Would you want $58,000,000.00 like this?

[Rum_Pirate]

Man Awarded $58 Million After Getting Skull Crushed During Bar Fight

by Elysia McMahan

As compensation for his horrific injuries, a California jury has awarded 43-year-old Antonio Lopez Chaj $58 million.
Chaj was left deformed and brain damaged after a security guard bashed in his skull, leaving him unconscious, in April 2010 during a bar fight at La Barra Latina in Torrance. Doctors were forced to remove part of his skull and brain.
“His skull is like a pie with 25 percentcut out of it,” attorney Federico Sayre said at a news conference Monday.
He is no longer capable of speaking, needs assistance walking and requires 24-hour care to survive. After attempting to break up a fight between a bartender, a security guard and two of his relatives, the unlicensed guard who worked for DGSP Security and Patrol Service beat Chaj with a baton, smashed his skull against the pavement and kicked him in the head eight times.
“It was truly a horrendous and brutal beating by a guy who shouldn’t have been working at all,” said Sayre, who represented Chaj along with Fernando Chavez, the son of famed civil rights leader Cesar Chavez.
Lawyers for the plaintiff said that this damage award is the largest ever given to a single person in the state of California. The damage award against the security firm will compensate for Chaj’s future medical expenses, future pain and suffering and past pain and suffering.
During the recent news conference, where Chaj was supported by his relatives, those in the audience gasped as he took off his baseball cap; shocked by his appearance.
Unfortunately, the guard and the bartender who started the fight disappeared before the civil trial and have not been charged. Police assert that there weren’t enough independent witnesses to charge them.
Image credit: Nick Ut, AP

He is no longer capable of speaking, needs assistance walking and requires 24-hour care to survive.

Thing is, while he gets the judgement etc, I doubt that he will get the money.

[Jim Bow]

Re: Would you want $58,000,000.00 like this?

I met a woman who, years ago, was a victim of a Chicago L train that derailled. She was awarded $10M, and she received about $8M of it. She invested in commercial real estate and did quite well in the Seattle area. Owned all the toys. Looked quite normal. The damage was to her spine. She is quite comfortable while sitting, but she can only stand up for about 20 minutes at a time without excruciating pain. Nothing, compared to this guy of course, but she often said she would give up every penny and every investment if she could just be healthy.

[Rum_Pirate]

Re: Would you want $58,000,000.00 like this?

I agree with her and believe that most would too.

Amazing how many(most?) of us take our health and wellbeing for granted until something happens.
Naturally, I realise that the man in the OP is very unlikely to have anticipated what happened to him.

I feel very sorry for the man in my OP.

[Rum_Pirate]

Re: Would you want $58,000,000.00 like this?

Appreciate that comment regarding the 'reductions'.

It does lead to the question, under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) , will the medical settlements be affected/capped/etc?

It seems that the 'settlements' are part (a big part) of the huge cost of medical care as the Doctors etc have to have huge coverage which results in similar sizing of professional indemnity premiums.
If the medical settlements were 'capped' or limited in some way wouldn't that also go someway to reducing health insurance costs etc etc?

[John of Phoenix]

Re: Would you want $58,000,000.00 like this?

It seems that the 'settlements' are part (a big part) of the huge cost of medical care as the Doctors etc have to have huge coverage which results in similar sizing of professional indemnity premiums.

His injury was caused by a security guard not a doctor. This isn't a medical settlement.

[Rum_Pirate]

Re: Would you want $58,000,000.00 like this?

His injury was caused by a security guard not a doctor. This isn't a medical settlement.

Apologies, a OP drift. Should have prefaced it with "In the cases of medical malpractice, it seems that the . . . " So . . .

In the cases of medical malpractice, it seems that the 'settlements' are part (a big part) of the huge cost of medical care as the Doctors etc have to have huge coverage which results in similar sizing of professional indemnity premiums.

If the medical settlements were 'capped' or limited in some way wouldn't that also go someway to reducing health insurance costs etc etc?

[DMillet]

Re: Would you want $58,000,000.00 like this?

Apologies, a OP drift. Should have prefaced it with "In the cases of medical malpractice, it seems that the . . . " So . . .

In the cases of medical malpractice, it seems that the 'settlements' are part (a big part) of the huge cost of medical care as the Doctors etc have to have huge coverage which results in similar sizing of professional indemnity premiums.

If the medical settlements were 'capped' or limited in some way wouldn't that also go someway to reducing health insurance costs etc etc?

Methinks that limiting insurance companies to a 20% or less profit margin will go a lot farther...

[MiddleAgesMan]

Re: Would you want $58,000,000.00 like this?

Limiting profits to 15% would be even better, which is what the ACA does.

Not profits, actually. The ACA requires refunds of premiums when and if expenditures for actual medical care do not equal or exceed 85% of revenues.