Secret Settlement Ends Trial of Chiropractor’s $19-Million Suit

A man who claimed he slipped on a greasy spot of pavement at a Mission Viejo service station and sought $19 million in damages agreed to a secret out-of-court settlement Monday after a trial had begun.

Ronald Phelps claimed he was a “healthy, happy and successful” Newport Beach chiropractor until he slipped on the grease, fell and was rendered totally and permanently disabled.

His lost practice and health would have cost him between $11 million and $19 million over his lifetime, Phelps’ lawyer has alleged.

Mobil Oil Corp., which acknowledged no responsibility in the settlement, had claimed that Phelps and his wife staged the incident. They claimed he “did not receive a serious injury and is not disabled.”

Phelps’ attorney, Jay C. Horton of Santa Ana, declined to reveal the amount of the settlement.

“I have a very ill client, and his wife is very ill,” Horton said. “The thing I find frustrating about this case is that I had a client who was too ill to fight the allegation that he was a fake.”

Mobil attorneys fought hard to introduce evidence of 11 disability insurance policies providing $6 million in coverage to the chiropractor--most of which Phelps purchased within a year of the accident--according to court papers filed by Mobil in the case.

“Nothing in those allegations is true,” Horton said.

Lawyers for Mobil could not be reached for comment.

Three witnesses had testified in the trial before Orange County Superior Court Judge Donald A. McCartin before the surprise settlement.