Newspaper Delivery Firm Settles Death Suit

A newspaper delivery firm agreed in court Friday to pay $725,000 to the family of a man struck and killed by a company driver two years ago.

The insurer for the Anaheim delivery firm, Heier Enterprises, will invest the sum in annuities to be paid out over the lifetimes of the widow, Mayra Garcia, and her two young children, according to attorney Thierry Colaw, who represented the surviving family members. Colaw said the investment plan eventually will yield a total of $2.1 million.

Garcia’s husband, Andres Garcia Lopez, 28, was pushing his stalled Oldsmobile along East Ball Road in Anaheim early May 9, 1994, when he was struck from behind and crushed between the two cars. The driver of the second car was Omar Vasquez, a Heier employee who had just finished his route delivering the Los Angeles Times. Mayra Garcia was steering the disabled car being pushed by her husband.

Vasquez drove away and later was arrested on suspicion of felony hit and run. He eventually pleaded no contest to misdemeanor charges stemming from the incident, Colaw said.

Mayra Garcia and her two sons, Francisco, 4, and Cristofer, 2, filed a civil lawsuit in Orange County Superior Court last year against Vasquez, Heier and the Los Angeles Times, which hired the delivery firm. The Times was not required to pay under terms of the settlement, which was approved Friday by Superior Court Commissioner Jane D. Myers.

Attempts to reach the lawyer representing Vasquez and Heier Enterprises were unsuccessful. Company officials also could not be reached Friday.