$3.7 Million for Loss of Sight, Taste and Smell

A Palm Desert woman has been awarded $3.7 million by a Pomona Superior Court jury for injuries she sustained when an 18-wheel tractor-trailer ran her off the Pomona Freeway near Walnut.

The 1987 accident blinded Elaine Fleishman, 61, deprived her of her sense of taste and smell, her attorney, Amy C. Fisch, said Thursday. Fleishman, a mother of five who used to work part-time as a nanny, now attends the Braille Institute in Rancho Mirage.

“Under the circumstances, we thought the award was appropriate,” said Arthur Tiddle, the Pasadena schoolteacher who served as jury foreman. “The loss of sight, the loss of smell, the loss of taste--you just can’t buy that back with money.”

Attorneys for the driver of the big rig, Robert G. Meyer, 66, argued that he had been forced into Fleishman’s lane by a small pickup truck.

But an off-duty Los Angeles police officer who witnessed the accident testified that Meyer had moved to his right, into the pickup’s lane, striking the vehicle. Meyer then overcompensated, swerving to the left, striking Fleishman’s Cadillac, the officer said.

In its award, issued Tuesday, the jury found Meyer negligent, as well as the company that employed him, Road West Express, and the company that held the trucking permits, Roadex Inc.