Failure to Fix Canyon Road Again Proves Costly to City

The Los Angeles City Council voted Wednesday to pay $1.2 million to a woman who crashed on a deadly stretch of road in Sun Valley that has claimed the life of four other motorists.

The city had previously paid a total of $1.6 million to settle three wrongful death lawsuits for rain-related accidents on La Tuna Canyon Road in 1979, 1987 and 1994.

The council voted unanimously to settle the suit by Stormy Livendale, a 28-year-old Glendale woman who lost control of her car on a flooded portion of the road, causing another car to hit her from behind.

Livendale’s lawsuit says she suffered brain damage in the Jan. 3, 1995, accident. She now struggles with memory problems and has trouble performing some problem-solving skills, according to lawyers for the city.

The same section of roadway near Elben Avenue west of the Foothill Freeway has been the site of four deaths and 30 accidents in the past two decades, according to city reports.

The lawsuits all charge that faulty drainage on the road caused it to flood, making cars hydroplane and drivers lose control. But the city did not take action to repair the road until a Times article in February chronicled the accidents.

Livendale’s attorney, Raymond Paul Johnson, called the council vote “the right decision,” but her mother, Lois, called the settlement “peanuts,” saying her daughter will never be able to work again.

Stormy Livendale graduated cum laude from Cal State Northridge and was planning to study for a master’s degree in sociology, Lois Livendale said. Her daughter now spends most of her time in therapy and can’t read because of poor eyesight caused by the accident, she said.

“She was at the top of her class but now she won’t work for the rest of her life,” Livendale said. “She would have been able to earn $100,000 a year easily.”

She added the accident put her daughter in a coma for three days. To this day, Livendale says, her daughter doesn’t remember the accident.

Last year, Councilman Joel Wachs, who represents the Sun Valley area, instructed city engineers to make the repairs as fast as possible.

But it wasn’t until nine months later that the council voted to spend $130,000 to repair the road. Several weeks ago, city crews closed La Tuna Canyon Road to begin repaving and installing a new drainage system to keep rainwater from pooling on the roadway.

“The city is long overdue in doing this,” Wachs said. “The question is, will this be enough.”

If flooding problems continue after the repairs, Wachs said he will propose that the city close the road to through traffic during heavy rains.

The accidents on La Tuna Canyon also prompted Councilman Mike Feuer to propose an ordinance that requires city staff to propose repairs whenever such a lawsuit is settled to avoid future accidents and deaths.

“It’s just common sense for the city to reduce the risk for the residents when we know there is a problem,” he said.

In February, the council paid $1.2 million to settle a lawsuit by the family of Rafeek Teraberanyans, a 34-year-old mechanic killed in a head-on collision March 24, 1994.

Previously, the city had paid out $450,000 to settle two other wrongful death suits.

Assistant City Atty. Philip Sugar said the Livendale lawsuit was difficult to defend because the city cannot argue that it did not have prior notice of the roadway problems.

“In a case like this where we had prior accidents and had paid out prior settlements, it’s almost automatic that we have notice,” he said.

Sugar added that because of a little-known law, $150,000 of the money paid out by the city will go toward reimbursing the county of Los Angeles, which paid for Livendale’s medical bills after the accident.

On the day of the accident, Livendale was on her way to serve on jury duty. Under state law, Sugar said, the county must pay for all medical and workers compensation expenses while a citizen serves as a juror, starting from the time a juror leaves home.