Dallas Fort Worth Injury Lawyer Blog
The mother of a 17-year-old girl killed in a hit-and-run accident in Escondido, California is suing the woman accused of the teenager’s death for $25 million.
The wrongful-death lawsuit, filed in Vista Superior Court, alleges that Tiffany St. Ives, 54, may have been under the influence of drugs or alcohol when she struck Marlene Resendiz with her car while the girl was crossing a street on Nov. 24, 2007.
The civil suit is being filed on behalf of Teresa Cuevas, the victim’s mother.
St. Ives, who has run an animal-rescue farm called The Purple Cow for nearly two decades, was arrested in February after an informant told police that St. Ives had him go to great lengths to cover up the accident.
St. Ives is charged with fleeing the scene of a fatal accident and faces a maximum sentence of four years in prison if convicted. A trial has been scheduled for June 15.
The informant told police that St. Ives directed him to repair damage to the front of her black Nissan sedan using only parts bought from a junkyard, then wash the car with bleach and paint it gold.
At St. Ives’ arraignment in February, Deputy District Attorney Roy Lai said the victim was crossing the street shortly after 5 p.m. and that another car had stopped to let her pass when St. Ives came “barreling” by. The force of the impact threw the teenager onto the hood of Ives’ sedan, which carried her for 400 yards before she fell off, Lai said. The driver of the sedan kept going.
In the lawsuit, attorney Daniel Gilleon alleges that St. Ives had consumed alcohol or other intoxicants before the crash.
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 Wrongful Death Attorney Dr. Shezad Malik. For a no obligation, free case analysis, please call 214-390-3189 or Contact Me Online.