prolonged neurological rehabilitation, and the permanent end of the professional career she had trained for.

Vanwyk admitted liability before trial, conceding that his negligence was the sole cause of the collision. That admission narrowed the proceedings to a single question: how much did Maryam Hedayati lose? The Torkzadeh Law Firm, with Reza Torkzadeh and Korosh Torkzadeh leading the case alongside co-counsel from Lari-Joni and Bassell LLP, presented the full scope of her past and future medical costs, lost earning capacity, and pain and suffering to the jury.

In November 2014, the Orange County jury returned a verdict of $26,255,367.84. The verdict was not reduced on appeal. A separate subsequent action focused on whether Auto Club had mishandled its insured's claim in the aftermath of the crash, and in August 2021 the California Court of Appeal reversed a lower-court ruling in Hedayati's favor in that bad-faith proceeding, finding triable issues about the insurer's conduct.

The $26.3 million jury verdict ranked 15th among all California verdicts in 2014.