Ramirez

FACTS

A. The Accident and Subsequent Medical Treatment

In November 2014, Barajas was on delivery for her employer when she caused a

rear-end collision involving three cars. She tried to change lanes but didn’t see there was

a construction zone ahead and the cars in front of her had stopped. Her subcompact Ford

Fiesta rear-ended another subcompact car (a Chevy Aveo) at about 50 miles per hour,

which caused that car to collide with plaintiff’s pickup truck (a Nissan Frontier) at about

17 miles per hour. Plaintiff had been looking in his rearview mirror and saw the first

collision happen so he braced for the impact by putting his foot on the brake and hands

on the steering wheel.

After the accident, plaintiff made sure his two sons weren’t hurt, then got out of

his truck to check on the other two drivers, who were also okay but Barajas was crying

and apologizing. Plaintiff told her accidents happen and it was a good thing no one was

hurt. When the police arrived, plaintiff declined medical treatment but mentioned he had

some pain in his shoulder and neck. He drove away from the accident and took his sons

to lunch before going home. The cost of repairing his truck…