Pastorini Nets $150,000 Award in Settlement

Brahna Pastorini, a tennis champion and softball standout at Taft High, was awarded $150,000 by the Los Angeles City Council Wednesday to settle a suit she filed after she was hit and injured in 1990 by a parks maintenance worker driving an electric cart.

Pastorini suffered a broken left leg and injuries to her right leg that required surgery and the continued use of a leg brace, according to a report by the City Attorney’s Office to the City Council.

Pastorini was in the parking lot of the Van Nuys/Sherman Oaks Recreation Center on Aug. 22, 1990, when a city maintenance worker driving an electric utility vehicle that hit her and pinned her against a parked car, according to the report.

The worker apparently was bending over to pick something off the ground while driving toward Pastorini, the report said. When he tried to slam on the brakes, he accidentally pressed the accelerator and hit Pastorini, then 14.

In the report, Deputy City Attorney Herbert R. Seinden said the injuries appear to have diminished Pastorini’s ability to play tennis.

“Had she achieved her potential, there is little doubt that she would have earned a great deal as part of her tennis career, including product endorsements,” the report said.

Pastorini is the daughter of former NFL quarterback Dan Pastorini and actress June Wilkinson. She was raised by her mother and has remarked that she wouldn’t know her father if she saw him on the street.

As a tennis player, Pastorini was the City Section singles champion in 1992. After running her varsity record to 41-0, she was defeated in the 1993 City final by freshman Kendra Segura of Dorsey, 6-7 (7-2), 6-2, 6-3.

Last spring, Pastorini played catcher for the Taft softball team and batted .354.