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A California teacher who suffered a traumatic brain injury after tripping on an uneven sidewalk has been granted a jaw-dropping $7.5 million settlement from the city. In 2018, special education teacher Justine Gurrola was strolling through the 5900 block of El Rancho Drive in Whittier when her foot snagged on a raised section of sidewalk, launching her face-first onto the concrete. The sudden accident caused fractures to her wrist, elbow, and nasal bones, abrasions to her knee and a deep cut to her lip from a broken tooth, according to court records obtained by The Mercury News. Brain scans also revealed bleeding beneath her left front scalp. Doctors later confirmed that the fall had tragically left her with a mild traumatic brain injury. According to her attorneys, the City of Whittier turned a blind eye to years of warnings about sidewalks buckling under tree roots and waited until disaster struck before finally putting any inspection system in place. Last week, a Los Angeles County jury found the city at fault for Gurrola’s injuries, concluding that its negligence in maintaining public sidewalks caused the accident. The ruling handed the teacher a payout of more than $7 million - compensation for years of pain, mounting medical bills and the life-changing impact of her injuries. 'The City of Whittier failed in its most basic duty to keep its residents safe and cared more about its trees than people,' Nick Rowley, co-founder of Trial Lawyers for Justice and one of Gurrola's attorneys said, according to the outlet. 'Public safety isn’t just police and firefighters,' he added. 'It’s ensuring public right-of-ways are maintained to prevent injury or worse.' 'Waiting until people are seriously hurt or killed before fixing long-standing dangerous conditions is wrong.' On February 25, 2018, Gurrola was out for a walk with her nephew when her foot became caught on a raised piece of sidewalk, according to the court document. Though she tried to break her fall with her arm, she still face-planted onto the cement, leaving her bloodied and bruised on the quiet suburban street. One haunting image captured the aftermath of the fall: Gurrola’s left eye nearly swollen shut, blood and deep scratches on her forehead and nose and her upper lip grotesquely swollen from the force of the impact. Gurrola has been to numerous doctors in the seven years since, with her attorney noting that the traumatic brain injury has left her struggling with memory, emotional control and basic decision-making. Rowley added that while she has returned to work, she can no longer serve as a classroom teacher. Instead, she has been forced to navigate the challenges of an administrative position. 'Seven years have been a long road to recovery, physically and emotionally,' Rowley said, according to The Mercury News. 'She has recently finished her second knee surgery and is looking forward to affording all of the physical and cognitive therapies she will require to get her life back in order,' he added. Over the course of the five-week trial, Gurrola's lawyers contended that the dangerous sidewalk was directly to blame and pointed out a section that had been lifted more than two inches by stubborn tree roots. Her attorneys argued that the city only installed an inspection system two years after the fall - not in response to years of warnings, but because the insurance company demanded it to renew Whittier's insurance coverage. The city itself previously conceded that certain trees in Uptown Whittier needed to be removed for a revamp with public safety listed as a key concern, according to The Mercury News. Rowley told the court that while the tree responsible for Gurrola’s fall is still in place, the sidewalk has since been patched and leveled to ensure a safer walking surface. He added that during trial, Yolanda Martinez, the city’s director of human resources and risk management, seemed to confirm Gurrola’s attorneys’ assertion that warnings about the hazardous sidewalk extended far beyond just the teacher. In her testimony, Martinez revealed that disputes over 'tree roots causing sidewalk damage' are the city’s most frequent type of claim, according to the outlet. On October 17, Gurrola’s lawyers confirmed she had been awarded $7.5 million on October 14. However, Rowley claimed that the payout could have been even higher if Gurrola hadn’t needed assistance and had instead allowed the case to play out longer. 'Justine was content with the city stepping up and acting responsibly and paying $ 7.5 million,' Rowley said, according to The Mercury News. 'This was never about the money for her,' he added. 'It was about making sure that this didn't happen to anybody else and not allowing what happened to her to be swept under the rug.' The City of Whittier did not immediately respond to Daily Mail for comment.
