ClickCease Vehicular Negligence | Walkup, Melodia, Kelly & Schoenberger

Vehicular Negligence

In Disabled Citizen v. City and County of San Francisco (S.F. Sup. Ct.), Matthew D. Davis and Douglas S. Saeltzer obtained a $2,875,000 settlement on behalf of the surviving parents of a 37-year-old unmarried woman who was killed while crossing Market Street within a marked crosswalk. Due to a condition called osteogenesis imperfecta the decedent used a motorized wheelchair. Despite her medical condition, she was successful in her career and lived independently. At the time of her death she was commuting from her home in the East Bay to her job in San Francisco. A left turning vehicle being driven by an employee of the City and County of San Francisco struck her as she legally crossed at 7th and Market Streets. With only limited exception, left turns from 7th Street onto Market Street are prohibited. Doug and Matt alleged that the defendant did not fall into any of the exceptions to this rule. Defendant claimed that based on plaintiff’s statements at the scene she entered with only three seconds remaining on the pedestrian flashing red hand countdown, and the City’s driver actually entered the intersection prior to the decedent. The victim and her family fled Vietnam when she was an infant. The family was extremely close and the deceased spoke to her parents every day.