Cerritos Woman, Children Win $1.31-Million Verdict

A Cerritos woman and her five children won a $1.31-million jury verdict Thursday from an El Toro driver who caused a head-on collision that killed her husband three years ago.

A tearful Jeanne Shimazaki said she was “happy” with the unanimous verdict.

The jury cleared the other defendant, Orange County, from any liability on a claim that it maintained a dangerous condition by painting a broken-line median on a curve, indicating that passing was permissible on the two-lane road.

Jimmy S. Shimazaki, Jeanne Shimazaki’s husband of 20 years, was eastbound on Santiago Canyon Road on Dec. 16, 1981, when westbound Deborah G. Fishbeck of El Toro, passing a slower moving car and truck at the end of the curve near Silverado Canyon Road, crashed into his car, killing him.

Both Shimazaki and Fishbeck brought Orange County into the suit as a defendant on a negligence claim for failing to paint a double-yellow line around the curve to indicate a no-passing zone.

Only two accidents, neither involving oncoming cars, occurred within a quarter mile of the curve in the previous decade, said Orange County claims manager John Oskins after the verdict. The county, nevertheless, has painted a double-yellow line around the curve since the accident, he said.