$45 Million for Four Children Who Lost Their Mother in a Drunk-Driver Crash at a Boyle Heights Taco Truck

On June 16, 2012, Claudia Fernandez, 38, was standing near a taco truck on Cesar Chavez Avenue in Boyle Heights when a driver fleeing California Highway Patrol officers ran a red light and plowed into the crowd. Fernandez, a single mother of four, was killed. A second woman died in the same crash. The driver, Elba Jimenez, was intoxicated. She was later convicted of two counts of second-degree murder and sentenced to 35 years to life in state prison.

The civil case turned on a second defendant: Maria Elena Rodriguez, who owned the car Jimenez drove that night. Evidence at trial showed Rodriguez witnessed Jimenez consume multiple tequila shots before handing her the keys. Carpenter, Zuckerman and Rowley attorney John Carpenter argued that Rodriguez had every opportunity to prevent the crash and chose not to.

The four children of Claudia Fernandez, ranging in age from 14 to 26 at the time of trial, each testified about their relationship with their mother. John Carpenter presented the jury with a picture of a closely bonded family that had been permanently fractured. The defense countered that Rodriguez did not appreciate Jimenez's level of intoxication, but the jury did not accept that account.

After roughly one hour of deliberations, the jury found both Jimenez and Rodriguez jointly liable. Each of the four children was awarded $11.25 million in noneconomic damages, split equally between past and future loss of companionship, for a total verdict of $45 million.

Both defendants appealed. The California Court of Appeal, Second District, Division 3, affirmed the judgment in full in September 2019 (B281518). The appellate court rejected challenges to the size of the award, the conduct of voir dire, and the admission of Jimenez's prior DUI record. The court wrote that 'the undisputed evidence is that each child was individually close to Claudia,' and found no basis to disturb the jury's findings. The $45 million verdict stood without reduction.