Lawyer Says Suit Is Example of ‘Deep Pockets’ Actions : Drunk Driver’s Widow Settles for $400,000

The widow of a drunk driver who slammed his car into a light pole in Brea has agreed to accept $400,000 to settle her lawsuit that alleged that the roadway was defectively designed.

Cindy Ann MacDonald, 29, of Newport Beach, who suffered massive internal injuries and some brain damage in the crash, had sued the State of California and four road-building firms. The suit said unfinished improvements in the intersection of Imperial Highway and Kraemer Boulevard caused her husband, Chad, to crash on March 5, 1981.

Tests on the driver’s blood showed an alcohol content of 0.16%, court records show. He was driving in heavy rain at more than 55 m.p.h., according to the records.

The case is a perfect example of why voters passed Proposition 51, the so-called “deep pockets” initiative last year, according to Alexander M. Dai, lawyer for the state. The controversial measure limits non-economic damages, such as pain and suffering, to each defendant’s actual fault. Previously, any one of a number of defendants could be made to pay the entire judgment, regardless of fault.

Dai said most of the fault was MacDonald’s because of his alcohol consumption. Had Proposition 51 been in effect then, potential liability would have been limited and the state never would have settled the case, Dai said.

The state Supreme Court is now deciding on the effective date of the proposition. Lower courts have clashed over whether the proposition should be retroactive. Last week a Superior Court judge ruled that it is not retroactive for the purposes of the MacDonald case.

“Truthfully, none of us felt we had done anything wrong,” Dai said. “We wanted to avoid (the possibility of) an overly sympathetic jury.”

The intersection was being rebuilt at the time of the accident. A raised median had been moved into what had been the inside lane eastbound on Imperial, and a light pole had been built on the median. A left turn lane was created in front of the light.

MacDonald’s lawyer, Lloyd A. Charton, argued that the left-turn signal was not yet functioning and that old striping was still on the road, leading drivers to the median island and the light pole.

Charton suggested that the intersection was so confusing that even a sober driver would have had problems.

Lawyers for the state argued that countless other drivers had gone through the intersection without incident and that the Brea police had determined the primary cause of the accident to be intoxication and speeding.

Dai said that due to an oversight, little evidence had been collected at the time of the accident to show the true state of the intersection.

MacDonald, who will share the settlement money with her son, Chad, 7, is not expected to ever return to work, lawyers said.

The four building firms involved were Moreland Development Co., Steiny & White Co., Orange County Striping Services Inc. and Sully-Miller Contracting Co.

Dai said all five defendants contributed about equally to the $400,000 settlement, which was reached Monday in discussions with Orange County Superior Court Judge Richard W. Luesebrink.