A jury in Sacramento, California, has ordered city authorities to pay $33.3 million (£25.6 million) to a former physics student who suffered a serious brain injury when a 30-foot dead tree branch fell on him while he was jogging through a city park.
Michael Flynn, then 28, was jogging along a public walking path around McKinley Park in April 2020 when the large branch broke off an unmaintained tree and struck him.After a personal injury trial in Superior Court, a jury found the City of Sacramento 100 per cent responsible for the accident. The jury concluded that city officials had failed to maintain public trees and had ignored basic safety inspection procedures.
Court filings published on October 9, 2026, and reporting by CBS Sacramento confirmed that the jury awarded Flynn $33.3 million in total damages. The money is intended to cover ongoing medical bills, rehabilitation costs, and lost future earnings.
Life-altering injuries and academic perseverance
The falling branch caused severe head injuries and long-term problems affecting Flynn's brain and nervous system. "I look back on the period immediately following the accident.
It was an extremely bleak period of my life. It was, very hard," Flynn told CBS Sacramento in an interview after the verdict. Although Flynn needed extensive medical care and neurological rehabilitation over six years, he completed his postgraduate studies and earned a doctorate in physics.
However, he said the physical and mental effects of the injury changed his career plans and daily life. "Not a day goes by, not an hour goes by, that I don't feel the consequences of that accident.
It was absolutely terrible," Flynn said in comments reported by CBS Sacramento.
Negligence findings and inspection failures
During the trial, lawyers from Dreyer Babich Buccola Wood Campora P.C., the law firm representing Flynn, presented evidence that the 30-foot tree branch had been dead for several years before the accident in 2020. According to case updates published by Dreyer Babich Buccola Wood Campora P.C., city forestry records and expert testimony showed that the danger was clearly visible.
The evidence indicated that routine tree inspections would have identified the dead branch and led to its removal.
The law firm said city authorities had failed to carry out standard maintenance along busy park paths. As a result, decaying branches were left hanging over public walkways. The city's lawyers argued during the trial that local government could not reasonably inspect every tree across all municipal parks.
However, the jury rejected this argument and found the city fully responsible for allowing a dangerous condition to remain on public property.
Demand for public safety oversight
The verdict is one of the largest personal injury awards recorded against the City of Sacramento over poor park maintenance. Speaking to CBS Sacramento after the ruling, Flynn urged residents to demand greater accountability from city officials for maintaining public infrastructure and parks. "The city has a responsibility to look after the people who live in it," Flynn told CBS Sacramento, adding that local communities should expect public spaces to be kept safe.
City officials have not publicly confirmed whether Sacramento authorities plan to appeal the $33.3 million decision or ask the court to reduce the jury's award after the trial.