View this article online: https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/west/2021/06/03/617091.htm
San Diego, Calif., will pay $900,000 to an 82-year-old woman whose foot and ankle were crushed when her car collided with a city fire engine that sped through a red light while heading to an emergency in 2018, a newspaper reported Wednesday.
The settlement approved by the City Council last week, covers Marlowe Berg’s medical bills, future treatment and adverse impact on the remaining years of her life, the Union-Tribune reported.
Lawyers for Berg, a former member of the San Diego State University faculty, say she can no longer drive or travel and can barely walk because her left foot doesn’t lie flat, which makes her nervous about falling.
Before the collision in La Jolla, Berg was a world traveler who climbed the Acropolis in Greece and visited Japan, Scandinavia and Egypt, her lawyer says.
A spokeswoman for City Attorney Mara Elliott declined to comment on the settlement.
While drivers of emergency vehicles aren’t held to the same vehicle code standards as ordinary drivers, they are required under state law to “drive with due regard for the safety of all persons,” according to court documents.
The deputy fire marshal driving the engine estimated in court documents that he was traveling 25 mph through the intersection.