Copyright © 2021 Albuquerque Journal
Payouts to settle lawsuits over traffic wrecks, including two that claimed the lives of young girls, accounted for much of the $2.5 million in settlements the city of Albuquerque reached in the last six months of the 2021 fiscal year.
The city paid out $1.9 million in the third quarter of 2021 and $620,500 in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year, which ended June 30, according to litigation reports provided to City Council.
Rebecca Estrada, right, comforts her daughter Hailie Estrada, who was friends with Eliza “Justine” Almuina, who was killed in March 2018 after being struck in a crosswalk outside Cleveland Middle School. A lawsuit filed in connection with Almuina’s death was one of the major settlements by the city of Albuquerque in the last six months of the 2021 fiscal year.(Marla Brose/Journal)
Those payments were made to settle 22 cases during the sixth-month period. The city prevailed in 17 cases that were dismissed for various reasons during the same period. At least 11 of the settlements, including the most expensive ones, were connected with traffic accidents involving different departments and different types of city liability.
Jeannette Chavez, the city’s risk manager, said the amounts paid to settle cases each quarter can vary.
“We really don’t know what’s going to happen. At any given time, you don’t know what’s going to happen on the streets, in terms of cars and weather and population being out there,” she said. “It really only takes one accident to elevate the amounts that are paid.”
Evaluating claims
The city’s Risk Management Division investigates each claim filed against the city and tries to negotiate in accordance with the law, Chavez said.
“We are fiduciary agents, we do our best to properly evaluate claims. We don’t try to strong arm anybody, we don’t try to be in a power position,” she said. “We do definitely listen to both sides of the story.”
Eliza “Justine” Almuina, 12.(COURTESY ALMUINA FAMILY)
The cases that settled recently ran the gamut, from car wrecks to an injury from a trip on a sidewalk.
One case was filed after Elena Atencio, 15, died in a January 2019 crash at southbound Coors and Montaño Plaza NW. According to the lawsuit filed in 2nd Judicial District Court, a city bus driver failed to stop in the designated bus stop, and instead rolled into a right-hand traffic lane, which caused the vehicle that Atencio was riding in to stop in traffic. Her car was then rear-ended, causing her death.
“The collision … and death to Elena Atencio, was caused by the negligent and tortious conduct of the defendants,” the suit alleged.
The city paid $725,000 to settle the claim, according to the report.
Crosswalk fatality
Another major claim was for the death of Eliza “Justine” Almuina, 12, who died outside Cleveland Middle School.
In March 2018, she was walking with a friend to a carnival at the middle school when they entered a crosswalk near Louisiana and Natalie NE.
Two cars had stopped and waited for the girls to cross, but another vehicle didn’t stop and swerved into Almuina, according to the complaint.
The lawsuit said the city was negligent because it didn’t properly maintain the crosswalk in several ways, such as not having clear warning signs. The driver who struck Almuina pleaded no contest to careless driving and served 45 days in jail.
The city ultimately settled for $650,000. In the aftermath of the crash, the city installed a light at the crossing that flashes yellow to alert drivers to slow down and then switches to red when a button is pushed by a pedestrian, and completed a study of school crosswalks.
Albuquerque also settled a case brought by the estate of Robert Wiggins, who died when an ambulance struck his motorcycle in August 2018 at Comanche and Louisiana NE. The lawsuit accused the city of failing to enforce city policies and ordinance, which left a large cinder-block wall blocking a clear view of the intersection. A police officer concluded the wall was a contributing factor in the crash. The Wiggins family settled with the city for $275,000.
APD-involved cases
Five of the settlements were connected with the police department, including three cases of police officers involved in car wrecks.
In one case, an officer was accused of assault, battery and excessive force. The complaint said in October 2018 officer Bryce Wilsey used a Taser against Carlos Lucero, causing the man to fall and strike his head on the concrete. The police were searching for a suspect in a stolen vehicle in Lucero’s neighborhood when Lucero ventured out of his house and was confronted by officers and temporarily detained, according to the lawsuit. The city settled the case for $75,000.
In another case, a woman identified as E.G., said that she was arrested on two counts of battery on a police officer after the woman claims she was drugged while drinking Downtown in September 2018.
The lawsuit says lapel camera from the arrest shows the woman told officers she had been raped but they didn’t include the information in the report and no sexual assault investigation was completed.
The charges against the woman were dismissed, and the city settled the case for $10,000.
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Fatal crashes make up the bulk behind $2.5M settlement - Albuquerque Journal
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