San Bernardino Superior Judge Gilbert Ochoa denied Yucca Valley’s motion for summary judgment in a wrongful death case following Chad Smithling’s death.
Smithling died on the Twentynine Palms Highway in Yucca Valley March 24, 2018, after the driver of a Hyundai Santa Fe unsafely attempted to cross lanes and struck Smithling’s motorcycle, according to the complaint filed by Rebecca Smithling, Chad Smithling’s wife.
The complaint names Caltrans, Yucca Valley and the driver of the Hyundai, Tausif Billah, as defendants.
The Jan. 8, 2019, complaint claims Yucca Valley and Caltrans left the Twentynine Palms Highway in an unsafe condition. Among its 19 descriptions of unsafeness, the complaint claims the highway
