Asam v. Ortiz
Oct 25, 2013OUTCOME: $150,750,000
At approximately 5 a.m. on November 22, 2009 Rudolph Ortiz, age 73, an employee of and driver for Bhandal Bros Trucking, Inc. pulled his 18 wheeler off the 210 freeway and parked on the shoulder. Mr. ... Ortiz had only obtained his commercial driver’s license 2 years previously at the age of 71. Shortly thereafter, Michael Asam, age 41, and his family were on their way to a Thanksgiving holiday in Oregon. Michael Asam was driving a GMC Yukon pulling a utility trailer when he struck a piece of roadway debris causing the left front tire of the trailer to lose pressure. As Mr. Asam made an emergency maneuver to get off onto the shoulder, he collided with the back of the parked Bhandal Bros truck causing he, his wife Shannon, age 40, and his oldest son Brennan, age 14, to become pinned underneath the wreckage. The two youngest children, Blaine, age 11, and Kylie, age 9, managed to escape through a broken rear window and attempted to open the door to get their mother out of the car without success. A fire started in the engine compartment of the SUV and began to spread. After several minutes Blaine and Kylie were able to flag down a passing motorist on the highway who also attempted to free Shannon Asam from the wreckage including using a fire extinguisher and attempting to put out the fire by shoveling dirt from the shoulder of the road onto the engine. He also made 2 emergency calls attempting to get help. After 10 minutes of his efforts, the fire became too large and as Mrs. Asam pleaded for her life, she, Michael and Brennan burned to death in front of her children. All the while, the truck driver remained in his cab.
