Facts

On February 13, 2017, Plaintiff Francisco Oliveros as well as his passengers, Plaintiff Cindy Oliveros, Maria Bracamontes and Perla Oliveros, were involved in a motor vehicle accident at the intersection of Acacia Ave. and Kimberly Ave. in the City of Fullerton. The intersection had stop signs on Kimberly Ave. but not on Acacia Ave. While stopped at the stop sign on east Kimberly Ave. with a clear view of oncoming traffic, Plaintiff Francisco Oliveros saw a vehicle traveling south on Acacia Ave. but thought he could beat it. As Francisco Oliveros traveled through the intersection, his vehicle collided with the southbound vehicle driven by Defendant Karla Garcia. As a result of the collision, the two rear passengers, Maria Bracamontes (the wife of Plaintiff Francisco and mother of Plaintiff Cindy) and Perla Oliveros (the daughter of Francisco and sister of Cindy) died. Francisco Oliveros was determined by police to be the sole cause of the accident for failure to yield to oncoming traffic. Plaintiffs' investigation uncovered a report to the City of Fullerton before the accident recommending a four-way stop at the intersection and design documents for the intersection containing a four-way stop which was later removed. Plaintiffs sued the City of Fullerton for dangerous condition of public property and Garcia for negligence.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS: Plaintiffs contended that the intersection was in a dangerous condition at the time of the incident because it did not have a four-way stop. Plaintiffs further contended that City was on notice of the dangers of the intersection as Plaintiffs' investigation also uncovered complaints to the City of Fullerton about the intersection and several accidents which had occurred at the intersection.

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS: Defendants contended that Plaintiff Francisco Oliveros was responsible for causing the accident by failing to yield the right-of-way in violation of Vehicle Code Section 21802. Defendant City of Fullerton further contended that it was immune for design decisions not to include a four-way stop at the intersection and the prior accidents were not substantially similar to the subject accident. Defendants further contended that Maria Bracamontes violated Vehicle Code section 27315 by failing to wear a seatbelt, and this violation was a cause of the death of her and her daughter.

Result

Plaintiffs settled with Defendants for a total of $13,530,000, with Defendant City of Fullerton paying $13.5 million and Defendants Karla and Jose Garcia paying $30,000.

Other Information

The parties participated in mediation with Robert Kaplan, Esq.