City contends evidence against Big Blue is weak
WEST LA COURTHOUSE — The wife of a man whose arm was amputated after it was allegedly crushed by a Big Blue Bus broke down in tears Wednesday as her attorney showed jurors a photo of the couple, hand in hand, celebrating one of their 51 wedding anniversaries.
Parvin Mehdipour, who has filed a civil suit against City Hall and the Big Blue Bus along with her husband, Haroun, had to be escorted out of the courtroom by her daughter during attorney Browne Greene’s opening statement, which also included a photo of Haroun on an operating table with much of his left arm mashed and unrecognizable.
“Before the accident, Mr. Mehdipour was a healthy, active husband, father and grandfather … who loved to take (his grandchil-dren) by the hand,” Greene told jurors. “Now he suffers from a hideous form of pain … suffering from phantom limb syndrome, he has lost much of his memory, he is left with an unbalanced gate and must walk with a cane. He’s no longer the man he was (before the accident) and now Mrs. Mehdipour must give 24-hour basic support to her husband. She has now become his nurse.”
Mehdipour, now 81, was injured on May 5, 2004, following what is believed to have been a car or bus accident at the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and Barrington Avenue. Mehdipour’s left arm was crushed and later had to be amputated near the shoulder. He also suffered a head injury that his family said has resulted in severe memory loss.
Greene claims Mehdipour was trying to hail down a Big Blue Bus about 10 a.m., walking alongside it while banging on the windows and hollering at the driver. Failing to follow proper procedure, Greene said the driver, who has not been identified, slammed the bus doors closed, trapping Mehdipour, who was then knocked to the ground, hitting his head on the pavement and blacking out. Unable to react, his arm was run over by the bus, whose driver failed to stop and call for help, Greene said.
At least two witnesses — who plan to testify — saw the accident and confirmed that a Big Blue Bus was leaving the scene and was most likely involved, according to Greene, who also is planning to call a biomechanical engineer to the witness stand to testify that Mehdipour’s injuries were the result of being run over by a 1,000-plus pound bus.
“The driver wasn’t paying attention,” Greene said. “The driver didn’t see because he didn’t look … and didn’t follow the rules of the bus company, resulting in an elderly gentleman’s life to be tragically impacted.”
Deputy City Attorney Lance Gams, who is representing City Hall, said during his opening statement that there is no hard evidence linking Big Blue Bus to the accident. No witness actually saw a bus strike Mehdipour, and police reports filed hours later said the accident was caused by a car, Gams said.
“The truth is nobody knows what happened that day,” Gams told jurors.
Greene said police officers didn’t take a statement from Mehdipour until 12 hours after the accident, at which time Mehdipour was in “an altered state of consciousness” and couldn’t remember exactly what occurred. Mehdipour still can’t recall what happened the day of the accident.
Gams said the memory loss may be from an existing condition. Prior to the accident, Grams said Mehdipour, who was 79 years old at the time, had been treated for memory loss, depression, diabetes and high blood pressure.
Whether or not those conditions may have caused Mehdipour to fall on the day of the accident “is something for you (the jury) to evaluate and look at,” Gams said.
The trial, which was called after settlement negotiations broke down last week, is expected to last two to three weeks. The Mehdipour family, sources said, is seeking millions of dollars in punitive damages for City Hall’s alleged negligence, as well as money for pain and suffering.
The law firm representing Mehdipour — Greene, Broillet, Panish & Wheeler, located at 100 Wilshire Blvd. — also is suing City Hall on behalf of dozens of victims involved in the July 2003 Farmers’ Market crash, in which Santa Monica resident Russell Weller, then 86, drove his car down a crowded Arizona Avenue, killing 10 and injuring 63 people. Lawyers said City Hall is responsible because it should have erected a protective barrier at both ends of the market. Those civil cases are pending until the criminal prosecution of Weller, who has been charged with manslaughter, is over. The criminal case has been delayed numerous times and is not yet set for trial.
Greene, Broillet, Panish & Wheeler won the largest product liability suit of all time — $4.9 billion in 1999 against General Motors for a defective engine — and has prevailed in numerous cases worth millions of dollars.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 23, 2006. Read the original PDF.