Facts

Decedent Wang Yuen Tam, 88, was crossing a six-lane road when he was fatally struck defendant Lynda Swart's car. The decedent's eight children filed suit for negligent operation of a motor vehicle to recover for wrongful death damages.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS:
The plaintiffs claimed that defendant did not have the right of way because the cars in the two left lanes were stopped at the crosswalk, waiting for decedent to finish crossing. The plaintiffs also asserted decedent had a life expectancy of 4.7 years.

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS:
The defendant claimed that decedent should not have been crossing the street because the pedestrian crossing signal was red at the time, and he failed to look for oncoming traffic before stepping into defendant's traffic lane. The defendant claimed the decedent only had a life expectancy of 3.3 years.

Damages

The plaintiffs sought $400,000 in damages.

Injuries

Death.

Result

The parties settled for $260,000.

Other Information

The defendant paid $10,000 in addition to the $250,000 from her insurance policy.