Local News in Brief : Payments Agreed to in Beach Route Crash
A Los Angeles County claims board has agreed to pay a total of nearly $200,000 to the families of two men killed in a 1982 automobile accident on Kanan Dume Road near Malibu.
The claims board, which is part of the county counsel’s office, approved on Thursday the county’s payment of $98,000 settlements each to the families of Robert Paul Bishop, 19, of Agoura and Jeffery Dennis Rooney, 21, of Westlake Village. They were killed Aug. 7, 1982, when the car in which they were passengers skidded and catapulted 250 feet down an embankment on the popular beach route.
The families filed suit against the county in Los Angeles Superior Court alleging that the county failed to erect sufficient warning signs near a sharp rise.
“Based on other cases resulting in awards of that or greater amounts, we felt that it would be appropriate,” said William F. Stewart, executive county counsel.
Warning signs have since been placed on the approach to the curve near Cavalleri Drive, and the curve was repaved to level the sharp rise, Stewart said. Area residents frequently have urged greater safety measures for Kanan Dume Road.
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