Local News in Brief : L.A. to Pay $400,000 to Victim of Car Crash
The Los Angeles City Council agreed on Friday to pay $400,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by a Sun Valley woman who was seriously injured in a 1976 auto accident near her home.
In the lawsuit, Pamela Jansen contended that inadequate pruning of city hedges led to the accident in which a pickup truck struck her car near the intersection of Keswick Street and Riverton Avenue in Sun Valley.
Jansen, who was then 21, was in a coma for five weeks after the accident and suffered permanent brain damage causing speech impairment, difficulty in walking and swallowing, depression and pain, the suit alleged.
In a 1982 trial, a jury voted 9 to 3 in favor of the city, but the judge disallowed that verdict because of jury misconduct, Asst. City Atty. Thomas C. Hokinson said. The ruling was affirmed by the Court of Appeal in 1985.
To avoid a second trial, the council voted 13 to 0 to pay $227,700 to Jansen and her attorneys and $172,300 into an annuity fund for Jansen.
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