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Los Angeles, California – Phil Michels Law, a personal injury and medical malpractice law firm, filed claims last Thursday for wrongful death against the cities of La Palma and Cypress, the Anaheim Union High School District, the County of Orange and the California Department of Transportation. The claims were brought on behalf of the parents of an 11th grade student, Sydney Ramirez, at John F. Kennedy High School in La Palma, California who was killed as she was walking to school in a marked but unsignaled pedestrian crosswalk. The crosswalk, at Crescent and Watson on the border between the two cities, is commonly used by students at the high school and nearby elementary and middle schools. It had no crossing guard.
“For years there were numerous complaints of near misses between vehicles and students at this crosswalk,” said attorney Philip Michels. “Unfortunately, safety studies of the intersection prior to Sydney’s death were not followed through, and it was not until days after her death that the City of La Palma ordered another engineering study of the intersection. As a result of that study, the city is installing a signal at this crosswalk. However, traffic studies done well before this incident concluded that unsignaled crosswalks on busy streets increase, rather than decrease, the risk of collisions and create a false sense of security in the minds of unsuspecting pedestrians,” according to Mr. Michels.
The claims are required steps to be taken before a lawsuit is filed against a public entity. Each entity has 45 days to decide whether or not to require the Contact: Megan Braverman Berbay Corp. (310) 405-7343 Megan@berbay.com family to file a suit in court. It’s anticipated all claims will be denied and that the issue will be presented to a jury.