Motorist Cleared in Pedestrian’s Death

A Ventura County Superior Court jury on Thursday found the driver in a 1988 car accident not responsible for the death of a 76-year-old Somis man.

Longtime Somis resident Jerry Lile was killed Nov. 29, 1988, as he was walking across Somis Road on his way home from the post office. But jurors voted unanimously that Lorna T. Dreisbach, 38, of Moorpark was not responsible for the collision.

“We could not find negligence on the part of the defendant,” said jury foreman Steve Hynds of Moorpark. “The claimant did not prove the defendant was negligent.”

Defense attorney David H. Pierce of Ventura called the case a “tragic accident,” but said his client was not to blame.

“By the time she saw him, she was right on top of him,” he said.

California Highway Patrol investigators agreed, testifying that in their opinion Dreisbach could not have avoided the collision. Dreisbach was traveling within the 40-m.p.h. speed limit at the time of the crash, which occurred about 5:20 p.m., attorneys for both sides said.

But Richard M. Norman, the Ventura attorney who represented plaintiffs Gladys A. Lile and her four adult children, said CHP officers never returned to the scene to follow up the investigation.

Norman said he gave the jurors “everything we had” to find Dreisbach negligent during the three-day trial presided over by Judge William A. Peck.

“There’s nothing more we could have done to establish the negligence of the driver,” Norman said outside the court.

The Liles had asked for damages in excess of $750,000, including economic hardship, personal damages and funeral and burial costs.