REDLANDS >> The widow of a Menifee woman killed in a 2011 crash on San Timoteo Canyon Road was awarded $1.38 million in damages by a San Bernardino County Superior Court jury.
After a three-day deliberation, the jury on Thursday awarded $2 million in damages to Sheldon Alechman, the husband of 66-year-old Sandra Alechman, who died in September 2011 from injuries caused during the crash. The jury assigned partial blame to the city of Redlands for unsafe road conditions that contributed to the crash.
On Sept. 2, 2011, Sandra Alechman was driving westbound on San Timoteo Canyon Road when she struck a concrete structure, known as a weir, on the shoulder, causing the vehicle to go out of control and rollover. She was transported to Loma Linda University Medical Center, where she died.
The city denied responsibility and maintained that the structure was not on city-owned property.
The city is responsible for the $1.38 million. Actual out-of-pocket expenses are less than $400,000 and the rest will be covered by the city’s excess insurance carrier, said Carl Baker, city spokesman, in an email.
Since hearing the verdict on Thursday, the city has been reviewing its options with counsel, Baker said. The city was represented by Attorney Bruce L. Disenhouse.
Bill Shapiro, Alechman’s attorney, said it’s in the city’s right-of-way, it’s a hazard, and the city is responsible for it.
Shapiro said his client is satisfied with the outcome of the case.
“This case was not only a case for damages, but Sheldon was hoping to really get that thing out of there so no one else is going to be injured or killed by it,” he said.
The jury found Sandra Alechman partially responsible for the crash, assigning 35 percent responsibility.
The city is responsible for 65 percent of the $2 million, or $1.38 million.
Shapiro said Sandra Alechman drove off the edge of the roadway, which anybody could do for a variety of reasons; the structure is about 15 inches off the road in the city’s right-of-way.
Baker said he could not comment on whether city staff will be looking into the removal of the structure.
San Timoteo Canyon Road is a two-lane asphalt rural roadway with a single lane in each direction, according to the collision report. The road is winding in parts, but the portion where the crash occurred was on a slight bend in the roadway, according to the report.
According to Sheldon Alechman’s claim, the city failed to install safety devices along the road, such as a guardrail or crash cushions; install signs, lighting or road markers warning drivers of the road conditions, the presence of the weir, and an absence of a safe or usable shoulder or emergency lane.
The city maintained that if the condition of the road was dangerous it would have been anticipated by a person exercising due care and the road could not have been dangerous merely from a failure to install traffic control signals or signs, according to the city’s answer to the claim.
