Question

Assume that you live in California and are on vacation, traveling by car from California to Texas. You are injured in a motel room when the bed on which you are sleeping collapses, causing you to fall to the floor. You suffer substantial back and leg injuries, requiring many medical treatments and causing you to miss work for 15 weeks. Your medical bills total $50,000 and your lost wages total $15,000. You intend to sue the owner of the Texas motel.
Required:
a. Can you bring your case in federal court? Why or why not?
b. Can you commence the case in California? What additional information might you need to answer this question?
c. At the end of the trial, the jury awards you $100,000 ($50,000 for medical, $15,000 for lost wages and $35,000 for punitive damages). After the trial, the attorney for the hotel approaches and offers to settle the case for $50,000. Should you consider accepting the settlement? Why or why not?

Answer 1

Answer:

a. No.  A state court will do a better job in this case because it exercises unlimited jurisdiction.  Moreover, you can only bring your case to a federal court if the amount of your claim is up to $75,000 or the issue is exclusive to the federal court.  This is not the case here.

b. Yes and No.  We need some additional information about the accident location to help answer this question definitively.

c. No. You should not consider accepting the offered settlement.  The jury award is meant to pay for your medical bills and also to help you recover financially as though the accident did not happen in the first place.  Accepting any lesser amount after the judgment is rendered is in bad taste.  The other party should have negotiated to settle out of court before the final judgment was rendered.  But it did not.  So, go with the jury award.

Explanation:

a) Data and Calculations:

Missed work for 15 weeks

Total medical bills incurred = $50,000

Total lost wages incurred = $15,000

Jury award = $100,000 ($50,000 for medical, $15,000 for lost wages and $35,000 for punitive damages)

Settlement offer = $50,000