Talks Aim to Settle Truck Accident Lawsuit

A judge has ordered settlement talks between attorneys for San Juan Capistrano teacher Kelli Grove and the trucking company her family sued after their harrowing accident in January 2012. 

The process is called mediation, and it’s designed to avoid a trial.

Groves was driving to San Luis Obispo when a truck started swerving across lanes just south of Buellton. It smashed into her BMW and then careened over a 50-foot bridge. The twisted mass of BMW hung more off the bridge than on, and the brave work of Santa Barbara rescue workers along with a tow truck driver and a group of Navy Seabees who happened to be passing by made headlines around the world.

The truck driver died that day. He was later found to have been high on methamphetamine at the time of the accident. Groves’s attorney Michael Penn sued  R&R Auto Wrecking of Arroyo Grande in January, seeking to hold it responsible for neglecting to maintain the truck and for hiring Allison as a driver.

This week, a San Luis Obispo County judge ordered both parties into mediation, according to the Santa Maria Times. The case is not due back in court until Dec. 2.

The paper reported Groves and daughter Sage, now 11, are still being treated for their injuries. Daughter Mylo, 10 weeks old at the time of the accident, suffered leg fractures during the accident.