Sonoma County Jury Finds Caltrans Liable for Highway 12 Crash, $9.81 Million After Fault Share
After trial: The $9.81 million is 60 percent of the $16,347,362 verdict, our computation from the jury's fault split. We could not confirm the entered judgment, any post-trial motions or an appeal, or whether the state has paid.
Won by Walkup Personal Injury Lawyers.
A Sonoma County jury found Caltrans liable for a dangerous Highway 12 and Arnold Drive right-turn junction after an SUV struck a 68-year-old motorcyclist using the shoulder, leaving him with a severe frontal-lobe brain injury and orthopedic injuries. The jury rejected the state's design immunity defense and awarded him and his wife $16,347,362 in total. It put 40 percent of the fault on the rider, which leaves about $9.81 million attributable to the state.
What happened
A Sonoma County jury found on August 21, 2023 that the State of California, through Caltrans, maintained a dangerous condition of public property at the junction of Highway 12 and Arnold Drive, between Santa Rosa and the town of Sonoma. The verdict, in Lindquist v. State of California (case SCV-267421), came to $16,347,362 before the jury's allocation of fault, and $9.81 million after the plaintiff's 40 percent share was removed.
Scott Lindquist, 68, was riding his motorcycle southbound on Highway 12 when he reached the Arnold Drive turn. There was no dedicated right-turn lane. Traffic bound for Arnold Drive stacked up in the through lane, and Mr. Lindquist used the paved shoulder to make the turn. As he did, an SUV that was also turning right onto Arnold Drive struck him.
Mr. Lindquist suffered multiple orthopedic injuries and a severe traumatic brain injury that left him in a coma for weeks. The frontal lobe damage changed his personality: he became impulsive and paranoid and lost his motivation. By the time of trial he needed constant supervision. His wife, Alania Lindquist, joined the case with a claim for loss of consortium.
The plaintiffs argued that the intersection's design invited exactly this kind of collision, because the lack of a right-turn lane and the absence of any measure to prevent drivers from using the shoulder put turning vehicles on a collision course. Caltrans raised the statutory design immunity defense under Government Code section 830.6, which the court sent to the jury. It also argued that the road was not dangerous because no similar accidents had been reported in the prior ten years, that Mr. Lindquist broke the Vehicle Code by passing stopped traffic on the shoulder and was going too fast for conditions, and that the SUV driver caused the crash. The Jury Verdict Alert report of the case lists Richard Schoenberger, Douglas Saeltzer and Joseph Nicholson for the plaintiffs, and lists two defense teams, one for the state and one for the SUV driver, Brendan Toohey.
After two days of deliberation, the jury rejected design immunity and found the roadway dangerous. It awarded Scott Lindquist $15,136,112 and Alania Lindquist $1,211,250. It assigned 60 percent of the fault to Caltrans and 40 percent to Mr. Lindquist, which brings the amount attributable to the state to roughly $9.81 million.
Walkup lawyers have described the verdict as a record for Sonoma County against Caltrans in a dangerous-condition case.
Sources
This account is drawn from contemporaneous public reporting and the court record.
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