Congratulations on a big win!

One of my clients, Marlon Alo, recently won a reversal on appeal after a jury trial in a published decision, Diaz v. Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, 2009 WL 2138976.  Alo represented the plaintiff, a 79-year-old female, who was injured when an MTA bus in which she was a passenger collided with the car in front of it.  The court of appeal held that because MTA is a common carrier and substantial evidence supported the argument that plaintiff was injured due to the bus driver's negligence, the trial court erred in refusing to give a res ipsa loquitur instruction.  Had the instruction been given, the burden of proof would have shifted to MTA and its driver to demonstrate they were not negligent.

The appellant argued lack of substantial evidence, instructional error, and error re the admission of evidence.  If you read my earlier posts, you know that substantial evidence is not a great standard of review for an appellant, but an error based on instructional error puts the appellant in a better position.  As noted by the appellate court, it is required to "review the record in the light most favorable to the party proposing the instruction to determine whether there was substantial evidence warranting the instruction."  (Opn., pg. 3, fn. 3.)

The reviewing court also noted that res ipsa loquitur has frequently been applied in common carrier cases where a passenger is injured, even when a third party driver is involved.  I've also worked on cases when the doctrine has been applied successfully in medical malpractice and fire cases.

Because of the court's finding on the instructional error, it declined to reach the other issues raised on appeal, and remanded the case to the trial court for further proceedings.  Great job, Marlon!