The city could’ve prevented the accident with some basic safety measures, like a raised median or a slower speed limit on the down-slope of the overpass. The speed limit is 50 mph.
“The real danger and tragedy is, for all practical purposes, that this should’ve been a fender bender,” Dean said. “The crossover head-on collision is the single most dangerous collision you can have — there is a real danger in exposing opposing lanes of 50 mph traffic to one another.”
The city has a responsibility to take reasonable precautions against this danger, he said, adding that Huntington Beach officials have increased traffic safety on their side of Adams.
“On the Huntington side of the bridge, there is a matching 10-inch median that tapers down to eight inches that has been there since 1986,” he said. “In Costa Mesa, there’s nothing raised — it’s just flat.”
Harold Potter, who represented Costa Mesa in the lawsuit, disagreed, characterizing the claim that the city should be held responsible as “simply preposterous.”
“Here’s the deal — in a 10-year period of time, 144 million cars have gone over that bridge without a single cross-accident occurring,” he said. “If we go back to the time the bridge was built in 1977, 350 million vehicles have gone over that bridge without such an accident. So, really, you have a better chance of winning the Mega-State Lottery than having a cross-over accident in this location.”
Potter added that he believed the jury was improperly influenced by sympathy for Morton.
Potter expects to file a motion next week asking the judge to overturn the verdict. If that fails, the city plans to take its case to an appellate court, Potter said.
After waking from a monthlong coma, Morton has been under around-the-clock care at his home with his family in Costa Mesa, Dean said.
CHRIS CAESAR may be reached at (714) 966-4626 or at chris.caesar@latimes.com.
