Facts

Ying Zhang and Chen Li sued the City and County of San Francisco and Gina Eunice, in connection with an incident that allegedly occurred on or about Dec. 20, 2012, that resulted in death.

PLAINTIFFS' CONTENTIONS:
Plaintiffs, along with Kai Yuan and her mother Yuee Yao visited the Christmas Tree Point at Twin Peaks and, as they were walking along the K-rail to return to their car, a vehicle being operated by defendant Eunice plowed through them, killing Yuee Yao. Plaintiffs sustained serious injuries as a result, and sued the city and Eunice, alleging negligence, dangerous condition of public property, and negligence per se.

The dangerous condition of property claim against the city was based on there not being any type of physical separation between vehicular traffic and pedestrians on Twin Peaks Boulevard in the area of a popular tourist attraction. The city knew about this problem for almost thirty years but did nothing to fix it.

DEFENDANTS' CONTENTIONS:
The city denied the allegations and asserted various affirmative defenses.

The case settled after four days of in limine motions.

Defendant Eunice also denied the allegations and asserted various affirmative defenses. Additionally, she also filed a cross-complaint against the city, alleging indemnification, apportionment of fault, and declaratory relief.

Result

The City and County of San Francisco and the Municipal Transportation Agency settled the dispute with plaintiffs in the amount of $175,000 each.

Other Information

According to defense, a traffic engineer and a perception expert were ready to testify about the reduced perception Eunice would face, given the design of the road and surrounding area. Euncie offered her policy limits of $25,000, which was part of the over-all settlement. FILING DATE: Jan. 21, 2014.