Opinion ID: 4270397
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Events Giving Rise to the Case

Text: On January 23, 2007, Bradley Choy rear-ended a vehicle driven by Bernard Jimenez while driving in heavy traffic near 2 FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST’S HAWAIʻI REPORTS AND PACIFIC REPORTER downtown Honolulu. The force of the collision pushed Jimenez’s vehicle forward, causing it to impact the rear of a third vehicle driven by Jennilind Aggasid. Samantha Medeiros testified that she was helping Aggasid transport a patient named Mary Beth Chan to a doctor’s appointment at the time of the collision.1 Aggasid operated a care home out of her residence, and Medeiros, who worked as a nursing assistant for Nursefinders,2 had been assigned to help Aggasid care for Chan. Medeiros stated that she was sitting directly behind Aggasid in the backseat when the accident took place. Medeiros related that when the impact occurred, she was turned to the right in order to speak with Chan, who was seated in the backseat on the passenger side. Following the collision, all three cars pulled into a nearby gas station. Medeiros testified that she then got out of the car and moved to the front seat to comfort Aggasid, who was badly disturbed by the event. Medeiros stated that, except for briefly examining the damage to the back of the car, she remained in the vehicle while waiting for the police to arrive and complete their accident report. 1 Aggasid gave testimony at trial generally supporting Medeiros’s version of events. 2 Nursefinders is a staffing agency that places medical aides in the homes of its clients. 3 FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST’S HAWAIʻI REPORTS AND PACIFIC REPORTER In contrast, Choy testified that the frontmost car in the collision contained two women in the front seat--one elderly and one in her teens or twenties--and a small child in the backseat.3 Choy was unable to identify Medeiros as one of the women present in the vehicle. He related that the child, whom he described as around four years old and in diapers, was visible walking back and forth on the backseat of the frontmost car after the vehicles pulled into the gas station. He further contended that the two women attempted to conceal that the child had not been properly restrained by retrieving a car seat from the vehicle’s trunk and buckling the child into it before police arrived. Medeiros and Aggasid denied that any child or car seat was present in the vehicle. The police report on the accident specifies Aggasid as the driver of the front vehicle and states that the car contained three occupants. It does not provide names or descriptions of the other passengers. At trial, the police officer who responded to the accident, Officer Kirk Brown, gave a description of the occupants of Aggasid’s vehicle. The officer testified that there were two women in the front seat, 3 Jimenez and Choy’s wife, who was present in Choy’s vehicle during the accident, gave testimony at trial generally supporting Choy’s version of events. At the time of the accident, Aggasid was 45 and Medeiros was 25. The record does not reflect Chan’s age. 4 FOR PUBLICATION IN WEST’S HAWAIʻI REPORTS AND PACIFIC REPORTER which he estimated to both be in their forties or older, and a juvenile or small adult in the backseat. He stated that one of the women may have been five or ten years younger than the other, but acknowledged his assessment of the occupants’ age may not have been accurate, noting that he was “not an expert at that.” Officer Brown also testified that he did not observe a car seat or a child in diapers in any of the vehicles. Medeiros testified that she began to experience pain in her lower back after the impact. The pain worsened over time, eventually leading to months of physical therapy and two surgeries. Medeiros was unable to work from January 24, 2007, to August 22, 2010. Because her injuries were determined to have arisen out of the course and scope of her employment, Medeiros was deemed eligible for worker’s compensation. Upon reviewing her injuries, an independent examiner rated Medeiros at 25% impairment of the whole person. As a result, Medeiros received $153,949.75 in medical bill reimbursements and $105,356.62 in temporary and permanent disability benefits.