Update: Complaints Lobbed on Both Sides After Death of Cyclist

The death of cyclist Lauren Ward last November has sparked complaints and cross-complaints as the family, truck driver, trucking company and San Mateo County spar over who was to blame for the accident that took .

So far Ward’s family has against the driver and the trucking company blaming them for Ward’s death on Nov. 4, 2010, as well as a complaint against the county that claims both dangerous road conditions and an unsafe lane change by the driver are to blame.

On the opposite side, driver Gabriel Manzur Vera and his employer,  Randazzo Enterprises Inc., have lobbed both a cross-complaint and a complaint at San Mateo County, laying the blame squarely on its shoulders for the responsibility of maintaining an unsafe road.

“We’re just waiting for the county to get involved in the case,” Attorney Daniel Friedenthal told Patch Tuesday afternoon. Friedenthal represents Vera and Randazzo Enterprises.

The Board of Supervisors has denied all the claims made in the past two months, asserting that no known dangerous conditions exist on Alpine Road.

“So there are three claims running around in this horrifically tragic case,” said San Mateo County Risk Manager Scott Johnson. His office advised the supervisors to deny the claims.

In the background of the legal tug of war is a reopened investigation by the California Highway Patrol, expected to conclude soon, according to a spokesperson., blaming Ward for the crash. Then in February, the CHP’s Multidisciplinary Accident Investigation Team (MAIT) reopened the case based on new evidence, although officials would not reveal the nature or source of it.

All that is known for sure is that at 3:45 p.m. that day after colliding with a big rig driven by Vera, as both were traveling west on Alpine just before the Highway 280 overpass. According to the CHP report, Ward turned her pink Trek bicycle into the path of the truck.

However, in a lawsuit filed Dec. 20, 2010, in San Mateo Superior Court against Vera and Randazzo Enterprises by Ward’s husband, Robert, and their two teenage children, the blame is placed squarely on Vera, alleging he drove the truck into Ward’s path. The suit seeks compensatory damages for the family in the loss of their wife and mother.

Vera and the trucking company filed a cross-complaint in February with the Board of Supervisors, asking that should the Wards win their case, any damages and fees be paid by the county. The next month, both sides, Vera and Randazzo Enterprises, and the Ward family, filed claims against San Mateo County, citing unsafe road conditions, later denied by supervisors. Johnson said they now have six months to file lawsuits against the county. 

The Ward family claim states Vera “violated Lauren Ward’s right of way and made an unsafe lane change on westbound Alpine Road to move into the I-280 south on-ramp.” It goes on to say that because of the “dangerous design, construction, operation and maintenance of the road … bicyclists had insufficient visibility, time and opportunity to adequately protect themselves.”

The complaint by Vera and Randazzo Enterprises states that, “Lauren Ward was killed in a truck versus bicycle accident caused by a dangerous condition on public property,” maintained by the county. It asks for indemnity from the county, meaning they want the county to pay any damages that may be awarded by a court.

The claims were denied, because neither proved that the county knew about a dangerous condition, and that if it did know, it chose not to fix the problem, Johnson said. He said in order for the county to know about a dangerous road condition, there would have to be other past accidents in the same spot. 

In the meantime, the Ward’s original lawsuit moves forward and is now in the discovery phase of the trial. A case management conference originally scheduled for late April has been continued until July 27. The Wards’ attorney, John Feder, did not return a request for comment.

As a direct result of the crash, members of the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition met with county public works officials earlier this year to discuss Johnson confirmed that coalition members pointed the officials to a grant from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. Johnson said there are 41 other applications for the same grant, and any possible changes would depend on the county winning the competition.