Two trucking companies are asking a Los Angeles judge to sign off on an $11 million settlement stemming from the deaths of sisters Amy and Marlenne Lorenzo, who were struck by a dump truck while walking to school near 37th Street and Broadway on April 4, 2019. Marlenne, 14, died the day of the crash, while Amy, 12, held on for nearly three weeks before dying in the hospital.
Companies Ask Judge to Close Out Their Part of the Case
Commodity Trucking Acquisition LLC and Commodity Trucking Holdings LLC filed court papers asking Judge Alison Mackenzie to ratify the $11 million resolution, according to MyNewsLA.com. A hearing on the settlement approval request is set for January 20, 2027. Attorneys for the companies argued the agreement exceeds a reasonable proportion of their possible liability and would spare everyone involved continued litigation and trial, per the outlet's report.
The companies' attorneys also laid out their account of the subcontracting chain behind the job site. Commodity Trucking Acquisition, or CTA, was hired by Calex, through Rivera Trucking, to haul excavated dirt from the site, and then subcontracted with Los Morales Trucking for additional dump trucks because of the project's size, the filing states. Driver Stanley Bernard Randle, now 39, worked for Los Morales Trucking at the time of the crash and was approaching the accident location around 8 a.m. that morning, according to the same court papers. The companies' lawyers said Randle had not visited that stretch before the crash and was commuting to work at the time — outside the course and scope of CTA's operations, in their view, meaning they contend CTA was not liable for his actions.
What the Lawsuit Alleges
The girls' parents, Francisco Lorenzo and Angelina Nicolas, sued the city, Los Angeles Unified School District, and companies tied to The Grand LA project for wrongful death, according to Engineering News-Record. The parents filed the Los Angeles Superior Court case against multiple defendants in July 2019. Company attorneys said the girls were in a crosswalk when they were struck, and that Randle admitted he did not see the children before the collision.
The lawsuit alleges that the area around Clinton Middle School, which the sisters attended, has a history of traffic accidents and near-collisions, and that Broadway carries heavy traffic during school travel times. More than a dozen schools sit within 1.5 miles of Clinton Middle School, and thousands of students walk to and from nearby campuses before and after classes, according to the lawsuit's allegations. Plaintiffs also contend debris-hauling trucks from nearby construction should not have been allowed on the streets during student walking hours and that the overall traffic management plan was inadequate.
Both NBC Los Angeles and MyNewsLA.com reported that the plaintiffs alleged no crossing guards were present the day of the accident.
Criminal Case and Appellate Ruling
Randle was criminally prosecuted over the collision, and prosecutors ultimately obtained his conviction on two misdemeanor counts of vehicular manslaughter, Engineering News-Record reported. He was driving a 50- to 60-foot-long double-bottom dump truck at the time of the crash, per the same report.
Separately, a divided California Court of Appeal panel ruled in a case tied to the litigation, MetNews reported, finding in a 2-1 decision that property developers and contractors who failed to obtain a city permit for a truck staging area owe pedestrians a duty of care. The majority relied on California Civil Code section 1714, which establishes a default duty to exercise reasonable care for others' safety, concluding the defendants' conduct foreseeably created a risk that a truck would strike someone on foot. Court records reviewed by UniCourt show the lead Lorenzo case was consolidated for all purposes with two other case numbers in January 2021. The sisters were alleged to have been pedestrians in a crosswalk on their way to middle school when they were run over.
A Broader Pattern Near LA Schools
The Lorenzo case fits into wider patterns city data has tracked around school-zone safety. The Los Angeles Department of Transportation has reported that nearly 56 percent of all fatal and severe-injury collisions occur within a quarter mile of a school, and the agency says it has begun installing temporary safety improvements along South Broadway, which it designates a high-injury corridor. The city has also partnered with the University of Southern California on data analysis aimed at identifying and reducing collisions between vehicles and pedestrians or cyclists, according to the Los Angeles Data Science Federation.
The Lorenzo family later became involved in distracted-driving awareness efforts, and CBS Los Angeles has reported on national data showing distracted driving killed 3,166 people in 2017, with a AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety survey finding four in 10 drivers admitted driving “intexticated” at least once in the prior month.
The proposed $11 million settlement covers only Commodity Trucking's part of the broader litigation. Judge Mackenzie's hearing in January will determine whether that portion of the case moves toward resolution.
