Italian Alice Gruppioni was enjoying newlywed life on the Venice Boardwalk one month after her marriage when she was hit and killed by Nathan Lewis Cambell when he drove his car onto the Venice boardwalk. In addition to Gruppioni’s death, Cambell injured 17 others and was ultimately convicted of second degree murder and assault with a deadly weapon. While the criminal element of this case was handled back in 2016, the city has finally settled the civil wrongful death lawsuit to the tune of $12 Million.

PS Newswire reports on the city of Los Angeles’ role in multi-million dollar wrongful death settlement, “The reality is that while a terrible crime was committed, the City knew for years that vehicles were driving on the boardwalk, posing danger to the public, yet did nothing to prevent this dangerous access. Business owners had been complaining for years that proper precautions had not been taken, the city acknowledged that up to fifteen unauthorized vehicles accessed the boardwalk per day and this was a tragedy just waiting to happen.”

In addition to the substantial Venice boardwalk wrongful death settlement, the city of LA has also agreed to a memorial as well as a permanent and “robust” fix that will stop cars from accessing the boardwalk. It should not take an injury or an avoidable death for the city, a company or even an individual property owner to fix a known danger but all too often it does. There are a lot of factors that go into calculating the worth of a Los Angeles wrongful death case and one big one is exactly why this case received such a large settlement– did the defendant know about the risk of injury and death before it happened. Here, the City knew that unauthorized cars were driving on the pedestrian heavy boardwalk up to 15 times a day and yet did not act. The knowledge combined with the lack of action is a big reason as to why Alice’s family will receive a $12 Million payout. Pedestrian accidents are some of the most deadly because of the exposed nature of the individual and the sheer force even a very slow moving car or truck can have upon impact.

If you have lost a loved one or been seriously injured in a pedestrian accident in Los Angeles, get in touch with the highly capable attorneys at Walch Law. Why choose us to handle your Venice wrongful death lawsuit? Because we get you results fast so you can move on from the accident as best you can. We have been helping victims of serious personal injury and wrongful death accidents for over 40 years and collected almost $100 Million for our happy clients. We are here to help and ready to talk whenever you are. We look forward to hearing from you.