At about 5:35 a.m. on June 28, 2016, plaintiffs’ decedent Rosa Salazar, 59, was driving on the northbound side of Garfield Avenue, near its intersection at Jackson Street, in Paramount. While she was proceeding through the intersection, her vehicle collided with a truck that was being driven by Asuncion Garcia, who was executing a left turn onto the eastbound side of Jackson Street, from the southbound side of Garfield Avenue. Salazar suffered a fatal injury. Salazar’s widower, Gabriel Ramirez, and children, Alex Ramirez, Efrain Ramirez, Jason Ramirez, Livier Ramirez and Nadia Ramirez, sued Garcia; Garcia’s employer, Expert Plant Care Inc.; three entities believed to have been involved in the design of the intersection’s traffic signals, the city of Paramount, the state of California and Willdan Engineering; Willdan Engineering’s director and senior vice president, William Pagett; and three Willdan Engineering affiliates, Willdan, Willdan Associates and Willdan Group Inc. The lawsuit alleged that Garcia was negligent in the operation of his vehicle, that Expert Plant Care was liable because the accident occurred during Garcia’s performance of his job’s duties, and that the remaining defendants negligently created a dangerous condition that contributed to the accident. The city of Paramount, the state of California, Willdan Engineering, Pagett, Willdan, Willdan Associates and Willdan Group were dismissed. The matter proceeded against Garcia and Expert Plant Care. Plaintiffs’ counsel contended that the accident was a result of Garcia having failed to yield the right of way. Plaintiffs’ counsel also contended that Expert Plant Care was liable because Garcia was en route to work when the accident occurred. Garcia’s time records for the day indicated that he began working at 5 a.m., some 35 minutes prior to the accident. Plaintiffs’ counsel contended that Garcia was being paid for commuting time. Expert Plant Care’s counsel claimed that Garcia was driving his personal truck, was not transporting work equipment and was not engaged in a business activity. As such, he contended that Garcia was not at work when the accident occurred. He also claimed that no one at Expert Plant Care had explicitly agreed to pay Garcia for his commute, and he contended that the company had not checked Garcia’s time records to ensure that Garcia was properly logging his hours on the job., Salazar suffered of her kidneys, her liver, and her large and small intestines. She also suffered a mesenteric vessel injury and a ventral hernia. She was retrieved by an ambulance, and she was transported to a hospital, where she developed severe sepsis and hemorrhagic shock. Salazar underwent a small bowel resection, a colon resection and other surgeries to address internal bleeding, but she could not be saved. She died after 17 days had passed. Salazar, 59, was survived by her husband, four adult children and a minor child. Her survivors sought recovery of wrongful-death damages.