13 months after Jose Ramirez, 66, his wife Wendy, 51, and their son Robert, 15, were killed in a tragic Los Angeles County truck accident involving multiple tractor-trailers and other vehicles, his surviving sons are suing the California Highway Patrol, the state of California, the California Department of Transportation, four trucking company, and a number of truck drivers for their California wrongful deaths.
According to the California wrongful death lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, the Ramirez family was stopped behind a JP Hunt Transport tractor-trailer on Interstate 40 during a dust storm on November 9, 2008 when their vehicle was rear-ended by a tractor-trailer driven at a high speed by truck driver Randy Thomas Starks in a large Midway Transportation Inc. truck.
The impact of the collision caused the Ramirez's vehicle to crash into and go completely under the semi-trailer in front of it. The multi-vehicle crash also involved SUVs, pickup trucks pulling trailers, and a Porsche. The Ramirez's died from the California truck crash. A Fullerton woman died from her injuries and at least four people were taken to hospitals.
The Los Angeles County truck crash lawsuit accuses the defendants of illegal and negligent conduct. The plaintiffs say that Starks risked people's lives when he continued to drive at 50- 55mph even though visibility was drastically reduced by the dust storm. They contend that the other tractor-trailers should have driven off the roads when the dust storm happened because that would mean visibility was significantly reduced. They say that the JB Hunt truck driver did not put up emergency warnings to indicate it had stopped.
The Ramirez brothers are blaming California, the CHP, and Caltrans for failing to post proper advisory warnings about the hazardous conditions that the weather could create. They say that the area on I-40 where the truck accident occurred is known for its dust storms and strong winds.
Lake Elsinore family files lawsuit after fatal crash, The Press-Enterprise, December 18, 2009
Canyon Lake family dies in desert crash, The Friday Flyer, November 14, 2008
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