A woman seriously injured when a driver plowed into a crowd of pedestrians in Fullerton’s downtown has filed a lawsuit against Lyft, alleging that two of its ride-share drivers were illegally parked and may have helped cause the traffic incident.
Along with Lyft, the lawsuit filed Wednesday in Orange County Superior Court also names Christopher Solis, the man who authorities allege was driving the Toyota Tacoma that struck and injured nine people in the early morning hours of Feb. 10.
Police have previously said that Solis drove through a busy crowd gathered in Fullerton’s popular downtown before his truck ended up wedged in a tree. He has pleaded not guilty to felony counts of driving under the influence and failing to stop at the scene of an accident, among other charges.
The civil lawsuit, filed on behalf of Sara Polanco, does not allege that Solis had any ties to Lyft. However, the lawsuit contends that two Lyft drivers double-parked on Santa Fe Avenue and helped cause the accident.
One of the Lyft drivers had abruptly stopped while looking for directions for his passengers, according to the lawsuit, leading to Solis striking the Lyft driver’s car and “first losing control.”
The second Lyft driver had “abruptly and unsafely” stopped to pick up passengers, according to the lawsuit, then “suddenly struck” the back of Solis’ truck “causing it to further lose control and end up on the sidewalk where the nine pedestrians were struck.”
The suit does not elaborate on how that Lyft driver allegedly ended up striking the truck.
“It is believed that (Solis) never would have lost control of his vehicle had the two separate Lyft drivers not been stopped illegally while disregarding the safety rules of the road in the operation of their Lyft vehicles,” said Eric Dubin, one of the lawyers representing Polanco, in a statement.
Explaining the decision to name Lyft in the lawsuit, rather than just Solis and the Lyft drivers themselves, the attorneys alleged that the company “trained and encouraged their drivers to ignore roadway safety laws and regulations to increase their profits and services.”
Representatives for Lyft declined to comment.
According to her attorneys, Polanco suffered a shattered pelvis and lacerated liver, and still uses a wheelchair after her recent release from a hospital. She has incurred hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills, the attorneys added.
Along with the medical costs, the lawsuit seeks at least $50,000 in damages.
