Case details
Crash still fatal, even if barrier stopped truck: defense
SUMMARY
$0
Amount
Verdict-Defendant
Result type
Not present
Ruling
KEYWORDS
burns, death, loss of society
FACTS
On June 26, 2008, at around 9 a.m., plaintiffs’ decedent Victor Manuel Mercado, Sr., 49, a truck driver for Waste Management, was operating a tractor-trailer in the southbound number three lane, of four lanes, on Interstate 880 in San Leandro. At the same time, a vehicle operated by Hiram Torres, who was traveling at freeway speeds in the number one lane, lost control due to a deflating tire. Torres’ vehicle subsequently crossed from the number one lane to the number three lane, where Mercado’s tractor-trailer was struck. Mercado then lost control of his tractor-trailer, causing it to turn left and cross all lanes. Mercado’s tractor-trailer then struck the median barrier, drove through it while his truck was jackknifing across the roadway, and slid down an incline. Several vehicles that were traveling in the northbound lanes subsequently ran into Mercado’s cab, causing it to catch fire. Mercado ultimately burned to death at the scene. The decedent’s wife, Lourdes Mercado, and their four adult children, Awilda Calderon, Lourdes M. Mercado, Mayra Delgado and Victor Emanuel Mercado, sued Torres; the manufacturer of the tire that deflated on Torres’ vehicle, Michelin North America Inc.; the seller of the tire that deflated on Torres’ vehicle, Costco Wholesale Corp.; and the maintainers of the roadway and barrier, the state of California and the State of California, Department of Transportation. The decedent’s family alleged that Torres was negligent in the operation of his vehicle. They also alleged that Michelin defectively manufactured the tire and that Costco negligently sold the defective tire. In addition, they alleged that the state and the Department of Transportation created dangerous condition of public property, in violation of Government Code § 835, by installing a faulty median barrier. It was ultimately determined that the Michelin tire that went flat and started the chain of events that led to the decedent’s fatal accident was not defective. Thus, Michelin and Costco were both dismissed from the case. In addition, Torres tendered his insurance policy limits and was also dismissed from the case. The matter then continued against the state and Department of Transportation only. Plaintiffs’ counsel contended the subject median barrier was modified in 2001, when new pavement was put in, by placing an extension on top of the existing barrier. Counsel noted that when the new pavement was put it, the height of the barrier decreased, so it was capped with cement. Thus, plaintiffs’ counsel contended that capping the barrier compromised its strength and made it weaker. Counsel further contended that in 2001, when the overlay or paving job was done, the barrier should have been replaced with a barrier that would have prevented the decedent’s tractor-trailer from penetrating it. The state’s counsel argued that the barrier in place at the time of the accident met design standards and was appropriate for the location. Counsel also argued that, in the 10 years of accident history prior to the subject accident, more than 99 percent of drivers of the general public were able to drive through the area without incident. Accordingly, counsel contended that the accident location did not meet the definition of a dangerous condition of public property, which is a condition of property that creates a substantial risk of injury when the property is used with reasonable care in a manner in which it is reasonably foreseeable that it will be used. The state’s counsel further argued that whether or not the barrier was capped, the tractor-trailer would have gone through it and that even if there had been a barrier to stop the it, the forces of the accident would have probably caused the trailer to crush the cab., Mercado was inside the cab of the tractor-trailer when it caught fire, causing him to sustain burn . He ultimately died at the scene. The decedent was survived by his wife four adult children. The decedent’s family sought recovery of wrongful death damages.
COURT
Superior Court of Alameda County, Oakland, CA
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INJURIES:
- anxiety
- brain
- brain damage
- brain injury
- cognition
- depression
- epidural
- extradural hematoma
- face
- facial bone
- fracture
- head
- headaches
- hearing
- impairment
- insomnia
- loss of
- mental
- nose
- psychological
- scapula
- sensory
- shoulder
- skull
- speech
- subdural hematoma
- tinnitus
- traumatic brain injury
- vision
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