Co-authored By: Rob Mohr
Los Angeles, the second largest city in the US, has long struggled with traffic safety, and recent data highlights the dire consequences of the city's struggle to make its streets safer for pedestrians. An LA-based traffic safety nonprofit, Streets Are For Everyone (SAFE), reported that 179 (53.3%) of the 336 traffic fatalities in LA in 2023 were pedestrians, a 103% increase from 2015. However, these statistics are more than numbers. In 2019, a 4-year-old child was struck and killed while crossing the street legally with her mother in Koreatown on the way to school.
Local law firm and Advocate Capital client Paoli and Purdy, PC helped the family sue the City of Los Angeles in 2020, arguing that officials knew that the intersection was unsafe well before their daughter’s death. Despite multiple documented reports on the dangers pedestrians faced in the neighborhood and around the school she attended, it took over four years after her death for the city to install safer traffic signals at the intersection. This tragic incident underscores the broader issues of delayed action and systemic failures in addressing pedestrian safety in Los Angeles.
The family’s attorney, Court Purdy, told the LA Times, “They had the knowledge back in 2013 to have prevented [the child’s] 2019 death.” From her death to when the protected left turn signal was added at the intersection in 2024, the 10th District of LA, which includes Koreatown, went through three different council representatives. One council member was convicted and removed on corruption charges, leading to a 6-month vacancy. The others failed to secure funding or make meaningful progress on the situation. Meanwhile, in the courtroom, through Paoli and Purdy’s tenacity and dedication, the case was settled in December 2023.
The family’s lawsuit against the city brought to light the negligence and delays that contributed to their beloved daughter’s death. The city settled the case for $9.5 million, a reminder of the financial costs associated with inaction, especially considering the new signals only cost $530,000 to install. However, the human cost is immeasurable. The child’s family continues to struggle with the loss of their daughter, reflecting on what could have been if timely measures had been taken. Her mother drives her other children to school every day, never returning to the five-minute walk she and her late daughter had made so many times before the crash.
This case exemplifies the need for a more proactive and equitable approach to traffic safety, particularly in low-income, predominantly non-white neighborhoods that are disproportionately affected by traffic violence. SAFE reported that unhoused pedestrians in LA were killed at a rate 45.2 times the national average in 2023.
Advocate Capital commends Paoli and Purdy, PC, for their dedication to representing those affected by traffic violence in LA and is proud to support law firms who make a difference in their communities.
