A wrongful death lawsuit was recently filed against a truck driver who hit and killed a 47-year-old bicyclist from Los Altos Hills last month. The lawsuit, filed in San Mateo County Superior Court, follows a report released by the California Highway Patrol which says the trucker was not at-fault. The lawsuit alleges the trucker’s company, Randazzo Enterprises, is at-fault as a result of driver negligence.
Another lawsuit was settled earlier this year when Randazzo paid $1.5 million for the death of Santa Cruz bicyclist who crashed into a truck in 2007. According to news reports, the same truck driver who hit the woman last month has also been involved with three other fatal accidents this year, but he was not found at-fault for any of them.
The California Highway Patrol says the most recent accident occurred when the bicyclist “unsafely turned” as she road to the immediate left of the truck in the same lane. Although the CHP says the collision occurred due to the bicyclist’s unsafe turn, an agency spokesman said there were no witnesses.
The bicyclist’s family says in their lawsuit, “Suddenly and without warning, defendant Gabriel Manzur Vera … negligently drove the aforementioned tractor and trailer rig directly into the path of Lauren Ward’s bicycle thereby violating Lauren Ward’s right-of-way, causing Lauren Ward’s death at approximately 3:45 p.m.” They say experts disagree with the CHP’s conclusion.
As a Los Angeles personal injury lawyer, I look forward to seeing the results of this lawsuit.
