Articles Posted in Wrongful Death

A 20-year-old Huntington Beach college student accused of being under the influence of drugs and texting when he struck and killed 14-year-old Danny Oates has plead not guilty. Jeffrey Woods has been charged with vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and driving under the influence, according to a news article in The Orange County Register.

Woods was reportedly texting and negotiating a drug deal Aug. 29, when he crashed his pickup truck into Danny at the intersection of Indianapolis and Everglades Lane, an intersection considered to be unsafe by many long-time residents in the neighborhood. Danny was on his bicycle riding to his school. Our firm is representing Danny’s parents in a civil case against those responsible for Danny’s death.

On July 1, a new California law will go into effect banning hand-held cell phone use for adults and banning all cell-phone and texting for teen drivers. However, this new law does not prohibit adults from texting. There is no question that texting should have been part of the ban and Woods’ negligent behavior shows us why texting should have been included in the text of the new law.
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A 22-year-old caterer died after she was hit by a delivery van when she was preparing food for a large party in Redondo Beach. According to an article in the Daily Breeze, the woman was working in the loading dock of a power plant when a woman delivering speakers to the party, backed up the van and hit her, the newspaper reported.

Officials told the Breeze that the driver, a 62-year-old Ojai woman hit the gas pedal instead of the brake. The victim, who has not yet been identified, suffered severe internal and head injuries. She was pronounced dead in an area hospital.

There is no doubt that the van driver and her employer are responsible for the accident and injuries caused because this woman was clearly on the job at the time of the incident; making a delivery at the party. When a company’s employee causes an accident or injury, it is most likely that the employer will be legally held responsible for the actions of the employee who was “going about the employer’s business” at the time.
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When I read this, the first thing that came to my mind was this could absolutely happen on any California’s freeway, with the amount of new construction we have going on here all the time. The news is that settlement talks are about to begin in Boston between the family of a motorist killed about a year ago by failing panels in the Big Dig, Boston’s central artery and tunnel project, and attorneys for the companies that designed and built the project. The sticker price for the construction project was$14.7 billion, the costliest project in the history of this country.

According to an article in the Boston Globe a wrongful death lawsuit was brought by the family of Milena Del Valle, a 39-year-old woman who was killed July 10, 2006, when several concrete ceiling panels fell from the Interstate 90 connector tunnel as she and her husband drove toward Boston’s Logan Airport. The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages, names the Turnpike Authority and companies connected with the design and construction of the project.

Inspectors who checked out the tunnel after the accident believe that the bolts that were holding the ceiling panels in place came loose because of failures in the epoxy resin that is meant to glue them in place, the article said. After the accident, repairs were made throughout that tunnel system and concrete panels were supported with more bolts and brackets. Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley has said she will decide by the end of this month if her office will pursue criminal charges against the companies named in the wrongful death lawsuit.
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The family of a 45-year-old man to plunged to his death from the Santa Margarita Parkway Bridge while working on it, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city, county and state, according to an article in The Orange County Register. Gregory Wolters of Mission Viejo died when he was attempting to cross the bridge. Officials believe he may have thought there was a solid median between the roads and dropped 100 feet down, the article said.

Wolters worked for Econolite Traffic Engineering and Maintenance Inc., a company contracted by the city to work on traffic control equipment. He is survived by his wife, Kellie, and two daughters, ages 13 and 14. The family alleges in the lawsuit that the bridge was “designed negligently” with poor lighting and weak railings and that it does not conform to highway safety standards. The plaintiffs’ attorney also told the Register that there were no cautionary signs posted on the bridge or additional lighting. The report states that this was the second accidental death on that bridge since 2005.
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Singer and actress, Brandy Norwood, has been slapped with a third wrongful-death lawsuit stemming from a Dec. 30 freeway crash on the 405 Freeway in Los Angeles that resulted in the death of 38-year-old wife and mother and caused major injuries to several other motorists, according to a news report on E Online.

Awatef Aboudihaj died after the actress rear-ended the woman onto oncoming traffic. Two lawsuits have been filed against Brandy so far – the first one by the victim’s parents and the second, by the victim’s parents on behalf of her two children who were also present in the vehicle during the accident. According to court documents, the children have suffered “permanent damage” as a result of the crash.

Now, Aboudihaj’s husband is getting in on the legal action, filing suit last week in Los Angeles Superior Court against the actress and other motorists involved in the accident.
The lawsuit specifically names the entertainer and Mallory Ham, the 50-year-old who broadsided Aboudihaj’s car while attempting to dodge another vehicle that had careened into her lane. The plaintiff, Maroune Hdidou, says up to 25 unidentified other drivers may have been involved, according to the E Online report.
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