Oren & Paboojian - Fresno Personal Injury Lawyers

Clovis student to be paid $1m
Settlement involves injuries in earthmover accident.

Charles McCarthy The Fresno Bee
0rignally published 2005-04-14

A 17-year-old Clovis East High School student won a $1.6 million out-of-court settlement for injuries suffered nearly a year ago, when a giant earthmover ran over the car she was driving.

Fresno lawyer Warren P. Paboojian said Wednesday that his client, Rebecca Carey, has agreed to the settlement. “She’s planning on going to college and hopefully, going to medical school,” Paboojian said.

Retired California Supreme Court Justice Edward A. Panelli of San Francisco was mediator in the case. A lawsuit had not yet been filed in Fresno County Superior Court.

Paboojian said a claim had been filed naming the earthmover’s owner, Yeager/Skanska Inc., along with Fresno County and Caltrans.

Lawyer James D. Emerson said his firm’s case on behalf of the family of Kimberly Hamilton, 16, a passenger in her friend’s car, has not been settled.

Hamilton died in the accident. Her parents plan to set up college scholarships at Clovis East High, where their daughter also was a junior.

The defendants have agreed to a settlement for both girls totaling $6.3 million, Emerson said. He had not heard of a larger out-of-court settlement for any Fresno County case on behalf of a minor.

The fatal accident was reported at 3:15p.m. May 7, 2004, on Fowler Avenue north of Belmont Avenue, about four miles south of Clovis East High, where both girls were students.

According to the California Highway Patrol, two flaggers were controlling traffic on both sides of Fowler Avenue to allow a Caterpillar scraper being used on the Freeway 180 extension project to cross the street.

The girls were in a blue Mitsubishi Lancer southbound on Fowler Avenue.

Paboojian said in a Wednesday press release that the flag waver controlling southbound traffic was holding a stop sign.

The girls’ vehicle came to a stop. After several minutes, the flag waver dropped her sign and motioned for Carey to proceed.

The defendants’ tractor/scraper crossed Fowler Avenue and hit the vehicle, Paboojian said.

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