'I'm lucky I didn't die'

Woman seeks more than $12 million from state after Highway 12 crash

If "rumble strips" had been installed in the center of Highway 12, might they have kept Alicia Schmid from a lifetime of pain and medical problems?

Alicia Schmid

The answer is up to a San Joaquin County jury that is debating whether the California Department of Transportation bears some responsibility and should pay Schmid as much as $12 million in damages.

After a number of fatal wrecks on the two-lane road, Highway 12 has spent much time in the public spotlight, with numerous lawmakers grandstanding and lobbying to make the road safer.

But Schmid's case against Caltrans is apparently the first one to make it all the way to a jury trial, according to her Fresno attorney, Rick Watters. Other attorneys, including one who represents the family of a 10-year-old girl who died in a crash, are watching the case.

Schmid, now 21, and her boyfriend were driving home from her boyfriend's grandmother's house on the night of Aug. 13, 2006. She was near Tower Park when an oncoming driver fell asleep and drifted across the center line.

Schmid tried to avoid the other vehicle but couldn't, and the cars hit head-on. She suffered major injuries and was flown by medical helicopter to Stanford Medical Center, where she stayed for more than a month.

More than two years later, the University of the Pacific student still walks with a cane. She wore a medical boot on one foot Wednesday, later explaining that it helps hold her foot in place so she can walk.

Schmid, who had to take a year off from her business studies at University of the Pacific, quickly rattled off her long list of injuries when asked after court — lost spleen, torn intestine, shattered pelvis, shattered wrist, shattered foot, nerve damage in both feet, concussion and a torn knee.

She has no memory of the crash or the hours before it, but she thinks something needs to change.

"I think that the road needs to be fixed so this doesn't continue to happen," she said, drawing a breath and fighting tears as she added: "I'm lucky I didn't die."

In closing arguments Wednesday, her attorney asked a jury to award her more than $450,000 in unpaid medical bills and $5.5 million for a life care program, which would pay for future medical expenses, including hip replacements, for the next 60 years.

He also asked for punitive damages of between $6 million and $12 million, or $100,000 to $200,000 a year.

Showing documents detailing annual updates on Highway 12, Watters argued that Caltrans had known since 1996 that the roadway needed to be improved.

Had rumble strips been in place, he argued, the other driver would have woken up. Rumble strips are corrugated sections of asphalt. When a vehicle's tires hit a strip, it makes a loud noise and the car vibrates.

Meanwhile, Caltrans attorney Lauren Machado argued that the crash was entirely the fault of the other driver, Marisela Aquiniga. The Fairfield resident had worked all day, driven to Los Angeles for a family function, gotten four hours of sleep and was up the whole next day before driving home.

She also countered Watters' claim that Caltrans hadn't done enough to make the road safer. The roadway had reflectors and bumps in the center, and she reminded jurors of expert testimony they'd heard that a sleeping driver probably wouldn't have been able to wake up and react in time to avoid a crash.

"The road didn't cause this accident. There was nothing about this road," she said. "You can see that Marisela Aquiniga was so impaired she couldn't save herself from herself, but the State of California isn't responsible for that."

The jury can decide how much, if any, responsibility falls to Caltrans and how much was the other driver's fault.

In many such civil cases, a number of parties are involved, and jurors are asked to sort out who is liable.

For Stockton attorney Doug Gessell, that's part of the investigation involved in his case that includes Caltrans. He represents a family that was struck head-on by a driver whose tire blew out and caused him to lose control on Highway 12. A 10-year-old girl died when he crossed over the center line.

Gessell believes there are likely only two permanent fixes for the road: Make it four lanes or install a concrete divider down the middle.

"Put a barrier between two opposing lanes and nobody's going to pass. Nobody's going to cross into another lane," Gessell said.

Contact reporter Layla Bohm at layla@lodinews.com.