Randall Scarlett, Scarlett Law Group
Image: Jason Doiy/The Recorder
Like many plaintiff attorneys accustomed to big verdicts, Randall Scarlett tries to downplay the numbers. But the $49 million jury verdict he obtained in September for a college student's severe brain injury was eye catching nonetheless.
Santa Clara County jurors made the award in the case of Drew Bianchi, who was riding in the backseat of a car on State Route 152 — the Pacheco Pass — in May 2007 when two trucks collided an d Bianchi's vehicle was struck.
"The challenge in the case really was enabling the jury to understand the terrible price that's associated with traumatic brain injury," Scarlett said. "A San Jose jury sat and listened and understood that the costs associated with traumatic brain injury are so tragically high these days, that it was going to take a lot of money to take care of him for the rest of his life."
Before the trial began, Scarlett had also reached a settlement with the state for $10 million and with one of the truckers' employers for $2 million. While the jury deliberated, Bianchi's trial team reached a high-low agreement with one insurer, AIG, for a $30 million payment if he won the case.
"I'm very proud about that because it means the funds are available now for the treatment," Scarlett said.
Scarlett pressed upon jurors the valuable role that therapy and rehabilitation could play in Bianchi's life, Scarlett said. For example, since the verdict Bianchi's parents have weaned him off of a gastronomy tube and onto oral feeding, he said.
Scarlett, 52, worked early in his career with legendary trial attorney Melvin Belli. then in the 1990s with a group that splintered from Belli's firm. He struck out on his own about 10 years ago, formering the Scarlett Law Group.
Scarlett trained his professional and personal interests on traumatic brain injuries after a 1995 case in Alameda County Superior Court, in which an infant's brain was damaged when her meningitis went undiagnosed. A jury returned a $26 million verdict in that case.
The experience of working with neurosurgeons and infectious disease specialists piqued Scarlett's interest and led him to build his specialized practice.
"I think in the Bay Area there is no firm that handles these cases with the frequency that we do and with the ability to understand the tragic impact of brain injury," he said.
Scarlett recently testified before the state Senate Health Committee on traumatic brain injury and the potential for setting up a screening process to diagnose and treat brain-injured soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Scarlett also serves on the board of the California Brain Injury Association, which promotes awareness of traumatic brain injury.
"In one's life you can do no more than to help change the quality of another person's life," Scarlett said. "That's the pleasure that I get out of the law."
