CVN screenshot of plaintiff attorney Kimball Jones delivering his opening statement
Las Vegas, NV - A Nevada state court jury heard opening statements Wednesday in a lawsuit seeking up to $90 million filed by a mother who suffered serious injuries along with her four children after a drunk driver flipped his truck over a median and hit her minivan, and the full trial is being webcast gavel-to-gavel by Courtroom View Network.
Plaintiff Autumn Carver suffered a range of injuries, including a claimed severe traumatic brain injury, after defendant Daniel Terrazas-Lozano sent his Ford F-150 truck over a median while speeding and intoxicated on alcohol and cannabis. Terrazas-Lozano served a prison term for the crash, and after the judge in the current civil matter struck his affirmative defenses claiming Carver had any liability the trial will address damages only.
Carver’s attorney, Kimball Jones of Bighorn Law, told the Clark County jury he would seek between $70 and $90 million in compensatory damages for Carver and her children along with unspecified punitive damages. Terrazas-Lozano’s attorney Jonathan Hansen argued Carver’s neurological injuries aren’t nearly as severe as she alleges and that the jury should not award any punitive damages.
Subscribers to CVN’s online trial video library get unlimited live and on-demand to the full trial, including all witness testimony and digital images of exhibits and demonstratives. Along with this trial subscribers get access to hundreds more civil trials in a wide range of practice areas featuring many of the top plaintiff and defense trial attorneys practicing in the United States.
Jones described to jurors how Terrazas-Lozano, who worked as an assistant server at a local casino, consumed cannabis and alcohol before and during his work shift and then during dinner after clocking out. He claimed Terrazas-Lozano was traveling at nearly 70 mph when he flipped the median and crashed into Carver’s mini-van.
Jones framed the trial as presenting a very straightforward question for the jury to answer, namely what are Carver's injuries worth? He repeatedly stressed the court already found Carver had no liability, that Terrazas-Lozano was criminally convicted over the event, and that numerous treating and expert witness physicians would affirm Carver suffered a major brain injury that will likely lead to early-onset dementia, along with other serious injuries like a punctured lung and nerve damage in her leg.
Presenting a comparatively brief opening statement on behalf of Terrazas-Lozano, defense attorney Jonathan Hansen urged jurors not to focus the fact the Court struck his client’s affirmative defenses but to instead scrutinize the testimony involving Carver’s alleged brain injury.
Hansen didn’t offer a specific amount of damages he considered appropriate, but in an opening argument largely delivered without any visual aids or demonstratives, he walked jurors through Carver’s post-accident medical records, suggesting she’s made a more significant recovery than her attorney presented.
Hansen specifically took issue with a claim for $11 million in future medical expenses, telling jurors his experts would testify those are supposedly vastly inflated figures compared to Carver’s actual injuries. While Jones told jurors Carver was almost certain to develop early-onset dementia as a result of her head injury, Hansen argued the medical literature is not in agreement on on the likelihood of that outcome.
He also argued Terrazas-Lozano already faced significant consequences for his actions by completing his prison term.
The trial, taking place before Judge Anna Albertson, is slated for roughly 10 days, and CVN’s live and on-demand coverage will continue for the duration of the proceedings.
The case is captioned Autumn Carver, et al. v. Daniel Terrazas-Lozano, docket number A-24-885966-C in Nevada’s Eighth Judicial District Court in Clark County.
Email David Siegel at dsiegel@cvn.com