Our client stepped into a deteriorated pothole in a loading zone outside a Long Beach supermarket and fractured her ankle. What followed was years of escalating pain that her doctors eventually diagnosed as Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, one of the most severe chronic pain conditions in medicine. A Los Angeles County jury returned a $17,477,285.80 verdict in this California pothole injury case, holding the City of Long Beach responsible for a hazard its own employees had walked past for more than a year without ever repairing it.
$17.48M
Los Angeles County jury verdict
14 days
Trial before Judge Maryanne Murphy
6 months
California deadline to file a government claim
On May 26, 2020, our client, a 50-year-old woman, was walking through a loading zone outside a supermarket in the Zaferia neighborhood of Long Beach when she stepped directly into a deteriorated pothole. The pavement in the loading zone had been breaking down for a substantial period of time, and the specific defect she stepped into, combined with a flawed curb design at the same location, created a serious fall hazard for anyone using the loading zone exactly as it was intended to be used. The fall fractured her ankle. What might have been a difficult but limited recovery instead became a permanent, life-altering injury when she developed Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, commonly known as CRPS, a chronic pain condition that can develop after even a common injury like an ankle fracture and that produces disproportionate, often unrelenting pain, along with changes in skin temperature, swelling, and function in the affected limb. CRPS has no cure, and management typically focuses on pain control and functional preservation rather than restoration of the limb to its prior condition.
The single most important fact in this case was not the pothole itself but how long the City of Long Beach had known about it before our client was ever injured. City employees visited this loading zone location regularly as part of their ordinary duties, and the deteriorated condition of the pavement had existed for more than a year before this fall. Despite this repeated exposure to the hazard, the City never repaired it. The curb design at the same location compounded the danger, meaning this was not an isolated pavement defect but a location where multiple hazard factors combined over an extended period without correction.
With notice at the center of the case, the trial team proved what the City knew, when it knew it, and why its strongest defense never reached the jury.
Establishing that City employees regularly visited the exact location where our client was injured for more than a year before her fall provided direct evidence of actual notice under Government Code section 835, removing any argument that the City was caught unaware by a hazard it could not reasonably have discovered.
Government Code section 835.4 gives public entities a potential defense that an action or inaction on a dangerous condition was reasonable given cost and practicality. That defense must be pleaded, and the City failed to plead it in its Answer. Judge Murphy ruled the City had waived the defense entirely, removing one of its strongest arguments before trial began.
With reasonableness off the table, trial focused on establishing the CRPS diagnosis and its lifelong implications through medical expert testimony, connecting the ankle fracture directly to the chronic pain syndrome and helping the jury understand why a condition that began with a fracture produced such extensive future medical needs and noneconomic loss.
The jury credited the notice evidence and the medical proof and returned its verdict on August 7, 2024, after a 14-day trial at the Spring Street Courthouse.
A public entity is responsible for a dangerous condition of public property when it had actual or constructive notice of the condition with sufficient time to correct it before an injury occurs. That is the standard the City could not overcome once the evidence showed its employees had passed the hazard for more than a year. There is a catch that injured people need to understand immediately. Claims against a city, county, or other public entity require a formal government tort claim within just six months of the incident, far shorter than the two years that generally applies to claims against private parties. This deadline does not pause for surgery, recovery, or the time it takes to find the right attorney, and missing it usually bars the claim permanently.
Following the 14-day trial in Judge Maryanne Murphy's court at the Spring Street Courthouse in Los Angeles, the jury returned its verdict on August 7, 2024. The award reflected the severity and permanence of CRPS as a diagnosis, combined with a City that had every opportunity to prevent this injury and simply did not act. A co-defendant separately settled for $500,000 before the verdict. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. The Homampour Law Firm handles dangerous condition of public property cases on a contingency fee basis, advancing the costs of the case, so injured people pay nothing unless there is a recovery.
The breakdowns below cover proving city liability and notice, valuing a lifelong CRPS diagnosis, requesting the repair and maintenance records that prove notice, and assembling the expert team a chronic pain verdict requires.
We try catastrophic injury cases against government defendants as counsel or co-counsel and pay statutory referral fees.
Refer a caseOur client fractured her ankle after stepping into a deteriorated pothole in a supermarket loading zone in Long Beach. The fracture led to Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, a severe chronic pain condition. A Los Angeles County jury found the City of Long Beach responsible because city employees had known about the hazard for more than a year without repairing it, and returned a $17,477,285.80 verdict on August 7, 2024.
City employees regularly visited the exact loading zone location where our client was injured as part of their ordinary duties, and the deteriorated pavement condition had existed for more than a year before her fall, establishing actual notice under Government Code section 835.
You generally have only six months from the date of injury to file a government tort claim against a California city or public entity, compared to the standard two-year deadline for claims against private parties. Missing this deadline usually bars the claim entirely, so injured people should contact an attorney immediately.
