$1.8 Million

A pharmacy technician was on his way to return a bag to a long time customer who had forgotten some items at the store when he rear-ended Dr. Theis in Pacific Palisades.  The impact occurred at low speed and the physical damage to the vehicles was not extensive.  As a result of the collision, Dr. Theis suffered injuries to his neck and back, and ultimately underwent multiple spinal surgeries.

KTL named the pharmacy technician as an individual as well as his employer in the lawsuit.  Both defendants strongly disputed that the technician was working at the time of the collision, based on the fact that the crash occurred after business hours and when the pharmacy technician had already clocked out.  However, KTL thought there was more to the story, and aggressively pursued depositions and written discovery, uncovering that the pharmacy technician was engaged in a “special errand” for his employer when the crash occurred.

When the defendant employer filed a motion to get out of the case based on no liability as the technician was not acting as an employee when the crash occurred, KTL filed its own motion to establish the opposite- that the pharmacy technician was clearly working at the time of the crash.  The defense stood firm on their motion, and refused to offer a single cent to settle the case.  However, as the hearing dates approached on these motions, the defendants finally folded, and the case was settled for $1,800,000 total.  Due to KTL’s approach of searching for all possible sources of recovery, this employer was not able to avoid liability and Dr. Theis obtained a great settlement.