CVN screenshot of plaintiff attorney Paul Painter delivering his closing argument
Los Angeles, CA - A California state court jury returned a roughly $21.3 million verdict Monday in favor of two young women alleging they sustained serious traumatic brain injuries after their van was rear-ended by an 18-wheeler truck, and the full trial was recorded gavel-to-gavel by Courtroom View Network.
The Los Angeles County jury found FBM Group Corporation and driver Leilei Chen liable for a 2017 accident that plaintiffs Asia and Sarah Morgan claim left them with permanent neurological injuries after Chen supposedly became distracted by dropping a water bottle and rear-ended the van in which they were riding.
Attorneys for the defendants argued the accident resulted from the van’s driver traveling dangerously below the speed limit, but the jury ultimately found FBM Group 82 percent liable for the accident while assigning 18 percent liability to the van’s driver, reducing the collectible award to just over $17 million.
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While the jury’s award is significantly less than the $162 million in non-economic damages the plaintiffs requested, it still significantly surpasses a pre-trial settlement offer of $50K, according to attorney Stephen Morrison of the firm Bowen Painter. Morrison told CVN after the trial concluded that offer was increased to $750K during jury deliberations, and that the defense rejected settlement demands of $2 million in 2019 and $7 million in March of 2025.
“Our lawyers are national trial lawyers and really leaned into ‘parachute trial counsel’ opportunities when the courts closed down during the pandemic,” Morrison told CVN, explaining how his Georgia-based firm became involved in the California trial, noting that partner Paul Painter was previously stationed as a naval officer in San Diego and had tried cases before in the state.
“We’re always looking for partners to work with on cases and talented attorneys and staff to join our team,” Morrison said. Bowen Painter partnered with local counsel from Wisner Baum.
An attorney for the defense replied to a request for comment from CVN only by confirming the breakdown of the verdict.
During the trial jurors heard testimony that the impact from the crash caused both seat backs in the van to fail - which the defense disputed - and that both Asia and Summer immediately fell backwards. While they were initially given a clean bill of health in a local hospital’s emergency department, their attorneys explained how months later Sarah began struggling with school work and having balance problems, while Asia developed incontinence and other neurological sensitivity issues.
Morrison pointed to the increased availability of advanced imaging techniques to confirm the severity of the plaintiffs' brain injuries for the jury. Traumatic brain injuries can be difficult to evaluate based solely on the behavior of the victim, and Morrison suggested this evidence played a key role in demonstrating to jurors the physical nature of the underlying injuries.
“This case shows the utility of advanced imaging techniques, like MR Neurography and DTI imaging, in brain injury cases,” he explained. “It gives a whole new dimension to brain injuries.”
The lengthy trial began on June 22, and with liability for the underlying crash in dispute much of the expert testimony involved differing versions of the crash from accident reconstruction experts. In 2017 far fewer commercial trucks were equipped with dash cams than today, leading the parties to rely largely on forensic analysis in trying to present the second-to-second details to the jury.
Morrison also credited his firm's “rockstar paralegals” and supporting attorneys with securing a verdict that resulted in both a potentially complex liability finding largely in their clients favor and a multi-million monetary award.
“This case was a lot of work but we could not be prouder to represent the Morgans and for our small but mighty firm to try a case all the way across the country - and win,” he stated.
The defense was represented by Irving, CA-based firm McGlinchey Stafford PLC.
The trial took place before Judge J. Stephen Czuleger.
The case is captioned Pope-Morgan, et al. v. Chen, et al, case number 19STCV16639 in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
E-mail David Siegel at dsiegel@cvn.com