Family to Drop Suit Over Traffic Death

The family of a young man killed in a 1999 traffic accident on Silver Lake Boulevard at the Hollywood Freeway has agreed to drop its $25-million wrongful-death lawsuit against several area volunteer groups and the city of Los Angeles, officials said Thursday.

The family of Kwang Min Kim, 20, had named the Silver Lake Chamber of Commerce, the Silver Lake Improvement Assn., the Silver Lake Residents Assn. and several individuals as defendants, contending that a beautification project they worked on contributed to the fatal accident.

Kim was killed when his car glanced off a truck making a left turn onto a freeway onramp and crashed into a light pole. The suit said two piles of dirt left on a median by the volunteers obstructed the vision of both drivers.

The civic groups had complained that the lawsuit harmed volunteerism in Silver Lake and slowed progress on the beautification work, which includes painting murals and planting new landscaping on three long-neglected medians. They were also upset that the city had named them in a cross-complaint.

News that the Kim family was dropping the lawsuit was applauded.

“We’re so greatly relieved,” said chiropractor Cheryl Revkin, president of the chamber.

Kathy Rowley, a board member with the residents group, added, “Everybody is very fortunate that the family decided to drop the lawsuit. I just hope in the future that there’s a policy that can be worked out to indemnify groups [that do volunteer work].”

Jeffrey Thomas, a Los Angeles attorney representing the chamber, said he will ask the city to reimburse the nonprofit groups for legal costs since it had supported the beautification project in the first place.

Thomas said Kim’s family offered to drop the lawsuit after its lawyer, Long Beach attorney Robert M. Zavidow, left the case. At a recent hearing, a judge allowed him Zavidow withdraw because he said the family was uncooperative and frequently out of touch.

Kim’s brother called Thomas and offered to drop the lawsuit in exchange for a promise that the Silver Lake groups would not seek to recover court costs from the family. That led to an agreement to drop the lawsuit.

Thomas said the family faced long odds. A police report said Kim was traveling faster than the 25-mph speed limit on Silver Lake at the time of the accident. Also, his blood-alcohol level was 0.15%, above the state legal limit of 0.08%.

Zavidow did not return a phone call seeking comment and members of the Kim family could not be reached.