The L.A. County Board of Supervisors approved a $2 million settlement this month for a vehicle crash involving a motorist whose car overturned and was struck by two tires that came loose from a Fire Department’s “dozer tender,” a 2017 Dodge Ram 4500, back in 2021.
The L.A. County Claims Board voted 3-0 last month to approve the recommendation, “due to the risks and uncertainties of litigation.” The recommendation was ratified by the board at the June 9 meeting.
The settlement notice published by the county included a summary of the incident and its corrective action taken:
An L.A. County Fire Department driver of a dozer tender was heading east on State Route 126 at Chiquito Canyon Road in Castaic on Sept. 29, 2021, when he felt a vibration.
The dozer tender dropped toward the left corner and began to veer out of control. The (driver) slowed down, gained control and slowly drove toward the right shoulder of the road.
As the dozer tender was coming to a stop, two tires dislodged from the dozer tender and rolled east toward the highway.
Ismael Carbajal, the plaintiff, was driving near the 60 mph speed limit in the opposite direction on State Route 126, in the far-right lane, when he observed two tires bouncing toward his vehicle, according to an incident summary from Los Angeles County.
Carbajal applied his brakes, but one of the tires struck the front of his truck, which then pulled to the left, crossed all lanes, rolled over and came to rest on its side near the guardrail.
Carbajal was wearing his seatbelt at the time of the collision and was able to self-extricate from his vehicle.
There was no airbag deployment, according to the incident summary, and Carbajal was considered “ambulatory” at the scene, according to county officials.
He was taken by ambulance to Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital, where he complained of pain to his head, neck and back. He was prescribed medication and released later that day
The California Highway Patrol Newhall-area Office investigated the crash and determined that the dozer’s left rear tire wheel nuts stripped from the bolts, causing the tires to detach, according to the county.
There was a multivehicle crash as a result of the incident, and the county counsel involved in the case did not respond to a request to confirm the settlement amount for the second plaintiff, Earl Hibbert
Neither of the plaintiffs’ attorneys responded to a request for comment.
Over the past four years, the legal costs for L.A. County had already reached approximately $194,000, according to the claims board’s agenda. The settlement amount was paid for from the L.A. County Fire Department’s budget.
The department initiated an internal investigation into the incident on Nov. 14, 2022. The department reviewed the incident and determined that the (operator) appropriately conducted the requisite visual inspections of the wheels and tires (including the rims and lug nuts) for the entire month of September 2021. Given this and his personnel history, he was issued a notice of instruction the following year.
There were several corrective actions taken by the department in response to the incident.
“The department now requires that lug nuts must be torqued to manufacturing specs by qualified personnel,” according to the department. “Thus, when tires are changed in the field by vehicle operators, a final torque must be completed by fleet mechanics with calibrated wrenches.
