Malibu is trying to get out of the legal crossfire over last summer's deadly Pacific Coast Highway wreck near Nobu Malibu, asking a judge to cut the city out of a consolidated wrongful-death lawsuit tied to the July 4, 2024 crash that killed a rideshare driver. In new court papers, the city argues the plaintiffs waited too long to properly serve Malibu after their claim was rejected, a timing misstep that could knock the municipality out of the case and leave private defendants to fight over who, if anyone, is on the hook.
Malibu's motion to exit
According to MyNewsLA, Malibu filed its motion on May 22, asking Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge David W. Swift to dismiss the city as a defendant. The filing says Malibu was not served with the complaint and summons until April 22, months after the city rejected the underlying claim on Jan. 2, and that the plaintiffs cannot show good cause for the delay. City attorneys also stress that a public agency is not exactly hard to find or serve, arguing that the late service is a problem of the plaintiffs' own making.
What happened on PCH
The crash took place on July 4, 2024, when a 2019 Mercedes allegedly crossed the center median on Pacific Coast Highway and slammed into a 2020 Cadillac. The Cadillac's driver, 44-year-old rideshare driver Martin Okeke, died at the scene. Those core details were reported by The Los Angeles Times as investigators looked at the collision and what unfolded at a nearby Nobu Malibu party that same night.
Influencer Summer Wheaton surrendered to authorities in February 2025 and was booked on felony counts that include gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and DUI-related charges, according to CBS Los Angeles. Prosecutors say she was behind the wheel after leaving a high-profile event at Nobu Malibu when her car veered into oncoming traffic. The criminal prosecution is on its own track from the civil suits, but filings in each have echoed through the other, keeping the case firmly in the public eye.
Civil suits on the docket
Okeke's family filed a wrongful-death complaint in December 2024 that named Wheaton, Nobu Malibu and the event hosts as defendants. On public dockets the case appears as Trellis. Additional lawsuits since then have broadened the cast of defendants and raised questions about event permits and who was minding the store when it came to public-safety oversight. Those civil claims are now being handled through coordinated proceedings in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
In its May 22 motion, Malibu argues that the late service is fatal to the claims against the city and asks the court to dismiss the municipality from the consolidated case. Separate complaints were pulled together last October under a single case schedule, and Malibu's lawyers say this is the right moment to clean up any procedural defects before the litigation moves deeper into discovery and trial preparation. "Plaintiffs will not be able to show good cause as to why they failed to serve the defendant city in a timely fashion," the city's attorneys wrote, according to MyNewsLA.
Hoodline previously covered the arrest and criminal charges, noting Wheaton had been charged in the fatal DUI crash after attending the Nobu event. That earlier report tracked the start of the criminal case and local reaction to the Nobu Malibu party that preceded the collision.
Legal context
The fight over deadlines and service turns on the California Government Claims Act, which sets strict rules for suing public entities. Before filing a lawsuit, claimants generally must present a written claim to the government and meet specific time limits, and the agency has a limited window to accept or reject that claim. Court decisions and legal references note that missing those deadlines or mishandling service can block suits against cities outright, which is exactly the procedural shield Malibu is trying to raise here. For a more detailed look at the claim-presentation requirements, see Justia.
