Poppink v. Estate of Assin CA2/8

Filed 6/6/25 Poppink v. Estate of Assin CA2/8 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS

California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION EIGHT

JOANNA POPPINK, B330692

Plaintiff and Appellant, Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. BC709341 v.

ESTATE OF SALLY ASSIN, et al.,

Defendants and Respondents.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Michael B. Harwin, Judge. Affirmed. The Novak Law Firm and Sean M. Novak for Plaintiff and Appellant. Horvitz & Levy, Robert H. Wright, John B. Sprangers; Cullins & Grandy, Allison L. Grandy and Michael J. Lowell for Defendants and Respondents.

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Causation is a quintessential jury question. Joanna Poppink appeals the trial court’s refusal to take this question away from the jury through its denial of her motion for directed verdict on this issue, its giving of CACI instruction No. 430, and its denial of a motion for a new trial. We affirm. I On June 15, 2016, Poppink was driving her Prius on Overland Avenue in Los Angeles on her way home from Trader Joe’s. Sally Assin was the passenger in a Toyota Avalon in the lane to the left of Poppink. Pancho Balaba, Assin’s driver, tried to merge into Poppink’s lane and sideswiped her car, hitting the area near the front wheel well and bumper of the driver’s side of Poppink’s car. Poppink was going about two to three miles per hour. At trial, Poppink, for the first time, testified there were two impacts. After the first impact, Poppink tried to open her door but could not, so she rolled down her window to tell Balaba to back up. He instead went forward again, hitting her car a second time, before backing up. Poppink then got out of her car and exchanged information with Balaba and Assin. Poppink then returned to her car and drove home. Poppink testified she was in shock when she got home and spent the next two weeks convalescing and icing the parts of her body that hurt. Poppink is a psychotherapist and conceded she continued working for the next two weeks. About nine days after the accident she attended a graduation at the University of California at Los Angeles. Five days later, she went to her chiropractor. She told him she had injured the right side of her neck, her right shoulder, her right thigh, her right knee, the right and middle of her back, and her left arm in the accident.