Our Cases – Law Office of David E. Wood

On this page, please read through some of the many cases I have litigated successfully.

Assault & Battery - Process Server as the Messenger

Marty Messenger went about his work like any other morning. He was doing what he had been doing for many years. He was a process server for an attorney service in Los Angeles. On this one particular morning his job was to serve a Summons and Complaint on a husband in a divorce case. Unbeknownst to him - the wife was alleging "physical abuse" and that her husband had a volatile temper. Marty goes to the gentleman's business, only to be told that he was "not in." Being naturally "suspicious" Marty sat in his car in front of the gentlemen's business for a while and, sure enough, a few minutes later, this fellow who was "not in" drove out of the driveway.  Marty, in pursuit, drove after him and at traffic light - Marty got out and approached the car.  The gentleman saw him coming and proceeded to roll up his window.  Not being deterred, Marty just placed the Summons and Complaint under the gentleman's windshield wiper and wished the gentleman "good day."   Unfortunately, as Marty was doing this, the "gentleman" opened his car door and commenced to demonstrate, with evidence "beyond a reasonable doubt," what the wife meant when she alleged "physical abuse."  Not only did this guy's wife take him to court - and "the cleaners" - but, we got a piece of him too - or at least what he had left after his wife took care of him.  Moral of the story - even if you don't like the message - don't take it out on the messenger!

Elder Abuse - Retirement Homes

Our client, Ms. C, was a 96 year old lady who resided in a Residential Care Facilitate for the Elderly, otherwise known as a "retirement home."  Unfortunately, and unknown to the client or her family, the owner of this facility also had entered into a contract with the state to house mentally disturbed people at this facility.  The facility got about $1500.00 a month from the state for housing these disturbed people.   One evening, a 50 year old schizophrenic man viciously beat Ms. C, breaking most of the bones in her face and causing numerous bruises on other parts of her body.   Our claim was that there was inadequate security and supervision at this facility and that the facility had a duty to warn the elderly residents and their families of the presence of the contract with the Department of Mental Health.

Premises Liability - Inadequate Security

Fast Food   Restaurant:  Our clients were the 5 and 11 year old children of a woman who was shot to death in the drive-through line of a local fast food restaurant.   Once on a Friday evening, Mrs. S stopped at this fast-food restaurant to take home some food for the children. While seated in her car - one car length back from the service window - a robber put a gun in the window and demanded her purse. As she reached for her purse to comply - the gun went off and shot her through the throat and she died.  The gunman, who was later arrested and convicted, testified that he and his friend had been intent on committing a robbery that night. They considered the gas station across the street, but it was too well lit up and the cashier had a good view of the lot.  They also considered the bank ATM machine across the street, but they had guards there.  On the other hand, this fast food restaurant directed the cars around the back of the restaurant, there were no lights on in the parking lot, they saw no surveillance cameras, a car was essentially trapped when it was in the drive-through line, and there were no fences around the lot which made for an easy escape route. The jury found the fast food restaurant 70% at fault for the death, the gunman 20% at fault, and Ms. S 10% at fault for her own death for even going to this fast food restaurant at that time on a Friday night!

Food Poisoning – Oysters

Mr. A. was a 47 year old construction worker. He met his wife and they stopped at the local "Mariscos" restaurant before going home.  Mr. A had six raw oysters and a beer.  Later that night he felt like he was coming down with the flu.  He was still sick the next day.  On the third day his wife insisted he go to the doctor. He did and that evening he died.  By the time he arrived at the hospital he was already in septic shock with only about a 10% chance to live.  His body had been invaded with the vibrio vulnificus bacteria.  This bacteria lives only in waters that are 68 degrees Fahrenheit or warmer - i.e. the Gulf Coast waters.  These oysters came from Louisiana.  There is a law that if a restaurant serves oysters from the Gulf Coast they must post signs warning their consumers that these oysters can be potentially deadly to anyone who has any type of immune system deficiency.  Mr. A. had a liver disease which prevented his immune system from fighting off the effects of this bacterium.  There were no warning signs to be seen at this restaurant until after Mr. A was dead... and the lawsuit was filed.  Then the signs were on every wall, on every table, on every menu.  Too late for Mr. A - but it may save someone's life in the future

False Arrest/Defamation - Accused of Shoplifting

Mrs. N, a 45 year old professional woman went to an up-scale Department Store with a friend of hers who had terminal cancer and had asked Mrs. N to take her shopping.   Unknown to Mrs. N, the friend had placed a pair of slacks and a blouse in a bag she, the friend, had carried into the store.  Upon leaving the store both women were approached by security personnel and asked to return to the security office.   Once in the security office the women were separated and Mrs. N was called a "thief," a "criminal," numerous other derogatory terms.   When they saw her Mercedes-Benz key-ring, the security personnel ridiculed her, calling her a "rich bitch" and other terms.  She begged to be able to call her husband. She was not permitted to call her husband nor go to the bathroom.  In spite of the fact that no stolen merchandise was found on her, nor had any of the security personnel seen her steal anything, the police were called and she was placed under "citizen's arrest" by the store security personnel.  She was told "you come in here with a thief - you are a thief!"  Mrs. N spent many hours in jail before her husband was able to post a $20,000.00 bail for her release.  The district attorney refused to file charges against Mrs. N.  Members of the security force at the store later testified that they were aware that they knew that a local newspaper routinely published the names of all persons arrested in the community.  Mrs. N's name was published and many of her friends began asking her about the incident.   She became very depressed and required months of counseling to recover from this incident.

Consumer Fraud - Funeral Homes

Clarence (39 years old and 6 foot 9 inches tall) died of cancer.  His wife and mother searched for an "extra long" casket to fit his "extra long" body so that he could rest in peace "like a normal person.”  After going to two other funeral homes, they finally arrived at a funeral home, prominent in the African-American community, and were promised by the funeral director that an appropriate casket would be obtained for Clarence.  A casket was ordered and the embalmer testified that he informed the funeral director that the casket was too short for Clarence, but that she told him that she did not care and that the embalmer was to "just put him in there."   After being frustrated in her efforts to have the casket opened in Los Angeles, and after the casket was shipped to Chicago for burial, the wife asked the funeral attendants in Chicago to fully open the casket.  There she discovered that her husband's legs were bent, crossed, folded, and crammed into a casket that was clearly too short for him.  Suit was filed against the funeral director, who was also an officer of the corporation, and against the funeral home.  There was no evidence that the owners of the funeral home had any knowledge of the actions of the funeral director.   The plaintiffs were prepared to go to trial on only one cause of action - "consumer fraud."  The funeral home settled on the day before trial for a confidential amount.

Negligence/Auto - Low Impact Rear-End Accident

Our client was minding her own business, stopped at a red light, when all of a sudden her car goes flying forward, into an intersection, and rotates about 45 degrees to the right. She got hit on the right rear by a Ford Explorer that was in the lane to her right and had turned to the left to avoid hitting the car in front of her.  Our client had neck and back sprain and carpal tunnel syndrome.  The problem was that the Explorer was driven by the girlfriend of the owner of the car and she left the country two weeks after the accident.   Auto Club offered to settle for the limits of the owner’s liability, i.e. $15,000.   Instead, we served the driver by publication in a newspaper, threatened to take a default, Auto Club finally accepted liability and paid $75,000.00.

Negligence - Failure to Care for Drunken Bus Passenger

Mr. E was a 47 year old Viet Nam veteran who returned from Navy service in 1972 with a severe drinking problem.  After he was discharged from the service he lived on the streets and in various shelters for the next twenty years.  One night Mr. E left an alcohol recovery home in which he was living, went out on the town, and got good and drunk.  About 11:00 p.m. he boarded a public bus. His clothes were a mess, his fly was unzipped, his coat was falling off of him, and his shirt, in spite of the cold weather, was not buttoned.  In his waist band he had a bottle of wine.  The bus driver saw Mr. E trying to find his bus pass, but being on a schedule she told him to just go sit down.  He then staggered to the rear of the bus and the bus proceeded on his route.  At a stop along the way, the bus driver opened the doors of the bus, front and rear, took on passengers, closed the doors, and drove off.  A witness outside the bus, at that last stop, stated that he say Mr. E fall out of the back door of the bus "like a tall tree falling over.  He fell onto the sidewalk, and then rolled into the gutter.  At that time, the rear door of the bus closed, the bus began to move, and it rolled over Mr. E's legs, crushing his legs and his pelvis as it went on its way.  The witness said he heard the sound of bones cracking as the bus rolled over Mr. E.  The theory of this case was simple - bus drivers have a duty to care for the safety of their passengers.  Especially passengers who are incapacitated in any way, such as sick, invalids, and yes, even intoxicated.  After all, we encourage intoxicated persons not to drive and to take alternative means of transportation.  The bus driver could have refused to permit Mr. E to board her bus, but once she accepted him as a passenger, she had a responsibility to care for his safety.  In this case, seeing that he was in no condition to care for his own safety, she should have used her two-way radio to call for assistance and had him transported someplace where he could have been cared for in his condition.  Instead, she ignored him, there was some evidence that she was behind on her schedule and possibly was trying to make up time, and the result was that Mr. E received very serious injuries.   Because the bus company was convinced to be quite generous to Mr. E., he since has gone to barber school and now owns two barber shops.  He's doing quite well.

Slip & Fall - Dripping Air Conditioner

Mrs. I. was a 60 year old lady, slightly overweight, but otherwise in good shape and condition.  The warm summer noon-day sun was beating down on the pavement in Los Angeles.  She had just walked out of her second floor apartment heading for the laundry room with an armful of clothing to be washed.   She was wearing a bathing suit and nothing on her feet.  She walked down the white painted outdoor walkway, past a couple of other apartments. She could hear the air conditioners cranking out their labored sounds as they were straining to cool the apartments they served.  But, the air conditioners were installed in the walls of the apartments and protruded out over the walkway.  Another by-product of the air conditioners labor was the dripping condensation they spilled onto the walkway.  The clear water became essentially invisible as it pooled on the painted white walkway.   As Mrs. I. stepped into one of those puddles, her feet flew out from under her, she reached out to break her fall with her arm, and the arm suffered a serious break.   Investigation revealed that the walkway has recently been painted and that they type of paint required that a silicon sand compound was to be sprinkled on the surface while the paint was still wet in order to make the surface a non-skid surface.   However, after an exhaustive search, the workman who painted the walkway was located and he testified to the jury that the owner of the apartment house didn't like the way the walkway looked with that sand sprinkled on it and she had him repaint it with less sand.  The jury agreed that it was that decision that led to Mrs. I's injuries.  They awarded her $350,000.00 plus costs.