Cover Story
Robert A. Buccola:
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CAL-ABOTA Trial Lawyer of the Year
he plaintiff was a 9-year old girl who suffered horrific injuries when the rear wheels of a tractor trailer backed over her. The wheels, each weighing up to 4,000 pounds, crushed her pelvis and degloved her legs, vagina and buttocks. Degloving is where the body’s tissue is literally stripped away from the bone, much like a glove being stripped away from the hand. As a result, the plaintiff, who was lucky to have survived, was grossly disfigured and would never bear children. Adding to the tragedy was the fact that the driver of the vehicle was the girl’s own father. During trial, plaintiff’s attorney, noted Sacramento personal injury lawyer Robert A. Buccola, called to the stand one of the plaintiff’s treating physicians, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon who had performed multiple operations on the young girl. “He was a real hard ass,” the trial judge, Sacramento County Superior Court Judge David W. Abbott, said of the doctor. “Most doctors don’t want to be bothered with the legal process and surgeons can be almost disinterested and detached in court. This was the kind of guy who didn’t share anything with anybody. “But somehow Bob was able to get through to this guy,” Judge Abbott said. “The first question he asked the doctor was, ‘You don’t like lawyers, do you?’ to which the doctor replied yes, that he tried to spend as little time with them as possible. But you
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Sacramento Lawyer May/June 2013
By Jack C. Laufenberg and Rosemary Roberts
Robert A. Buccola
could tell Bob had developed a rapport with this doctor so that he was not just a witness, but almost part of the team advocating for the plaintiff. The doctor had finally met a lawyer he respected and was more than willing to assist. “The surgeon not only testified about what he saw, what he did and what the outcome was,” Judge Abbot said, “but that he had a daughter of his own about the same age. About two or three times during the examination, the doctor broke down and got emotional.
Bob had found a way to impart to him the value of giving personal testimony. It was one of the most remarkable things I’ve ever seen.” At the end of trial, the jury returned a record Sacramento County plaintiff’s personal injury damage award of $24.3 million. Buccola, 56, has long been recognized as one of the best civil trial attorneys in the state, if not the country. However, last year it was made official when the California Chapter of the