$24 Million Settlement for Woman Paralyzed in I-680 Crash Triggered by Good Samaritan Pursuit
Won by Rouda Feder Tietjen & McGuinn.
A 27-year-old Bay Area woman suffered permanent paralysis after an Acura dealership employee, acting as a self-appointed Good Samaritan, forced her vehicle off I-680 and into a catastrophic rollover; the case settled for $24 million, the largest personal-injury settlement in Northern California for 2016.
What happened
On the afternoon of May 5, 2013, Rebecca Forkey was driving northbound on Interstate 680 through Walnut Creek when another vehicle swerved without warning into her lane. She lost control of her 2002 Jeep Liberty, which traveled up a freeway embankment and rolled multiple times before coming to rest upside down on the pavement.
The driver who forced her off the road was Larry Day, an employee of Acura of Concord, a dealership operated by Hendrick Automotive Group. Day had spotted a woman named Kathleen Harding driving erratically in a Toyota Highlander and called 911 to report her. During the call, a 911 operator told him to keep his distance. Day ignored the instruction, positioned his vehicle between Harding's Highlander and the surrounding traffic, and continued following her for several more minutes. When Harding swerved into his lane, Day corrected right, directly into Forkey's path.
Forkey was 27 years old and worked as a medical esthetician. The crash left her with a permanent spinal cord injury. She cannot walk, uses a wheelchair, and depends on family members and a full-time caregiver for the activities she once handled independently.
Partner Timothy Tietjen of Rouda, Feder, Tietjen and McGuinn filed suit against Day, Harding, Hendrick Automotive Group, Auto Legend LLC (operator of Acura of Fremont), and Chrysler Group LLC as the manufacturer of the Jeep. The central liability argument was that Day's decision to shadow Harding, after being explicitly warned by a 911 operator, was not protected Good Samaritan conduct but a foreseeable cause of catastrophic harm. Hendrick Automotive, as Day's employer, faced vicarious liability for his actions taken during the course of his work.
The defendants made a collective offer of $17 million before the case could proceed to trial. Tietjen rejected it. After mediation, the parties settled on August 18, 2016, for $24 million, with the bulk paid by Hendrick Automotive's insurers. California legal trade publication the Daily Journal reported the result as the largest Northern California personal-injury settlement of the year.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
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