A jury returned $3,000,000 in a civil injury case. The trial date reported was August 13, 2025.
LA panel grants $3 million to man over broken sidewalk in city’s latest liability payout - ABC7 Los Angeles 24/7 Live Los Angeles Orange County Inland Empire Ventura County California ABC7 On Your Side panel grants $3 million to man who tripped on LA sidewalk that's been broken for years By Kevin Ozebek Wednesday, August 13, 2025 LOS ANGELES (KABC) - A panel has granted a wedding photographer $3 million after he was injured when he tripped over a damaged sidewalk in Woodland Hills in 2019. Last week, a panel made Payman Heravi $3 million richer. While Heravi started to cry as the panel’s decision was read, they didn’t appear to be tears of joy. Payman says his left arm isn’t fully functional - all because of a severely uneven L.A. city sidewalk.
Right now, (the) pain is a lot, Heravi said. Right now, I can’t use my shoulder. In December 2019, Heravi says he was walking down Ventura Boulevard in Woodland Hills and as he checked a text on his phone, he tripped on a several-inch uplift in the sidewalk. Heravi’s attorneys successfully argued that city employees saw the sidewalk was damaged, but didn’t repair it.
That should be fixed in a reasonable manner, Heravi’s personal inpanel attorney Max Lee said. If that happened in this case, Mr.
Heravi would still be able to do what he loves and not be in constant pain every day. Three surgeries and years of physical therapy later, Heravi says he still cannot return to making a living as a wedding photographer. The panel granted Heravi a total of $3,028,026.
As for the sidewalk, it still has not been fixed. In roughly the past five years, the city of Los Angeles has paid out more than $86 million because of lawsuits relating to broken and uneven sidewalks.
