A woman who alleges she suffered “foreign accent syndrome” after she was struck by a Hilton hotel shuttle bus in 2014 near Los Angeles International Airport can’t back out of the $85,000 settlement she accepted, according to the California Second District Court of Appeal.
Laura Fettig alleges her attorney, Jared Gross, pressured her during a trial in February 2020 in Los Angeles County Superior Court to accept the agreement from Hilton Garden Inn.
Several months later, a new set of lawyers filed a court motion to set aside the settlement, asserting Gross failed to prepare the case for trial. The motion claimed the Lawndale woman was berated into taking a “low-ball settlement that did not reasonably compensate her for the major injuries and damages she sustained.”
“The motion accused Gross of subjecting Fettig to duress to accept the settlement,” the court said in its ruling. Specifically, “Mr. Gross point-blank threatened me at the counsel table by saying ‘the defense will take your house for costs and I will not remain on the case any further,’ ” Fettig said, according to the court.
Nevertheless, the Court of Appeal earlier this month affirmed the trial court’s denial of Fettig’s motion, agreeing she had willingly accepted the settlement.
“When she had agreed to the settlement in open court, Fettig had been neither physically nor mentally incapacitated,” the appellate court said. “The (trial) court found Fettig’s trial theory was enough to get to the jury but was wafer-thin. Fettig’s case had serious problems with respect to liability, causation, and damages. Even if Gross had subpoenaed additional witnesses, it is far from clear that Fettig would have achieved a better result than an $85,000 recovery had the case been tried to verdict.”
Jeff Harmeyer, who represents Hilton, declined to comment on the settlement Wednesday. Gross could not be immediately reached for comment.
Fettig alleges she was walking east on 98th Street in Westchester when she was struck by the right rear of the bus traveling south on Airport Boulevard near LAX, according to court documents. Hilton officials maintain that the bus never hit Fettig. She was merely angry the driver cut her off and faked her injuries, they allege.
Fettig claimed the incident caused her to suffer a rare neurological disorder in which a patient suddenly begins speaking with a foreign accent.
“Fettig said she had been born and raised in the U.S., but she spoke to the jury in some sort of European accent,” the court said. “When the jury was not there, Fettig’s accent changed.”
Only about 100 people have been diagnosed with “foreign accent syndrome” since it was first diagnosed in 1907.
The Court of Appeal found that Fettig’s case was plagued by other “weaknesses.”
“The transcript (of the jury trial) reveals her account of the accident was unclear,” the court said. Fettig had little lost income; she was on disability at the time. She offered no medical bills. Laura Fettig is trying to escape a settlement she put on the record. Fettig settled with defendants, who were unaware of the alleged duress.
“Fettig’s accusation against her lawyer does not enable her to rescind a contract with others innocent of the charge.”