The Los Angeles City Council agreed Wednesday to pay a $15 million settlement to the family of two young sisters who were struck at a North Hollywood intersection, killing one and leaving the other a quadriplegic.
The Nov. 2, 2010, collision at Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Archwood Street killed 12-year-old Emely Aleman and left her 10-year-old sister Angela Killings-Rodriguez without the use of most of her body below her neck, according to Gary Dordick, the attorney for the family.
Dordick said the settlement will pay for the medical care of Angela, who has been living at a care center and needs a 24-hour nurse. Angela and Emely were originally cousins, but Angela was adopted by Emely’s mother prior to the accident.
“We appreciate that the City Council approved the settlement today,” Dordick said. “This will enable the family to bring Angela home before the end of the year.”
The intersection, which is near a school, contained a crosswalk at the time of the accident. A traffic signal has since been installed, according to the area’s councilman, Paul Krekorian.
The family had alleged in court papers that in addition to the driver of the Jeep that hit the girls, the city was also at fault because it knew the intersection was unsafe and failed to install needed traffic measures.
Krekorian called the accident “a horrendous tragedy,” and said he worked to get the signal put in soon afterward.
“The settlement of this case is completely appropriate,” he said. “This a family that has been devastated.”
— Wire reports