A Sacramento woman has reached a settlement with the California Department of Transportation over a 2012 crash that left her partially paralyzed.
Rosalina Dionisio and her husband Oscar will receive $9.75 million from the state agency, which had admitted negligence in failing to maintain a row of oleanders along eastbound Highway 50 in Sacramento, preventing Rosalina Dionisio from pulling fully onto the shoulder when her car malfunctioned on Aug. 6, 2012.
Dionisio, now 64, suffered traumatic brain and spinal injuries when another vehicle attempting to exit the freeway struck her car at an estimated 60 to 70 mph.
The multimillion-dollar settlement was reached Wednesday, less than a week into a Yolo Superior Court civil trial during which the plaintiff’s attorneys accused the state of creating a foreseeably dangerous atmosphere by allowing the oleanders to overtake the freeway’s eight-foot shoulder.
“It will allow her and her husband to have funds available” to cover her medical care and other expenses, attorney Roger Dreyer, who represents the Dionisios, said Friday. “But no amount of money compensates someone for this kind of loss.”
Douglas L. Johnson, the attorney representing Caltrans at trial, could not be reached for comment on the resolution.
During opening statements in the case last week, Johnson acknowledged Caltrans’ negligence but faulted Dionisio for not pulling over sooner, onto a wider stretch of shoulder, after her 1990 BMW suddenly lost power. He also noted that other drivers passed her disabled car without crashing into it.
The motorist who struck Dionisio, Stephen K. Taylor of West Sacramento, also was named as a defendant in the case but was not part of the settlement agreement.
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene