$30-Million Suit Filed in I-5 Crash That Killed 3 Dutch Tourists

A $30-million damage suit was filed Friday against a truck driver and trucking company in connection with a Sept. 24 crash on Interstate 5 south of San Clementee that killed three Dutch tourists, injured 19 others and caused one of the worst traffic tie-ups in California history.

The suit was filed in Vista Superior Court in San Diego County by a Newport Beach law firm on behalf of 28 plaintiffs, including persons who were in the two vans smashed by a speeding truck and survivors of three persons who were killed.

Named as defendants are driver Neil Raymond Adams, Rod’s Trucking Co. of Southgate and several companies owned or linked to Rod’s Trucking.

After an investigation by the California Highway Patrol, Adams was charged with three counts of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, driving while intoxicated, driving with a suspended license and possession of cocaine.

Adams, 33, a resident of Campbell, in Northern California, is free on $32,000 bail and faces a preliminary hearing Tuesday in Vista. He was not injured in the crash.

The lawsuit charges that Adams had been drinking and using drugs just before the crash, and that the truck had defective brakes.

The trucking firm “knew that Adams was an incompetent driver and a danger on the road,” claimed attorney Jeffery S. Grider of Hamilton & Samuels.

“They should have taken steps to see that he was off the road but failed to do so,” Grider alleged. “We have a driver with a suspended license, who was also using illegal drugs shortly before the accident, driving without sufficient rest, as required by California law, and driving at an excessive rate of speed.”

The suit seeks at least $20 million in compensatory damages and $10 million in punitive damages.

The crash occurred at 6:45 p.m. as two vans carrying Dutch tourists from an outing at Sea World in San Diego slowed to pass through the U.S. Border Patrol’s checkpoint at San Onofre.

Adams’ tractor-tailer rig smashed into the vans while traveling at about 50 m.p.h., according to the CHP. Adams was northbound after having delivered a load of pipe products in El Cajon and boxes of rags to the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base.

Two passengers in the vans died at the scene of broken necks. A third died of a heart attack after being treated for injuries, and others were sent to emergency rooms in San Diego and Orange counties.

The victims were members of a group of singers and musicians who had arrived in Southern California just two days earlier for two weeks of performing and sightseeing.

All have now returned to the Netherlands, where some underwent further hospitalization and one is still paralyzed, Grider said.

The crash started a chain reaction that involved 20 vehicles and snarled traffic for more than three hours. Three Life Flight helicopters were pressed into service as the crash strained the trauma-care systems of two counties.

“There were a lot of people that were hurt . . . , “ said one witness, “a lot of metal all over the place, a lot of skid marks and glass everywhere and a lot of people crying and hugging each other.”

The suit alleges negligence, willful disregard for safety and negligent infliction of emotional distress, among other things.

Rodney Pozas, owner of Rod’s Trucking, could not be reached for comment Friday.

Adams’ attorney declined to comment on the suit.

According to the Department of Motor Vehicles, Adams has been cited eight times since 1981 for various violations. His license was suspended Aug. 15, but he was involved in an accident near Diamond Bar just eight days later.