LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – This week the Board of Supervisors approved a settlement agreement in a lawsuit filed by the family of a woman killed in an October 2013 vehicle crash involving a Lake County Sheriff's deputy.
The board emerged from its Tuesday closed session to approve the $600,000 settlement with Gloria Garcia Gamino and Jose Daniel Rivas Cruz, parents of Gabriela Rivas Garcia, according to County Counsel Anita Grant.
Santa Rosa attorney Jeremy Fietz filed the lawsuit in April 2014 on behalf of Gamino and Cruz, residents of Mexico who received financial support from their daughter, as Lake County News has reported.
“The initial demand was $2.5 million,” said Grant.
Fietz did not respond to requests from Lake County News seeking comment.
The 26-year-old Garcia died on the morning of Oct. 3, 2013, after her 1995 Honda was hit by a 2009 Chevrolet Tahoe SUV patrol vehicle driven by Deputy Scott Lewis on Highway 29 near Diener Drive.
She was driving from her home in Clearlake to her vineyard job in Kelseyville when Lewis – responding to a report of a home invasion robbery and vehicle pursuit in Lower Lake at more than 80 miles per hour – crossed into her lane, hitting her head-on.
The suit alleged that Lewis had a small amount of alcohol in his system at the time of the crash, in violation of Lake County Sheriff's Office policy which says that deputies cannot report for duty while having any detective amount of alcohol in their system.
District Attorney Don Anderson has confirmed that the investigation determined that Lewis had a very small amount of alcohol in his system, but that experts were not able to extrapolate the precise amount.
Grant said the settlement in the case, which had been set for trial, was the result of mediation.
She said both sides had agreed to the settlement, pending the Board of Supervisors' approval.
CSAC Excess Insurance Authority, which manages the insurance pool that includes the county of Lake, also was part of the discussion, she said.
Once Garcia's parents sign off on the settlement, they will file a notice of settlement with the court, which should bring the case to a close, Grant said.
Meanwhile, Lewis, who was seriously injured in the crash, was indicted by a criminal grand jury in July for gross vehicular manslaughter.
In February, he returned to Lake County from the East Coast – where he moved since leaving the county's employ in November – for his first court appearance in the case, as Lake County News has reported.
Anderson told Lake County News this week that a trial readiness and settlement conference in Lewis' case is set for July 10, with the case tentatively set for trial on Aug. 5.
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Supervisors approve $600,000 settlement in fatal crash involving deputy
- Elizabeth Larson
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