Dallas Fort Worth Injury Lawyer Blog
Palo Alto has agreed to pay nearly $1.5 million to the victim of a 2006 vehicle crash involving a city worker who was using his cell phone while driving.
Silvio Obregon had asked the city for more than $5 million after the rear-end crash on Oregon Expressway left him with debilitating spinal injuries, according to court documents. He alleged that city worker Rubin Salas ran into him at a red light because he was reaching for his cell phone rather than watching the road.
The city is self-insured for the first $1 million in such cases, the remaining money, approximately $450,000, will come out of a pool Palo Alto shares with other self-insured cities.
The city also recently reached a tentative settlement for a much smaller amount in a lawsuit over a fatal 2007 accident on the Caltrain tracks.
Maria Nieblas of Sunnyvale was killed at age 21 when her Toyota Camry was hit on the tracks at the Meadow Drive crossing. Witnesses at the time said the car remained stopped on the tracks as the crossing bars came down and the train barreled through.
Her family sued Caltrain, Amtrak and the city, arguing the crossing wasn’t well-marked. The city disagreed, but reached a deal via mediation in December to pay $1,500 to avoid a longer legal battle, Caltrain and Amtrak will pay $50,000 each.
If you or a family member has been injured because of the fault of someone else; by negligence, personal injury, slip and fall, car accident, medical malpractice, trucking accident, drunk driving, dangerous and defective drugs, bad product, toxic injury etc then please contact the Fort Worth Texas Car Accident Attorney Dr. Shezad Malik. For a no obligation, free case analysis, please call 214-390-3189 or Contact Me Online.