A Los Angeles jury awarded $28 million to a motorcyclist whose leg was crushed by a city firetruck, the latest eye-popping sum carved out of city coffers for alleged reckless driving by a city employee.<\/p>\n
Robert Danbom was heading northbound on Vermont Avenue in East Hollywood on Sept. 2, 2021, when a city firetruck traveling west appeared abruptly in his path.<\/p>\n
Danbom, who had the green light, claimed in his lawsuit he had just a few seconds to react before an inevitable crash. His Harley-Davidson went flying as he fell under the wheels of the 65,000-pound truck, dislocating his shoulder and disfiguring his leg, which was later amputated below his knee.<\/p>\n
\u201cLAFD\u2019s massive fire tender failed to follow basic safety standards in failing to stop, or even slow, the massive vehicle down before entering a very busy intersection,\u201d the lawsuit alleged.<\/p>\n
Filippo Marchino, an attorney with the X-Law Group who represented Danbom, said he believed the $28-million payout, awarded Aug. 13, was the largest verdict in California stemming from a below-the-knee amputation. But it didn\u2019t need to be, he noted.<\/p>\n
He would have happily taken half of what the jury gave him, he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut there was zero engagement with the city attorney\u2019s office,\u201d he said. \u201cThese people don\u2019t realize it\u2019s not their money, it\u2019s the city\u2019s money, it\u2019s the taxpayers\u2019 money. It\u2019s offensive because cases like ours could have been settled for significantly less than what the verdict is.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to the driver manual for city firefighters presented to the jury, \u201cthe first apparatus in a convoy shall stop at all red lights and stop signs.\u201d Video<\/a> from the scene<\/a> shows the truck moving through the intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Vermont without stopping.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you sat through our trial, you\u2019d be like, \u2018These guys are high,\u2019\u201d said Marchino. \u201cThey kept saying \u2018They stopped,\u2019 and we had video saying they didn\u2019t stop.\u201d<\/p>\n The fire department and the city attorney\u2019s office did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n According to a transcript of an interview from the scene, LAFD Apparatus Operator Vincent Leong said the truck stopped at the intersection and made sure nobody was approaching before proceeding.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a blind intersection, you know, so I slowed down,\u201d he said, according to the transcript, which was used as evidence at the trial. \u201cI started creeping forward. … I didn\u2019t see anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n The amount the city pays each year in settlements and jury verdicts has skyrocketed, from $64 million about a decade ago to $289 million last year.<\/a><\/p>\n In 2025, a jury awarded<\/a> nearly $49 million to a man in a coma after he was hit by a city garbage truck driver, who was accused of making an \u201cunsafe right turn.\u201d The year prior, a motorcyclist<\/a> received $11 million after he was hit by a Los Angeles Department of Water and Power driver.<\/p>\n Hydee Feldstein Soto, who heads the city attorney\u2019s office, has argued rising costs are the results of juries feeling increasingly antagonistic to local government. Some plaintiffs\u2019 attorneys have countered that her leadership is to blame with too many cases with weak defenses brought to trial.<\/p>\n Feldstein Soto failed to advance out of the June primary, the first time an incumbent Los Angeles city attorney had been ousted before a general election in nearly 100 years.<\/a><\/p>\n