Woman Injured in ’83 Crash Wins $1.6-Million Settlement

A Whittier woman has won a $1.6-million out-of-court settlement from two Orange County men and others for brain damage and fractures she suffered in a 1983 car accident.

The cash settlement for Delores Metzner, 65, a widow, was reached Tuesday after meetings between her attorney, James DiCesare of Santa Ana, and insurance company lawyers.

“It’s not too often you pay out that kind of money without a trial,” said J. Victor Eitel of Tustin, attorney for one of the defendants. “We did it because she had the injuries and because liability was pretty clear.”

DiCesare said his client was injured May 25, 1983, when her car was hit on the driver’s side by one driven by Robert Bruce Mahrling of Huntington Beach.

She was making a left turn at an intersection in Whittier when Mahrling went through a red light and hit her, said Eitel, who represented Mahrling.

Metzner suffered brain dysfunction, aphasia, loss of some ability to speak and fractures in her back and pelvis, DiCesare said. She can talk minimally and can walk only with the aid of leg braces.

DiCesare said the money was placed in a special account controlled by court order. A conservator to be appointed soon in Los Angeles County will probably handle the settlement for Metzner.

Mahrling, now 69, was working as a salesman for a firm owned by John O’Connor of Santa Ana when the accident occurred.

An insurance carrier for O’Connor, for a trust for his children and for one of his firms, Shamrock Supply Co. of Santa Ana, paid $1.5 million of the settlement. An insurance carrier for Mahrling paid the remainder.