At approximately 8:10 p.m. on April 21, 2010, plaintiffs’ decedent Jovanna Lugo, 27, a homemaker, was leaving her home on Glenoaks Boulevard in Sylmar. After she backed out of her driveway onto the street, she was broadsided by a Los Angeles Police Department cruiser traveling at a speed in excess of 70 mph. The impact pushed Lugo’s car across the boulevard and into a brick column and wrought iron fence. She subsequently sustained fatal from the accident. The decedent’s husband, Julio Jimenez, acting individually, as the guardian ad litem to his wife’s son, Leonardo Jimenez, and as administrator of Lugo’s estate, sued the driver of the cruiser, Officer Richard Brubaker; his accompanying partner, Victor Hooper; and their employer, the city of Los Angeles. He alleged that Brubaker was negligent in the operation of the police vehicle, that both Brubaker and Hooper violated police safety policy, and that the city was vicariously liable for the officers’ actions. Thus, he claimed that the defendants were liable for his wife’s wrongful death. Plaintiffs’ counsel contended that Brubaker negligently caused the collision by excessively speeding on a residential street without his headlights, emergency flashing lights or sirens on, while driving on and across double yellow lines. Counsel asserted that Brubaker and Hooper violated the internal LAPD safety policy, known as “Code 3,” since they were not responding to an emergency call, but were violating numerous basic traffic safety laws. Plaintiffs’ counsel presented sworn statements from eyewitnesses of the accident who claimed that the LAPD cruiser was driving with no headlights or tail lights on. Furthermore, photographs taken by the investigating officers on the accident scene confirmed that the cruiser’s light dial was in the “off” position. Other LAPD officers confirmed that the photos were taken to confirm the positions of all the dials and internal equipment pre-impact. Defense counsel asserted that the decedent was making an illegal and unsafe U-Turn at the time of the crash, and that her negligence was the sole cause of the accident that resulted in her death. The officers claimed that they were driving safely for the condition of the road and, therefore, were not in violation of the California Basic Speed Law. They further claimed that the cruiser’s headlights were on at the time of the collision., Lugo sustained multiple traumatic when her car was struck and subsequently crashed into a brick column and wrought iron fence. The accident caused her to be trapped in her vehicle as she ultimately died from her . She was 27. Lugo left behind a husband and a minor son. Julio Jimenez claimed that he ran out of his house upon hearing the crash and witnessed his wife laying motionless in the car. Thus, he brought a claim for negligent infliction of emotional distress. Lugo’s family also sought recovery of $1.4 million in economic damages for the loss of the decedent’s earnings and household services, as well as non-economic wrongful death damages.