SKETCHES OF COURT: Salon owner awarded no damages in car accident trial
In this courtroom sketch, Hon. Richard Velasquez listens as attorney Joanne Porcelli (standing), of the law firm Parker Waichman, conducts a direct examination of the plaintiff in the motor vehicle accident trial Peralta v Roa.
Liability was conceded the day before the summary jury trial, which proceeded on the issues of damages.
Luisa Peralta described the April 2012 multi-car accident at Avenue N and East 10th Street as a very heavy impact to her vehicle, in which the airbags deployed and her car landed on a fence. Peralta was removed from the scene by EMT personnel. She claimed injury after complaints of pain from the pressure of her seatbelt restraint in the accident, and residual radiating pain in her neck and chest and cramping in her hand. She underwent several months of physical therapy but testified to resisting out of fear her treating physicians’ recommendation for injections and eventual need for surgery.