SANTA ANA : City to Pay $3 Million to Settle Crash Suit

Insurance carriers for the city have settled a lawsuit arising from a 1986 traffic accident by paying $2.1 million to one severely crippled motorist and $1 million to another who suffered brain damage, attorneys said Wednesday.

Both motorists had sued the city and each other in the wake of the June 14, 1986, accident at Greenville Street and Sunflower Avenue, an intersection on the city’s boundary with Costa Mesa.

Robert Orlowski, 28, of Fountain Valley can barely move his arms and legs from injuries he sustained after he failed to see a stop sign while headed south on Greenville and was struck by Ronald Sevilla, who was eastbound on Sunflower.

Ned Reilly of Santa Ana, an attorney for Orlowski, contended in court that the intersection had been notoriously unsafe for years. He said the stop sign, which has since been replaced by a traffic signal, was blocked from view by a utility pole and that street lighting was inadequate.

The trial began Sept. 5 in Superior Court. The jury decided about a month later that Orlowski was 56% at fault in the accident while the city of Santa Ana was 44% at a fault. New proceedings to decide the damages are expected to conclude this week.

Reilly said he was able to win the $2.1-million settlement for Orlowski even though the man had pleaded no contest to drunk-driving charges arising from the accident. Reilly said he was able to show that while the man’s blood alcohol level was nearly double the legal limit when tested two hours after the accident, he was sober at the time of the collision. Orlowski had just consumed the alcohol and it had not yet entered his bloodstream, Reilly said.

Because of the man’s severe injuries, which continue to worsen, the settlement represented a way to protect the city’s insurance carriers from having to pay an even larger damage verdict in the future, said Phil Eaton, a private attorney representing Santa Ana on the case.

“With the nature of the injuries to Mr. Orlowski, they would rather settle than run the risk of a runaway verdict,” he said. He said testimony indicated that the crippled man’s costs for care could run $87,000 a year.

Richard Love of Los Angeles, who represented Sevilla, said they were pleased about the verdict.