Deborah S. Chang

Chang had a simple, grim phrase to describe the lethal thoroughfare in wealthy Beverly Hills where three truck accidents over 63 days in 2014 left two Los Angeles police officers dead, a truck driver with a traumatic brain injury and another in a persistent vegetative coma. Loma Vista Drive in the upscale Trousdale Estates neighborhood, Chang insisted to Beverly Hills officials as she led a trial team that uncovered the city’s failure over decades to fix the street’s dangerous condition, was “paved in gold, covered in blood.”

The city denied liability, blaming the accidents on the truck drivers’ negligence. Chang overcame three separate defense summary judgment motions and more than 70 motions in limine. The case involved more than 70 depositions and 700 gigabytes of documents produced and reviewed. On Jan. 30, just before the Feb. 1 trial date, the city settled for $32.5 million, not including a confidential settlement reached with one of the truck companies. Allen v. City of Beverly Hills, BC553839 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed Aug. 5, 2014).

The plaintiff team discovered what Chang said the city had known for more than 50 years: The roadway was too steep for too long — a 13 percent grade for three-quarters of a mile — with a sharp curve at the bottom. The design violated engineering standards. “The city design engineer in the 1980s produced an extensive analysis that concluded the street was unsafe,” Chang said. “He made specific redesign recommendations and the plan went through the city’s budget process and disappeared.”

Gravity caused cement trucks weighing more than 60,000 pounds to accelerate even in the lowest gears, requiring drivers to apply their brakes repeatedly until they overheated and faded. Runaway trucks could not make the last curve, resulting in catastrophic injuries and death.

“We had the engineer’s 1980s memo and the fact that it was never acted on,” Chang said. “The city agreed to a series of mediations. [Co-counsel] Brian Panish conducted those while I was preparing for trial.”

Chang said she was surprised by the settlement. “You fall in love with your case,” she said. “You invest so much time. I’d been dreaming about the case. I’d wake up in the middle of the night arguing to the jury. You get so involved that a settlement is somewhat of a disappointment, but you are doing it for the good of your clients. A case like this is nothing to gamble with.”

— John Roemer