Case Results

At Pocrass & De Los Reyes we are committed to getting the best possible verdicts and settlements and mediation and arbitration results for every client we represent. Below is a small sampling of some of the verdicts, settlements and recoveries we have been able to achieve for our clients.*

In more than 30 years of advocating for persons wrongfully injured, our record of successes is too long to list here.

Contact us for a free, no-obligation consultation.

$9 Million Settlement

Burn Injuries – Premises Liability
A fire broke out due to people smoking meth in an apartment on the 10th floor in a Westside high rise apartment building. The smoke from the fire traveled to a higher floor and into an apartment where a grandfather was babysitting his 4-year-old granddaughter.The grandfather and granddaughter took the stairway to the roof, only to find the roof door locked. They made their way back down the stairway only to succumb to the smoke.The grandfather suffered lung damage and burns. The child suffered brain damage and third degree burns across 30 – 40% of her body.

$4.5 Million Verdict

Aviation – Helicopter Accident
A 22-year-old Marine and Iraqi war veteran was on a pilot training exercise at Torrance Municipal Airport when his Robinson helicopter collided midair with another helicopter. Two people from the other helicopter died. Our client suffered extensive personal injuries and was in a coma for three weeks. The National Transportation and Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration claimed that the pilots were at fault. We conducted an intensive investigation that revealed that the air traffic controllers were negligent and entirely responsible for the helicopter accident. The judge in the bench trial ruled that the fault was entirely that of the air traffic controllers.

$4.1 Million Settlement

Aviation – Airplane Accident
Represented 7 families in the wrongful death of loved ones who were on Korean Air Flight 801 that crashed in Guam while on approach to the airport.

$3.5 Million Settlement

Burn Injuries – Wrongful Death
A three-month old baby died of burn injuries in a wrongful death in a fire when a trailer caught on fire. The trailers in the trailer park had a long history of terrible safety conditions that the slum lord owner consistently ignored.

$3.3 Million Verdict

Construction Accident – Product Liability
A 53-year-old cement mason was injured in the collapse of a 4-million gallon digester tank in the middle of a construction site. Our client managed to escape the collapse but was injured in the process. He had an extensive medical history of multiple trauma-related injuries, including to the lower back, where he had had surgery prior to the construction accident. We proved that defective shoring caused the construction accident. The defense insurance company’s highest offer in settlement was $15,000.

$2.8 Million Settlement

Burn Injury
Bathtub scald injury in which our client suffered severe burn injuries from scalding water in a bathtub at a hotel.

$2.8 Million Settlement

Burn Injury
A newlywed couple was brunching with family and friends at a resort where they’d been married the day before when a server spilled an entire pot of scalding coffee on the bride. The bride suffered extensive and serious burn injuries.

$2.5 Million Settlement

Truck Accident – Wrongful Death
Our client’s 30-year-old husband was killed when an alignment rack fell off of a trailer during delivery. The rack landed on the man’s head, killing him instantly. We filed suit against the trucking company for the improper unloading of the rack. We also demonstrated that the company had prior delivery problems.

$2.3 Million+ Settlement

Bicycle Accident
A bicyclist was the victim of a hit-and-run accident. The driver claimed she didn’t know she’d hit anyone, but witnesses got the car’s license plate. The bicyclist suffered extremely serious personal injuries and a traumatic brain injury (TBI).

$2.3 Million Settlement

Pedestrian – Motor Vehicle Accident
A 31-year-old fitness instructor was jogging in the bicycle lane when she was hit by a motor vehicle driven by a 17-year-old boy who left the scene of the accident. A witness got the license plate of the car and the boy was subsequently arrested. The jogger suffered serious personal injuries, including traumatic brain injuries (TBI), for which she spent 3 months in the hospital.

$2 Million Settlement

Car Accident – Wrongful Death
Our clients’ son, an 18-year-old college student, was stranded on the freeway when his car spun out in the rain and stalled in one of the lanes of traffic. While our clients’ son waited in his car for assistance, his car was struck from behind by the driver of a truck. The truck penetrated the passenger compartment of the car. The young man was killed on impact.

$1.9 Million Settlement

Motor Vehicle Accident – Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
Our client was t-boned in a motor vehicle accident by a realtor driving on business. We collected the driver’s insurance limit of $100,000 and the driver’s employer was held liable for the remaining compensation to our client.

$1.8 Million Settlement

Premises Liability – Serious Personal Injuries
While looking for the bathroom at a nightclub, a woman fell through the floor/ceiling of the club’s second floor suffering serious personal injuries.

$1.7 Million Settlement

Motor Vehicle Accident – Product Liability
An 18-year-old man was driving a Suzuki Samuri on the 405-freeway when he swerved to avoid a rolled up carpet that fell off a pick up truck. The Suzuki rolled over and the man suffered serious personal injuries, including traumatic brain injuries (TBI). The total payout of settlement over the man’s life is in excess of $15 million.

$1.6 Million Settlement

Pedestrian – Motor Vehicle Accident – Uninsured Motorist
A 25-year-old was walking across the street in a crosswalk when a motorist turned left and hit him. Our client suffered serious personal injuries, including a spinal cord injury.

$1.5 Million Settlement

Truck Accident
A pilot was helping to set-up for an event and was riding in the back of a pick-up truck when it crashed. He suffered injuries so severe that he will never pilot an airplane again.

$1.4 Million Settlement

Motorcycle Accident
A car made a left turn in front of an ongoing motorcyclist, causing the motorcyclist serious personal injuries, including multiple pelvic fractures.

$1.4 Million Settlement

Medical Malpractice
A 3-year-old child fell out of a moon bounce and broke his leg. He waited 63 hours in the hospital before he was treated by a doctor and suffered permanent injuries to his leg.

$1.4 Million Settlement

Pedestrian – Motor Vehicle Accident – Bad Faith Insurance
A man was hit by a car when crossing in a crosswalk on a Los Angeles street. We sued the man’s own insurance company for uninsured motorist coverage of the accident.

$1.3 Million Verdict

Medical Malpractice
A cardiologist was negligent in treating a man’s heart attack in a timely manner thereby causing permanent damage to our client’s heart muscle.

$1.2 Million Verdict

Motor Vehicle Accident
A dog walker was in a Malibu car accident and suffered serious personal injuries to her leg causing her to lose her business.

$1.2 Million Verdict

Trip and Fall – Premises Liability
An 81-year-old was visiting a friend in a local hospital. She tripped over medical equipment that was being stored in the hallway, breaking her hip.

$1.2 Million Verdict

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
A 78-year-old golfer was leaving the green on the 5th hole at Penmar Golf Course, where he was playing, when he was struck on the head by the ball from a golfer who teed off on the 5th tee. We filed suit against the golfer who hit our client and against the City of Los Angeles, the owner and operator of the course. The City was held accountable by the court because it had failed to put in safety measures that were called for by the City’s own designs for the course.

$1 Million Settlement

Motor Vehicle Accident – Serious Personal Injuries
While stopped in traffic on the 5-Freeway in Castaic, our client was rear-ended by another car. The impact caused our client’s seat to break and made him strike his head on the door. He sustained serious personal injuries, including a neck injury that required surgical repair.

$1 Million Settlement

Pedestrian Accident
A woman in Burbank put her guitar in the backseat of her car and shut the door. She was hit by a passing vehicle, presumably by the side mirror, and suffered serious personal injuries. The driver was charged with a DUI.

$1 Million Settlement

Truck Accident
A private street sweeper’s truck was crushed when a cement truck trailer came loose and crashed into it. Among the life-threatening injuries the street sweeper suffered were serious back injuries.

$990,000 Settlement

Bus Accident
While our client was a passenger on an airport bus in San Francisco, the driver lost control of the bus on the freeway causing a bus accident. The bus hit a concrete bridge pillar. Our client was badly injured and two fingers on one of her hands had to be amputated. Even though the bus company had limited insurance, the company agreed to contribute additional money to what its insurance company was offering.

$975,000 Settlement

Birth Injury – Medical Malpractice
A baby suffered hypoxia and sustained permanent brain damage due to failure of attending staff to recognize fetal heart distress via a fetal heart monitor.

$750,000 Settlement

Product Liability
Demonstrated how a defective design in a Canadian-made, horse-drawn carriage caused the accident that seriously injured our client.

$750,000 Settlement

Motorcycle Accident
While riding a motor scooter our client was t-boned by a Chevy Suburban. He suffered fractures of the sternum, left forearm, left elbow, pelvis, as well as injuries to the scapula and a dislocated right hip.

$750,000 Settlement

Trip and Fall
A woman tripped on a sidewalk in Los Angeles and suffered a hip injury.

$700,000 Settlement

Truck Accident
A courier was making a delivery of heavy rolls of aluminum. At his destination, an employee of the receiving company tried to unload the shipment with a pallet jack. The employee lost control of the pallet jack. It caught our client’s foot as he tried to jump off the truck and his leg was severely fractured, resulting in chronic regional pain syndrome. We sued the company that originally loaded the shipment in such a way that a forklift couldn’t be used to unload it. We also sued the company that unloaded the shipment. The case settled a few days before trial.

$700,000 Settlement

Premises Liability – Trip and Fall
A 63-year-old woman tripped and fell over a garden hose, resulting in serious personal injuries, at Rowland Heights Plaza Shopping Center when the gardener pulled the hose she was stepping over.

$700,000 Settlement

Motor Vehicle Accident – Passenger
An 18-year-old male was a passenger in a car driven by a high school friend. Due to erratic driving, the vehicle careened off the road and rolled down an embankment. In addition to receiving extensive sprains and strains in the motor vehicle accident, our client suffered post-traumatic stress, leading to a 3-day hospitalization in a psychiatric unit. The case was settled a few days before trial.

$600,000 Settlement

Railroad Accident/FELA
Our client was a police officer employed by a railroad. While on duty he pulled his police car to the side of the road in order to inspect an overpass for thieves. After unbuckling his seatbelt in preparation for exiting his car, his car was rear-ended by a driver who had fallen asleep at the wheel. The impact threw our client up into the gun rack positioned above his head, resulting in our client suffering a traumatic brain injury (TBI). We filed suit against the railroad under the Federal Employers Liability Act (FELA) based upon the improper positioning of the gun rack.

$600,000 Settlement

Serious Personal Injury
A caddie was hit in the back of the leg by a golf cart, driven by a golfer. The incident caused an aggravation of pre-existing arthritis in the knee, leading to knee replacement surgery. A week before trial, the driver’s insurance company settled the case.

$500,000 Settlement

Toxic Mold Injury
An elderly retiree’s apartment flooded when a water main broke in an upstairs apartment. Even though damage to the woman’s apartment was cleaned, our client acquired a respiratory infection from the mold infestation that ensued. The respiratory infection led to violent bouts of coughing, which caused several fractures of ribs and vertebrae due to our client’s advanced osteoporotic disease. We recovered $500,000 in damages from the homeowner of the upstairs unit and the plumbing company that was servicing the water main.

$500,000 Settlement

Car Accident
A 60-year-old man was rear-ended while traveling east on the 101 freeway. He and the driver of the other car pulled over into the emergency lane of the exit. The other car had no license plate and the driver apologized and said he was on his phone. Our client suffered serious personal injuries and needed neck fusion surgery. Since the other driver had no insurance or a driver’s license, we were able to collect policy limits from our client’s own Uninsured Motorist Insurance.

$500,000 SETTLEMENT

Motor Vehicle Accident – Passenger
Two passengers in a car suffered serious personal injuries when the driver of the car lost control of the vehicle on the 5-freeway on the way to Las Vegas.

$500,000 Settlement

Motor Vehicle Accident
At a left turn lane in Whittier, a man in the left-turn lane only decided he didn’t want to turn left and began backing up. He collided with our client who suffered cervical injuries, including loosened hardware from a 2013 surgery.

$480,000 Settlement

Pedestrian – Motor Vehicle Accident
A pedestrian was walking across the street and was hit by a car when the driver had a seizure. Our client suffered serious personal injuries.

$460,000 Settlement

Premises Liability – Serious Personal Injuries
A preschooler was poked in the eye with a pencil by a classmate in nursery school. He suffered partial loss of vision in the eye.

$450,000 Settlement

Product Liability
A shattered glass vase severed the arteries in our client’s hand. Our investigation revealed the vase was made with defective materials and we held the overseas makers responsible.

$450,000 Verdict

Trip-and-Fall
A 73-year-old retired teacher suffered serious personal injuries when she tripped over an unmarked step in a doorway of a private library on the premises of the Huntington Library, Art Gallery & Botanical Gardens in Pasadena. She fractured her right shoulder, which required surgical repair. Our client had an extensive medical history, including prior right shoulder problems. The Huntington’s insurance company claimed that the accident was caused solely as a result of our client’s inattention and that she was exaggerating her injuries. The insurance company refused to make a settlement offer. The jury decided the verdict.

$425,000 Settlement

Trip-and-Fall
A surgeon stepped in unmarked wet cement on the floor of a hospital. He severely injured his ankle, keeping him out of work for an extended period of time. The hospital and flooring company settled the case.

$425,000 Settlement

Bus Accident
A 38-year-old attorney was injured in a bus accident when a bus in which she was riding side-swiped a car. As a result of the accident, our client fell off seat onto the floor and later developed fibromyalgia, a pain disorder that affects many parts of the body. The case was settled shortly before trial.

$425,000 Settlement

Pedestrian – Truck Accident
An 18-wheeler struck a man in a wheelchair who was on the curb at the intersection of Lincoln and Pico boulevards in Santa Monica. The 18-wheeler made a right turn too close to the curb and the truck’s tire struck the wheelchair, and our client’s head and legs. The truck driver claimed he didn’t know he’d hit anyone.

$400,000 Settlement

Sexual Abuse
A woman was sexually assaulted by an employee of the psychiatric hospital in which she was being treated.

$400,000 Settlement

Motor Vehicle Accident – Passenger
The driver of a car, who was under the influence of drugs, ran a Beverly Hills stop sign, hitting another car. The passenger in the car that was struck suffered serious personal injuries.

$400,000 Settlement

Pedestrian – Motor Vehicle Accident
Two women were hit in a Santa Monica crosswalk by a pizza delivery person.

$395,000 Verdict

Medical Malpractice
During a gall bladder operation the surgeon cut the common bile duct instead of the cystic duct. The medical error caused an obstruction and bile began to accumulate painfully in the woman’s abdomen. When the surgeon realized his medical mistake, he drove our client to the emergency room of Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, leaving her there without any medical records. She underwent major reconstructive surgery at LAC-USC Medical Center, followed by an extensive recuperative period.

$388,000 Settlement

Motor Vehicle Accident
A woman was rear ended, which caused serious personal injuries, near the Cloverfield exit of the 10-freeway in Santa Monica.

$375,000 Settlement

Pedestrian – Motor Vehicle Accident
An older woman was struck by a car in a crosswalk in Brentwood by a 90-year-old female driver who said she didn’t see the pedestrian.

$350,000 Settlement

Pedestrian – Motor Vehicle Accident
While crossing at a green light at Little Santa Monica Boulevard in Beverly Hills, a pedestrian was struck and injured seriously by a motor vehicle.

$325,000 Settlement

Serious Personal Injury
Our client was a grip for a studio. While unloading a movie set’s walls from a trailer, the driver of the trailer improperly untied them. The walls cascaded down, crashing onto our client’s foot. He suffered a crushed foot, which resulted in chronic regional pain syndrome. The case settled several days before trial.

$320,000 Settlement

Bicycle – Pedestrian Accident 
A 15-year-old girl was at an ice cream truck when a bee flew into her hair. The girl hurriedly backed up eight-feet, hitting a 70-year-old cyclist riding by. The cyclist flew over the handlebars and suffered fractured cheekbones, nose, and disks in his neck.

$300,000 Settlement

Railroad Accident/FELA
A railroad employee injured the discs in his neck from the violent movement of a train. The train employee was stepping from one car to another when he was thrown against the train due to a defective connection between cars.

$300,000 Settlement

Pedestrian – Motor Vehicle Accident
A pedestrian was hit by a car in a parking lot and suffered serious personal injuries and a traumatic brain injury (TBI). We collected the driver’s policy limit of $100,000, and $200,000 via a personal contribution by the motorist.

$280,000 Settlement

Pedestrian – Motor Vehicle Accident
A pedestrian was hit while jaywalking in the middle of Hollywood Boulevard. He broke both legs and a hip.

$275,000 Settlement

Dog Bite
A postal worker was bit on her breast by a dog being walked by its owner.

$250,000 Settlement

Medical Malpractice 
A famous sculpture went into the hospital for nose surgery. He suffered a blood clot in the eye that permanently blinded him in that eye.

$250,000 Settlement

Dog Bite
While walking his dogs on a public street, two large Tibetan Mastiffs, being walked without their leash, charged our client’s dogs. In the scuffle, the mastiffs knocked our client to the ground, causing a torn rotator cuff.

$250,000 Settlement

Trip and Fall – Premises Liability
A Pasadena-area renter tripped on her unsafe back steps, falling to the cement patio below. She shattered her knee and incurred several surgeries requiring doctors to use pins and rods to reconstruct the knee. Our client lost almost a year of work while struggling to recover from this serious personal injury.

$250,000 Settlement

Motor Vehicle Accident – Wrongful Death
A Long Beach State professor, musician, and father and husband was driving home via Hawthorne. He encountered drag racers on the other side of the street. One of the drag racers lost control of his car, hit the median, and crashed head-on into our client, killing him instantly.

$250,000 Settlement

Motorcycle Accident
A motorist made a left turn in front of a motorcyclist causing the motorcyclist to suffer serious personal injuries. We recovered the policy limit.

$250,000 Settlement

Medical Malpractice
A doctor failed to diagnose a tumor on the back of a 28-year-old woman resulting in a Stage 1 cancer progressing to Stage 4 cancer that required surgery.

$250,000 Settlement

Motor Vehicle Accident
Our client was traveling down Whittier Boulevard when he came to a stop at a red light at an intersection. He was rear-ended by a car that was going fast, and he suffered serious personal injuries.

$240,000 Settlement

Pedestrian – Motor Vehicle Accident
A 17-year-old woman was in the crosswalk on a Glendale street when she was hit by a car and suffered serious personal injuries. We were able to recover the $25,000 policy limit from the driver’s insurance policy and the remainder from the woman’s uninsured motorist insurance policy.

$238,000 Settlement

Bicycle Accident
A cyclist in Santa Monica was riding their bike when a car made a right turn into the cyclist. The cyclist suffered a herniated disk in their neck.

$225,000 Settlement

Premises Liability – Burn Injuries
A server spilled scalding coffee on our client’s hand at a restaurant in Downtown Los Angeles.

$200,000 Settlement

Slip and Fall
A man slipped, injuring his knee, at a City of Malibu event.

$200,000 Settlement

Wrongful Death
An electrician was working on a lighted sign in a mall in Palm Springs and was electrocuted by a live wire.

$200,000 Settlement

Bicycle Accident
A cyclist suffered serious personal injuries when his wheel lodged into a deep crack in the street.

$181,000 Arbitration Award

Motor Vehicle Accident
An underinsured arbitration award against our client’s own insurance company for a motor vehicle accident in which she suffered serious personal injuries.

$180,000 Settlement

Premises Liability – Slip and Fall
A woman fell and injured her knee on a slippery patch by the pumps at a gas station.

$175,000 Settlement

Bicycle Accident
A cyclist suffered serious personal injuries when he was hit in an intersection with four-way stop signs. The woman claimed she never saw the cyclist.

$175,000 Settlement

Dental Malpractice
A dentist improperly performed a mouth reconstruction.

$169,000 Settlement

Insurance Bad Faith
An insurance company wrongfully denied a claim made against our client’s homeowner insurance policy.

$150,000 Settlement

Motorcycle Accident
A motorcyclist was pinned between the truck and a car when a semi-trailer made a left turn. The motorcyclist re-broke his leg, which had just recovered from a previous motorcycle accident.

$150,000 Settlement

Serious Personal Injuries
A tenant in an office building suffered serious respiratory problems, causing serious personal injuries, when the building was fumigated the night before. No one in the building was notified of the fumigation, and the tenant was breathing the poison for an entire work day.

$145,000 Settlement

Motor Vehicle Accident – Passenger
Our client was in a car in Palmdale riding in the front passenger seat with his arm partially out the window, holding onto the top of the car door. The car was t-boned on the passenger side, causing his thumb to be partially ripped off.

$125,000 Settlement

Motor Vehicle Accident
A driver was struck by a car in a front-end motor vehicle collision and suffered a hernia.

$100,000 Settlement

Bicycle Accident
A bicyclist was riding on Wilshire Boulevard and was side-swiped by a car. She went over the front of the bike, hitting the handle bars as she flew. She suffered serious personal injuries in the bike accident.

$100,000 Settlement

Trip and Fall
Our client slipped and fell on a wet mat in a puddle on a patio floor in a restaurant.

$82,000 Arbitration Award

Motor Vehicle Accident
Aggravation of pre-existing spinal condition due to a rear end car accident.

$75,000 Settlement

Pedestrian – Motor Vehicle Accident
An 11-year-old child and his father were walking across the street via a crosswalk when they were hit by a motor vehicle.

$75,000 Settlement

Bicycle Accident
A bicyclist was hit by a motor vehicle making a right turn into a driveway while riding on Griffith Park Boulevard in Los Feliz. Our client suffered serious personal injuries as well as a damaged bicycle. The case settled for policy limits.

$30,000 Settlement

Bicycle Accident
A bicyclist suffered serious personal injuries when a motor vehicle made a left turn in front of him in Malibu. Ironically, the police had found the cyclist at fault because he was wearing all black. The accident happened in November at 4:55 p.m.

$25,000+ Settlement

Bicycle Accident
While hauling kids’ bicycles to a charity event in Downtown Los Angeles, our client was clipped by a car. The car did not stop was found due to a witness’s identification of the auto’s license plate number. Settled for policy limits and a personal contribution by the driver of the car.

$25,000 Settlement

Bicycle Accident
A bicyclist suffered serious personal injuries when he was rear ended by a car coming off the La Cienega off-ramp of the 10-East freeway while on his bicycle. Settled for policy limits.

$25,000 Settlement

Bicycle Accident
A car pulled out of a home driveway and hit the cyclist as she cycled by.

$15,000 Settlement

Bicycle Accident
A cyclist was injured when he was “doored.”

$15,000 Settlement

Bicycle Accident
A car exiting the freeway make a right turn onto the street in front of a cyclist. Though the cyclist suffered severe soft tissue injuries, we had to settle for policy limits.

* This does not constitute a guarantee, warranty or prediction regarding the outcome of your legal matter.