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: Legal Blog Watch

$11 Million Verdict Against Pizza Hut for Accident Caused by Epileptic Delivery Driver

By Eric Lipman

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Last week, a California jury returned a verdict in a personal injury case against Pizza Hut, a division of Yum Brands Inc., requiring the company to pay at total of $10.8 million to a mother and daughter whose car was hit by an 18-year-old delivery driver in 2008. The delivery girl, Nicole Fisk, reportedly crossed the center line on a San Diego street, crashing head-on into 87-year-old Olena Marie Novak and her daughter Shari. (I'm pretty sure Fisk wasn't driving a Hummer like the one pictured, but you gotta admit, that's pretty sweet.) Pizza Hut defended the suit based on the California doctrine of "sudden medical emergency." It claimed that the accident was caused when Fisk had a seizure, and that her epilepsy was not diagnosed until after the accident. Pizza Hut also claimed that its responsibility for ensuring that it hired safe drivers ended with verifying license and insurance and conducting a background check. The jury wasn't buying. While it did not find Pizza Hut negligent in hiring Fisk -- who had only been licensed to drive for three months at the time of the crash -- it held the company liable under trusty old respondeat superior. The company's...

Full post as published by Legal Blog Watch on August 03, 2010 (boomark / email).