Facts

On October 23, 2018, David Andrade died at the age of 26 after he collided his Suzuki GSX-R750 motorcycle with Luis A. Tapia's 2006 Chevrolet Silverado at the corner of Bradley Avenue and Bledsoe St. in Sylmar, California, as Tapia was backing out of his driveway. Hortencia Andrade is the mother of David Andrade, while Salvador Andrade is the father of David. On March 28, 2019, Hortencia and Salvador filed a lawsuit in the Los Angeles County Superior Court, alleging vehicular negligence and wrongful death against Norman S. Wright Climatec Mechanical Equipment of Southern California, LLC and Luis A. Tapia.

PLAINTIFFS' CONTENTIONS: Plaintiffs maintained that Andrade had the right of way and that Tapia negligently cut him off. In particular, plaintiffs contended that Tapia was negligent since he had 20 seconds of visibility to move out of the way of Andrade's motorcycle and that his negligence was the proximate cause of Andrade's death. Plaintiff also conceded that it may be negligent to be driving with meth in your system but that conduct was not a substantial factor in causing the incident.

DEFENDANTS' CONTENTIONS: Defendants contended that Andrade bore responsibility for the accident since he was speeding at the time of the accident and was under the influence of methanmphetamines. Further, Tapia maintained that he did not have time to react to the oncoming motorcycle and did not act recklessly under the circumstances because he backed out of the driveway slowly and carefully. Defendant produced two eyewitnesses at trial who testified that decedent was speeding at 70-80 mph on a 35 mph road at the time of impact. Defendants contended that Andrade bore sole
responsibility for the accident since he was speeding at the time of the accident and was under the influence of methamphetamines

Damages

Plaintiffs sought damages for loss of decedent's love, comfort, companionship, society, affection, solace, and moral support.

Result

A jury awarded the family of motorcyclist David Andrade $36.25 million. The jury also found that Andrade was negligent but that he was not a substantial factor in causing his death.