Articles Posted in Defective Roadways

The Bisnar Chase Personal Injury Attorneys California personal injury lawyers have recently filed a lawsuit against the City of San Clemente, the State of California, and the County of Orange for hazardous conditions of public property.

In March of 2010 Miguel Gama Macias from Santa Ana was riding his motorcycle along the Southbound I-5 near the El Camino Real exit in San Clemente. As he began to make a legal stop on the right shoulder of the freeway, he suddenly hit a dangerously steep, unmarked curb. Miguel was thrown from his motorcycle and endured severe, permanent injuries from the collision.
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The personal injury lawyers of Bisnar Chase Personal Injury Attorneys have recently filed a lawsuit against the city of Mountain View, California for a dangerous stretch of roadway. The allegedly dangerous roadway conditions in Mountain View may have caused the accident in which Randy Richards endured severe injuries and lost of the use of his legs. The lawsuit is pending in the Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara, case #108CV131502.

On January 9, 2008, Randy Richards was working on a roadway, Diericx Drive near Franklin Avenue, in Mountain View, California, when a northbound driver lost control and veered toward him. Randy was standing behind a legally parked pickup truck as the out of control car collided with Randy and the parked vehicle, pinning him between them.
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The family of 5-year-old Sergio Flores has filed a lawsuit against the city of Temecula and Caltrans, which states that a dangerous condition on the roadway caused the fatal accident. Sergio was hit by a pickup while riding his bike. The accident occurred near Rancho Vista and Calle Rio Vista on December 22, 2007. Our source for this blog is this news report in The Press-Enterprise.

The lawsuit alleges that faulty road design led to Sergio’s accident. It also states that both the city and Caltrans knew or should have known that the lack of sidewalks on both sides of the street near a high school would pose a hazard to children who are walking or riding their bikes. The suit also states that drivers may not be able to see children walking or riding their bikes in time to avoid an accident. In addition, the plaintiffs allege that the dangerous street intersection did not have adequate lighting or speed controls.
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A jury has found that the city of San Juan Capistrano must pay $8.3 million in damages to Trenton Merrill and Scott Agostini. The two boys were seriously injured in a 2005 accident because of a dangerous condition at a city street intersection. The jury found that the dangerous condition at the intersection was a “substantial factor” in the injuries caused to the teenagers. Our source for this blog is this news report in The Orange County Register.

Merrill, who is now 18 years old, was a passenger on a dirt bike that belonged to Agostini. The boys were crossing San Juan Creek Road at Paseo Christina when they were struck by a BMW. Residents of that Hidden Valley neighborhood had complained to the city several times asking for a crosswalk or a stop sign at the intersection. City documents show that residents had been complaining for years about this dangerous Orange County intersection. But city officials decided that the intersection did not warrant a crosswalk or a stop sign.
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Residents in Los Gatos, California, are asking their city officials to fix problems on a dangerous roadway where a young boy was injured. 13-year-old Peter Goodlin was struck and injured by a car while riding his bicycle to school on Aug. 29, 2008. The driver who hit Peter said he did not see the boy because of glare. Residents say that the corner of Kennedy Road and Englewood Street in Los Gatos has remained a dangerous intersection for years. They are asking the city for a three-way stop at the intersection as well as a reduction of the speed limit on Kennedy Road. Our source for this blog is this Los Gatos Weekly-Times article.

Neighbors’ main concern about this dangerous intersection, is the speed of passing vehicles. One long-time resident says he has seen at least a dozen accidents in the time he has lived there. There are several residential streets off of Kennedy Road and schools in the neighborhood. But the news report states the city’s traffic engineers have resisted changing the speed limit on that road due to some conflicts regarding who is responsible for the roadway.

It definitely appears to me that city officials need to do something to restrict speed in this Los Gatos neighborhood. The news report does not say what the current speed limit is on Kennedy Road, but one can infer from the report that it is certainly more than 25 mph.
California Vehicle Code Section 22352 sets speed limits near a school and in residential neighborhoods at 25 mph, until otherwise specified by the governmental agency that has jurisdiction over that roadway.
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A Los Angeles teenager who lost both her legs in a freeway auto accident after her car hit a broken metal guardrail, will get $10 million from the state of California. According to a news article in the San Jose Mercury News, Priscilla Contreras was driving home in 2006 when she lost control of her car and hit the metal railing on the 10 Freeway.

Her family reportedly sued Caltrans for creating a dangerous condition on the freeway, failing to repair public property and not giving drivers and motorists enough warning about this clearly dangerous situation. Both parties reached a settlement March 6, the day the trial was set to begin. They had been embroiled in this legal battle for two years.
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Anaheim City Council members apparently settled in a hurry authorizing the payment of $700,000 to the family of a 49-year-old man who died when a large Ficus tree came crashing down, smashing his parked van. Michael Gandy, a church maintenance worker who usually took lunch breaks while parking his Ford Aerostar van under the shade of the 50-foot tree, was celebrating his 49th birthday the day he died, The Orange County Register reported.

Gandy’s family members alleged in their claim that the city allowed a dangerous condition to exist on the roadway with its faulty tree-trimming practices. It certainly seems to me like they created the dangerous roadway condition. The family alleged that the city cut the tree’s roots making the tree unstable and prone to falling during Santa Ana winds.

Gandy’s sister, Carole Gandy-Strong, told the Register that she hoped her brother’s death will draw the city’s attention to the tree hazard in the area so no more lives will be lost tragically. Hopefully, Michael Gandy’s death and his family’s resulting lawsuit will lead the municipalities and property owners in Orange County to make wiser choices regarding their tree maintenance procedures.
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A man, who was a passenger in a 1996 Mitsubishi Eclipse, reportedly died after a traffic collision near the Los Alamitos Race Track in an area, which city officials themselves have admitted is a dangerous intersection. The deceased man has been unidentified as Fernando Flores, but there is no word yet on his age or city of residence, The Orange County Register reports.

Apparently, the intersection where the accident occurred – Siboney Street and Katella Avenue – is an extremely busy and dangerous one where officials have applied for grants to make median and intersection improvements. Flores died after the car he was riding in crashed into a 2004 Chevy Tahoe driven by Ivan Gandarilla of Long Beach.

Officials are still investigating the crash and it is not known if alcohol was a factor in this crash. But Gandarilla was arrested on an outstanding warrant for driving under the influence. Flores was pronounced dead after he was transported to the Long Beach Memorial Medical Center. Gandarilla escaped with nonlife-threatening injuries. No one else in the Tahoe or the Eclipse suffered serious injuries, The Register reported.
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